The little mare spanked5 quickly over the way on her new-shod hoofs. Through Soul Street and Horeham Flat, by Badbrooks and Coarse Horn on the lip of the Marsh6 rolled the trap, with the minister nearly silent and the farmer talking about the War—till the oasts of Adam’s Hole showed their red turrets7 against a wood, and, declining an invitation to step in and hear half a dozen more good reasons why the Germans would never get the Channel Ports, Mr. Sumption tramped off to where the East Road swung into the flats.
The sun was now low, and the sunk light touched the moon, so that her smudged arc kindled8 and shone out of the cold dimness. Red and yellow gleams wavered over the country of the Four Roads, sweeping9 up the meadows towards Three Cups Corner, and lighting10 the woods that [313] blotched the chimneys of Brownbread Street. He saw Sunday Street slitting11 the hill with a red gape12, and the sheen of the ponds by Puddledock, and the flare13 of gorse and broom on Magham Down. There was a great clearness and cleanness in the watery14 air, so that he could see the roofs of farmsteads far away and little cottages standing15 alone like toadstools in the fields. Sounds came clearly, too—there was a great clucking on all the farms, and the lowing of cows; now and then the bark of a dog came sharply from a great way off, sheep called their lambs in the meadows by Harebeating, and a boy was singing reedily at Cowlease Farm....
It was all very still, very lovely, steeped through with the spirit of peace—not even the beat of the guns could be heard to-night. These were the fields for which the boys in France had died, the farms and lanes they had sealed in the possession of their ancient peace by a covenant16 signed in blood. As Mr. Sumption looked round him at the country slowly sinking into the twilight17, a little of its quiet crept into his heart. These were the fields for which the boys had died. They had not died for England—what did they know of England and the British Empire? They had died for a little corner of ground which was England to them, and the sprinkling of poor common folk who lived in it. Before their dying eyes had risen not the vision of England’s glory, but just these fields he looked on now, with the ponds, and the woods, and the red roofs ... and the women and children and old people who lived among them—the very same whom last night he had scolded and cursed, told they were scarce worth preaching at. For the first time he felt ashamed of that affair. He might not think them worth preaching at, but other men, and better men, had found them worth dying for.
Then, as he walked on towards Pont’s Green, he saw [314] these fields as the eternal possession of the boys who had died—bought by their blood. The country of the Four Roads was theirs for ever—they had won it; and this was true not only of the honoured Tom but of the dishonoured18 Jerry. For the first time he felt at rest about his son. “Somewhere the love of God is holding him....” He could not picture him in heaven, and he would not picture him in hell; but now he could see him as part of the fields that he, in his indirect shameful20 way, had died for. Surely his gipsy soul could find rest in their dawns and twilights, in the infinite calm of their noons.... Jerry would be near him at the pond side, in the meadow, in the smoke of the forge, in the murmur21 and shade of the wood ... and the cool winds blowing from the sea would wipe off his dishonour19.

点击
收听单词发音

1
mare
![]() |
|
n.母马,母驴 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2
hoofs
![]() |
|
n.(兽的)蹄,马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.(兽的)蹄,马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3
frail
![]() |
|
adj.身体虚弱的;易损坏的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4
petal
![]() |
|
n.花瓣 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5
spanked
![]() |
|
v.用手掌打( spank的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6
marsh
![]() |
|
n.沼泽,湿地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7
turrets
![]() |
|
(六角)转台( turret的名词复数 ); (战舰和坦克等上的)转动炮塔; (摄影机等上的)镜头转台; (旧时攻城用的)塔车 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8
kindled
![]() |
|
(使某物)燃烧,着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 ); 激起(感情等); 发亮,放光 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9
sweeping
![]() |
|
adj.范围广大的,一扫无遗的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10
lighting
![]() |
|
n.照明,光线的明暗,舞台灯光 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11
slitting
![]() |
|
n.纵裂(缝)v.切开,撕开( slit的现在分词 );在…上开狭长口子 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12
gape
![]() |
|
v.张口,打呵欠,目瞪口呆地凝视 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13
flare
![]() |
|
v.闪耀,闪烁;n.潮红;突发 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14
watery
![]() |
|
adj.有水的,水汪汪的;湿的,湿润的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
15
standing
![]() |
|
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
16
covenant
![]() |
|
n.盟约,契约;v.订盟约 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
17
twilight
![]() |
|
n.暮光,黄昏;暮年,晚期,衰落时期 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
18
dishonoured
![]() |
|
a.不光彩的,不名誉的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
19
dishonour
![]() |
|
n./vt.拒付(支票、汇票、票据等);vt.凌辱,使丢脸;n.不名誉,耻辱,不光彩 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
20
shameful
![]() |
|
adj.可耻的,不道德的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
21
murmur
![]() |
|
n.低语,低声的怨言;v.低语,低声而言 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
欢迎访问英文小说网 |