Hester Prynne, therefore, did not flee. On the outskirts of the town, within the vergeof the peninsula, but not in close vicinity to any other habitation, there was a small thatchedcottage. It had been built by an earlier settler, and abandoned, because the soil about it was too sterilefor cultivation, while its comparative remotenessput it out of the sphere of that social activity which already marked the habits of the emigrants. It stood on the shore, looking across a basinof the sea at the forest-covered hills, towards the west. A clumpof scrubbytrees, such as alone grew on the peninsula, did not so much conceal the cottage from view, as seem to denotethat here was some object which would fainhave been, or at least ought to be, concealed. In this little, lonesomedwelling, with some slendermeans that she possessed, and by the license of the magistrates, who still kept an inquisitorialwatch over her, Hester established herself, with her infant child. A mysticshadow of suspicion immediately attached itself to the spot. Children, too young to comprehend wherefore this woman should be shut out from the sphere of human charities, would creepnighenough to behold her plyingher needle at the cottage-window, or standing in the doorway, or labouring in her little garden, or coming forth along the pathway that led townward; and, discerningthe scarlet letter on her breast, would scamperoff with a strange, contagiousfear.
因此,海丝特·白兰并没有出走。在镇郊半岛的边缘上,有—间小茅屋远离居民区。这是原先的一名移民建起后又放弃了的,因为那一带土地过了贫瘠,不宜耕种,况且离群索居,而社会活动当时已成为移民的一个显著的习惯。茅屋位于岸边,隔着一做海水与西边一片浓荫覆盖的小山相望。半岛上只长着一丛孤零零的矮树,非但没有遮住茅屋,反倒象是在指示出这里有一个目标,而那个目标原本不情愿或至少是应该被挡得看不见的。就在这间孤随的小屋里,海丝特从仍在严密监视她的当局处获准,用她那菲薄的手段来养活她日己和她的孩于。一个疑虑重重的神秘阴影立刻就缠住了这块地方。年纪尚幼、不理解这个女人为什么会被人类的仁慈拒之门外的孩子们,会蹑手蹑脚地走近前来,窥视她在茅屋窗边飞针走线,窥视她位立门前,窥视她在小花园中耕作,窥视她踏上通往镇子的小径:待到看清她胸前的红字,便怀着一种害怕受到传染的奇异的恐惧,迅速逃开了。
【英文名著精选阅读:《红字》第五章(上)】相关文章:
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