【荆棘鸟】第二章 05

The general store was the next-biggest building, also boasting a sheltering awning 1, and two long wooden benches under its cluttered 2 windows for passersby 3 to rest upon. There was a flagpole in front of the Masonic hall; from its top a tattered 4 Union Jack 5 fluttered faded in the stiff breeze. As yet the town possessed 6 no garage, horseless carriages being limited to a very few, but there was a blacksmith's barn near the Masonic hall, with a stable behind it and a gasoline pump standing 7 stiffly next to the horse trough. The only edifice 8 in the entire settlement which really caught the eye was a peculiar 9 bright-blue shop, very un-British; every other building was painted a sober brown. The public school and the Church of England stood side by side, just opposite the Sacred Heart Church and parish school.
  As the Clearys hurried past the general store the Catholic bell sounded, followed by the heavier tolling 10 of the big bell on a post in front of the public school. Bob  broke into a trot 11, and they entered the gravel 12 yard as some fifty children were lining 13 up in front of a diminutive 14 nun 15 wielding 16 a willowy stick taller than she was. Without having to be told, Bob steered 17 his kin 18 to one side away from the lines of children, and stood with his eyes fixed 19 on the cane 20. The Sacred Heart convent was two-storied, but because it stood well back from the road behind a fence, the fact was not easily apparent. The three nuns 21 of the Order of the Sisters of Mercy who staffed it lived upstairs with a fourth nun, who acted as housekeeper 22 and was never seen; downstairs were the three big rooms in which school was taught. A wide, shady veranda 23 ran all the way around the rectangular building, where on rainy days the children were allowed to sit decorously during their play and lunch breaks, and where on sunny days no child was permitted to set foot. Several large fig 24 trees shaded a part of the spacious 25 grounds, and behind the school the land sloped away a little to a grassy 26 circle euphemistically christened "the cricket pitch," from the chief activity that went on in that area. Ignoring muffled 27 sniggers from the lined-up children, Bob and his brothers stood perfectly 28 still while the pupils marched inside to the sound of Sister Catherine plunking "Faith of Our Fathers" on the tinny school piano. Only when the last child had disappeared did Sister Agatha break her rigid 29 pose; heavy serge skirts swishing the gravel aside imperiously, she strode to where the Clearys waited. Meggie gaped 30 at her, never having seen a nun before.
 

百货店是第二座最大的建筑物，也有其遮阳篷引以自豪，在它那堆垛狼藉的窗户下放着两张长木条凳，可供过往行人歇息。共济会的门前立着一根旗杆，杆顶上有一面破旧的英国国旗在疾风中飘动着。由于在那个时候，这里还没有修车铺，非马拉车辆的数量寥寥可数；可是在共济会的附近却有一家铁匠铺，它的后面是马厩，靠近料槽的地方直挺挺地竖着一个油泵。这块殖民地上唯一真正引人注目的建筑物是那座独具一格的艳蓝色的商店，这与不列颠的风格大不相同，而其它的建筑物则一律油漆成深棕色。公共学校和英国教会的教堂并排着，恰好与天主教圣心教堂和教区学校面面相对。
    在几个克利里路过百货店的时候，天主教堂的钟声敲响了，公共学校门前柱子上的大钟也跟着低沉地响了起来。鲍勃连忙小跑起来，当他们走进砾石漫地的院子时，五十来个孩子正在一个挥舞着藤条的小个子修女面前站队，那藤条比她的身子还要长呢。用不着吩咐，鲍勃就带着弟妹们站到了队伍的一边，眼睛一个劲儿盯着那藤条。
    圣心女修道院是一座两层楼的建筑，可是因为它坐落在离开道路较远的一道栅栏后面，所以不容易一眼就看清楚。担任学校教职的慈悲修女会的三位修女和第四位修女住在楼上，这第四位修女担任管家，从来没有照过面。楼下有三间大屋子，学校就在那里教课。这座矩形的楼房有一圈宽阔而阴凉的走廊，遇上阴天下雨，就允许孩子们在游戏和吃午饭时间斯斯文文地坐在那里，天晴的日子，是不允许孩子们落脚的。几棵高大的无花果树遮盖住了宽阔场地的一部分，学校后面，有一片墁坡地伸向一块圆形的草场，它被委婉地称之为“板球潮，因为打板球是那块地方所进行的主要的活动。
    正当小学生们随着凯瑟琳嬷嬷在学校的那架小钢琴上所奏出的“忠于我们的上帝”的乐曲声走进去时，鲍勃和他的弟兄们不去理会那些已经站着队的孩子们所发出的窃笑声，一动不动地站在那里。阿加莎修女只是等到最后一个孩子的身影消失以后，才收起她那刻板的姿式；她迈着大步走到克利里家的几个孩子们等着的地方，她那厚实的哗叽裙子专横地把地上的砂石扫向一旁。