“那我可不知道了,妈妈,我知道的全都说了,珠儿说道,那神情比平时说话要严肃认真得多。“问问你刚刚同他谈话的那个老头儿吧!他也许能告诉你。不过,现在说真格的,我的好妈妈,这红字是什么意思呢?——为什么你要在胸前戴着它?——为什么牧师要把手捂在心口上?
She took her mother's hand in both her own, and gazed into her eyes with an earnestnessthat was seldom seen in her wild and capriciouscharacter. The thought occurred to Hester, that the child might really be seeking to approach her with childlike confidence, and doing what she could, and as intelligentlyas she knew how, to establish a meeting-point of sympathy. It showed Pearl in an unwontedaspect. Heretofore, the mother, while loving her child with the intensity of a soul affection, had schooled herself to hope for little other return than the waywardnessof an April breeze; which spends its time in airysport, and has its gusts of inexplicablepassion, and is petulant in its best of moods, and chills oftener than caresses you, when you take it to your bosom; in requital of which misdemeanours, it will sometimes, of its own vague purpose, kiss your cheek with a kind of doubtful tenderness, and play gently with your hair, and then be gone about its other idle business, leaving a dreamy pleasure at your heart. And this, moreover, was a mother's estimate of the child's disposition. Any other observer might have seen few but unamiable traits, and have given them a far darker colouring. But now the idea came strongly into Hester's mind, that Pearl, with her remarkable precocityand acuteness, might already have approached the age when she could be made a friend, and entrusted with as much of her mother's sorrows as could be imparted, without irreverenceeither to the parent or the child. In the little chaos of Pearl's character, there might be seen emerging- and could have been, from the very first- the steadfastprinciples of an unflinchingcourage- an uncontrollable will- a sturdy pride, which might be disciplined into self-respect- and a bitter scorn of many things, which, when examined, might be found to have the taint of falsehood in them. She possessed affections, too, though hithertoacrid and disagreeable, as are the richest flavours of unripe fruit. With all these sterlingattributes, thought Hester, the evil which she inherited from her mother must be great indeed, if a noble woman do not grow out of this elfish child.
【英文名著精选阅读:《红字》第十五章(下)】相关文章:
最新
2016-11-11
2016-11-02
2016-11-01
2016-11-01
2016-11-01
2016-10-28