红字（英文版）——床头灯英语学习读本Ⅳ

    《红字》是以政教合一的清教盛行时期为背景的一则爱情故事，发生在两百多年前的波士顿。小说描写女主人公海丝特·白兰跟丈夫从英国移居当时尚属英殖民地的美国波士顿，中途丈夫被印第安人俘虏，海丝特只身来到美国等待丈夫团聚。独自一人生活的海丝特婚姻生活原本就不幸福，她本来不爱丈夫罗杰·齐灵渥斯，一位畸形、伪善、博学的老医生。在一次姻缘巧遇中，海丝特和当地颇有名望的青年牧师相识相恋，最后这段不被世俗所容的秘密恋情因海丝特的怀孕而曝光。
清教权力机构以通奸罪惩罚海丝特·白兰，先是拘捕，后又令她胸前佩戴标志通奸的红色“A”字站在古老的刑台上示众。她的手中抱着这个罪孽的证据：一个出生仅数月的婴儿。在人们无情的注视下，她拒绝了年轻牧师阿瑟·丁梅斯代尔提出的忏悔并供出同犯的要求。这时，海丝特的丈夫罗杰 ·齐灵渥斯来到了镇上，发现了这个当众受辱的女人就是自己的妻子。他威胁海丝特不准说出两人的关系，他满怀仇恨地改名为罗杰·齐灵渥斯，以医生的身份暗中察访与海丝特通奸的同犯。
受过惩罚后，海丝特以罪妇的身份带着女儿珠儿在城外远离人群的一间小茅屋里住了下来。她以作针线活维生，并细心照料着她的女儿珠儿，她的针线活成为全市的时尚，很多人请她来缝制东西。海丝特的收入相对她的社会地位来说很不错，但她把多于的金钱和时间都投入到接济穷人身上去了，尽管人们对她横眉冷对。很快七年过去了，珠儿已成长为一个美丽可爱的小姑娘，她美丽脱俗，有着倔强的性格和充沛的精力，而海丝特因为不断热心接济和帮助别人，最终赢得了人们的尊敬，使胸前那本来代表耻辱的红字变成了美好善良德行的象征。
而经过多年的窥探，罗杰也认定了“道德伟大”的丁梅斯代尔牧师就是那个隐藏的同犯。于是他千方百计地接近牧师，打着牧师朋友和助手的旗号，对青年牧师旁敲侧击，冷嘲热讽，不断地在精神上对牧师进行折磨。牧师一方面受到自己和海丝特所犯罪过的良心谴责，另一方面又受到老医生的精神折磨，身体状况一日不如一日。他的夜晚出游，差点惊动全镇，令海丝特坚定了向牧师揭露老医生的真实身份的决心。
海丝特瞅准牧师到森林里散步的机会，带着小珠儿向牧师袒露一切，觉得这一切是因为自己的过错，没有及早向牧师说出罗杰·齐灵渥斯的真实身份。得到牧师的宽恕后，海丝特为使丁梅斯代尔逃离丈夫的阴影，决心带着女儿和他一起逃走，但却被罗杰发现，计划失败了。而对罗杰的恐惧和自己隐瞒罪责的煎熬使丁梅斯代尔的健康每况愈下。终于在离开尘世前夕，他在全体教众的面前，挽着海丝特和他们的女儿珠儿登上了刑台，用生命为代价的深切忏悔换取了道德上的新生。
丁梅斯代尔牧师去世后，变化最大的是老罗杰·齐灵渥斯，他所有的精力都用来对付牧师了，现在牧师已去，医生也就没有方向了。不到一年，医生死去，把财产遗赠给了海丝特的女儿珠儿。海丝特·白兰带着女儿回到了英格兰，多年之后，又独自重返波士顿，继续生活，死后和牧师葬在了一起。

    本套读物由美国作家执笔，以3300个最常用的单词写成，语言现代、地道、标准。原汁原味，而且通俗易懂。你躺在床上不用翻字典就可以津津有味地学英语。小说里有人，有人的吃、喝、拉、撒、睡，有人的七情六欲，有人与人之间复杂的关系，以及人与自然、与社会的冲突和调和。从语言习得的角度来看，本套读物实现了使用3300个基本单词细致入微地表述和阐释生活的细节和人们丰富的内心世界的目的。走进一部英文小说，你实际上就生活在一个“英语世界”里，这是解决中国人学英语学有英语语言环境的最佳途径。光读几本教科书就想学英语，这个想法不现实。
本套读物精选了国外50部值得你在一生中去读的文学作品，读这些作品不但可以掌握英语，而且可以积淀西方文化，提高个人的品位和修养。
这套读本真正帮你实现了英语学习的生活化！一年就可以读20本，两年读40本。读过40本读物，就相当于在英语环境里生活了两年，绝对能够习得很强的英语运用能力。切记，没有几百万字的英语输入，是不可能学好英语的。

Chapter One The Prison Door
Chapter Two The Market Place
Chapter Three The Recognition
Chapter Four The Interview
Chapter Five Hester at Her Needle
Chapter Six Pearl
Chapter Seven The Governor's Office
Chapter Eight The Strange Child and the Minister
Chapter Nine The Mysterious Roger ChiUingworth
Chapter Ten The Doctor and His Patient
Chapter Eleven The Inside of a Heart
Chapter Twelve The Minister's Thought
Chapter Thirteen Another View of Hester
Chapter Fourteen Hester and the Doctor
Chapter Fifteen Hester and Pearl
Chapter Sixteen A Forest Walk
Chapter Seventeen The Minister and His Follower
Chapter Eighteen A Flood of Sunshine
Chapter Nineteen The Child at the Stream
Chapter Twenty The Minister in Confusion
Chapter Twenty-One The New England Holiday
Chapter Twenty-Two The March
Chapter Twenty-Three The Discovery of the Scarlet Letter
Chapter Twenty-Four Conclusion

写在前面的话——中国人学英语现状分析 *英语是语言的帝国 全球60亿人中，有8亿人的母语是英语；2．5亿人的第二母语是英语。12．3亿人学习英语，33．6亿人和英语有关。全世界电视节目的75％、E-mail的80％、网络的85％、软件源代码的100％使用英语。40～50年后，全球50％的人精通英语。全球约6000种语言，本世纪末其中的90％将消亡。届时英语作为主导语言的地位将进一步得到提升。 目前中国大约有3亿人在学英语，超过英国和美国的人口总和，这是中国努力与时代接轨、与国际接轨的一个重要标志。大量中国人熟练掌握国际通用语言是中华民族走向繁荣富强的必要保障。 *英语学习的远期目标 在中国英语已经远远超出一个..

The next day, Emma was quite upset. Everything seemed sad and
depressing. She had nothing in her life to excite her. She again
began to think of La Vaubyessard with the dance and the happiness
she felt at that time. Then, she would think of Leon, a taller,
more handsome Leon. He was far away, and yet he had not left her.
She remembered where he sat, what he said, how he moved... He was
gone -- her only joy in life, her only happiness! Why did she not
tell him she loved him? She wanted to run to him, and say, "I am
yours!" But she could not, and only thought of him.
From that time on, she thought of him at every moment, and
was upset when thinking of him. Little by little, however, she
began to forget about her love for Leon, as time went on without
him.
She began to feel the lonely sadness of her time at Tostes.
To occupy her time, she spent money buying clothes and changing
her hairstyle. She sat on the sofa, with her new clothes and hair,
with a book in her hand.
She decided to learn Italian, and bought many dictionaries
and grammar books. She attempted serious reading, no more romantic
love stories. Meanwhile, she didn't look cheerful. Her skin was
pale, and she fainted often. Charles worried considerably about
his dear wife, and cried often about the worrisome matter.
One morning, Emma was looking out her bedroom window, where
she often amused herself watching the townspeople. A man came to
the door.
"Can I see the doctor? Tell him it's Monsieur Rodolphe
Boulanger, of La Huchette. "
He was unmarried and quite wealthy, with an income of six
hundred pounds a year.
Charles came into the dining room. Monsieur Boulanger told
the doctor his apprentice, a student learning his business, needed
treatment, as he was quite ill. The man looked ill, indeed, caused
by his extreme fear of doctors. Charles began treating the man
when he fainted. The doctor called for Emma to help him; Charles
was quite anxious.
……