血字的研究 53犹他之花(3)（在线收听）

It was not the father, however, who first discovered that the child had developed into the woman. It seldom is in such cases.

但是，第一个感觉到这个女孩子已经长大成人的并不是她的父亲。这种事情很少是由作父亲的首先发觉的。

That mysterious change is too subtle and too gradual to be measured by dates.

这种神秘的变化十分微妙，而且形成得非常缓慢，不能以时日来衡量。

Least of all does the maiden herself know it until the tone of a voice or the touch of a hand sets her heart thrilling within her,

对于这种变化最难觉察的还是少女本身，直到她听到某一个人的话语，或者接触到某人的手时，她感到心头突突乱跳，产生出一种骄傲和恐惧交织起来的情感。

and she learns, with a mixture of pride and of fear, that a new and a larger nature has awakened within her.

这时，她才知道，一种新奇的、更加奔放的人的本性已经在她的内心深处觉醒了。

There are few who cannot recall that day and remember the one little incident which heralded the dawn of a new life.

世界上很少有人能不忆起自己当年的情景，很少有人能不回想起预示他新生命已经到来的那件细微琐事。

In the case of Lucy Ferrier the occasion was serious enough in itself, apart from its future influence on her destiny and that of many besides.

至于露茜·费瑞厄，姑且不论这件事对于她和其他人的未来命运所产生的影响如何，就其本身来说，已经是够严重的了。

It was a warm June morning, and the Latter Day Saints were as busy as the bees whose hive they have chosen for their emblem.

六月里的一个温暖的早晨，摩门教徒们象蜂群一样地忙碌着——他们就是以蜂巢作为他们的标志的。

In the fields and in the streets rose the same hum of human industry.

田野里，街道上，到处都有人们劳动时的嘈杂声。

Down the dusty high roads defiled long streams of heavily laden mules, all heading to the west, for the gold fever had broken out in California, and the overland route lay through the city of the Elect.

尘土飞扬的大道上，重载的骡群，川流不息地络绎而过，全都是朝着西方进发。这时，加利福尼亚州正涌起了采金的热潮。横贯大陆、通往太平洋沿岸的大道整整穿过依雷克特这座新城。

There, too, were droves of sheep and bullocks coming in from the outlying pasture lands, and trains of tired immigrants, men and horses equally weary of their interminable journey.

大道上也有从遥远的牧区赶来的成群牛羊；也有一队队疲惫的移民，经过长途跋涉之后，显得人困马乏。

Through all this motley assemblage, threading her way with the skill of an accomplished rider, there galloped Lucy Ferrier, her fair face flushed with the exercise and her long chestnut hair floating out behind her.

在这人畜杂沓之中，露茜·费瑞厄仗着她的骑术高明，纵马穿行而过；漂亮的面庞由于用力而红了起来，栗色的长发在脑后飘荡着。

She had a commission from her father in the city, and was dashing in as she had done many a time before, with all the fearlessness of youth, thinking only of her task and how it was to be performed.

她是奉了父亲之命，前往城中办事的。她象往常一样，凭着年轻人的胆大，不顾一切地催马前进，心中只是盘算着她要去办的事情。

The travel-stained adventurers gazed after her in astonishment, and even the unemotional Indians, journeying in with their peltries, relaxed their accustomed stoicism as they marvelled at the beauty of the pale-faced maiden.

那些风尘仆仆的淘金冒险家，一个个惊奇地瞧着她，就连那些运输皮革的冷漠的印第安人，瞧见了这个美丽无比的白皙的少女，也感到十分惊愕，不禁松弛了他们一向呆板的面孔。

She had reached the outskirts of the city when she found the road blocked by a great drove of cattle, driven by a half-dozen wild-looking herdsmen from the plains.

露茜来到城郊时，她发现有六个面目粗野的牧人，从大草原赶来了一群牛，牛群已把道路拥塞不通。

In her impatience she endeavoured to pass this obstacle by pushing her horse into what appeared to be a gap.

她在一旁等得不耐烦，于是就朝着牛群中的空隙策马前进，打算越过这群障碍。