红楼梦Chapter31_小升初阅读_小升初-查字典英语网

红楼梦Chapter31

But without any further reference to her， we will now take up our story with Pao-yue. As soon as he saw Madame Wang awake， his spirits were crushed. All alone he hastily made his way into the Ta Kuan garden. Here his attention was attracted by the ruddy sun， shining in the zenith， the shade of the trees extending far and wide， the song of the cicadas， filling the ear; and by a perfect stillness， not even broken by the echo of a human voice. But the instant he got near the trellis， with the cinnamon roses， the sound of sobs fell on his ear. Doubts and surmises crept into Pao-yues mind， so halting at once， he listened with intentness. Then actually he discerned some one on the off-side of the trellis. This was the fifth moon， the season when the flowers and foliage of the cinnamon roses were in full bloom. Furtively peeping through an aperture in the fence， Pao-yue saw a young girl squatting under the flowers and digging the ground with a hair-pin she held in her hand. As she dug， she silently gave way to tears.

Can it be possible， mused Pao-yue， that this girl too is stupid? Can she also be following Pin Erhs example and come to inter flowers? Why if shes likewise really burying flowers， he afterwards went on to smilingly reflect， this can aptly be termed： Tung Shih tries to imitate a frown. But not only is what she does not original， but it is despicable to boot. You neednt， he meant to shout out to the girl， at the conclusion of this train of thought， try and copy Miss Lins example. But before the words had issued from his mouth， he luckily scrutinised her a second time， and found that the girls features were quite unfamiliar to him， that she was no menial， and that she looked like one of the twelve singing maids， who were getting up the plays. He could not， however， make out what _roles_ she filled： scholars， girls， old men， women， or buffoons. Pao-yue quickly put out his tongue and stopped his mouth with his hand. How fortunate， he inwardly soliloquised， that I didnt make any reckless remark! It was all because of my inconsiderate talk on the last two occasions， that Pin Erh got angry with me， and that Pao-chai felt hurt. And had I now given them offence also， I would have been in a still more awkward fix!