The old minister seated himself in an arm-chair, and made an effort to draw Pearl betwixthis knees. But the child, unaccustomed to the touch or familiarityof any but her mother, escaped through the open window, and stood on the upper step, looking like a wild tropicalbird, of rich plumage, ready to take flight into the upper air. Mr.Wilson, not a little astonished at this outbreak- for he was a grandfatherlysort of personage, and usually a vast favourite with children- essayed, however, to proceed with the examination.
老牧师在一张安乐椅中就坐之后,想把珠儿拉到他的膝间。但那孩子除去她母亲之外还不习惯别人的亲热,立即穿过敞开的窗户逃了出去,站在最高一层的台阶上,象一只长着斑斓羽毛的热带鸟儿似的,随时准备飞上天空,逃之天天。威尔逊先生对这一反抗举动颇为吃惊——因为他是老爷爷般的人物,通常极受孩子们的喜爱——但他仍继续他的测验。
"Pearl," said he, with great solemnity, "thou must take heedto instruction, that so, in due season, thou mayest wear in thy bosom the pearl of great price. Canst thou tell me, my child, who made thee?"
“珠儿,他郑重其事地说,“你应当留心听取教诲,这样,到时候你才可能在胸前佩戴价值连城的珠宝。你能不能告诉我,我的孩子,是谁造出了你?
Now Pearl knew well enough who made her; for Hester Prynne, the daughter of a pioushome, very soon after her talk with the child about her Heavenly Father, had begun to inform her of those truths which the human spirit, at whatever stage of immaturity, imbibeswith such eager interest. Pearl, therefore, so large were the attainmentsof her three years' lifetime, could have borne a fair examination in the New England Primer, or the first column of the Westminster Catechisms, although unacquainted with the outward form of either of those celebrated works. But that perversity, which all children have more or less of, and of which little Pearl had a tenfoldportion, now, at the most inopportune moment, took thorough possession of her, and closed her lips, or impelled her to speak words amiss. After putting her finger in her mouth, with many ungraciousrefusals to answer good Mr. Wilson's question, the child finally announced that she had not been made at all, but had been pluckedby her mother off the bush of wild roses that grew by the prison-door.
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