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The
Castle
of
this
ogress
and
child-
queller
was
in
a
steep
by-
street
at
Brighton;
where
the
soil
was
more
than
usually
chalky,
flinty,
and
sterile,
and
the
houses
were
more
than
usually
brittle
and
thin;
where
the
small
front-
gardens
had
the
unaccountable
property
of
producing
nothing
but
marigolds,
whatever
was
sown
in
them;
and
where
snails
were
constantly
discovered
holding
on
to
the
street
doors,
and
other
public
places
they
were
not
expected
to
ornament,
with
the
tenacity
of
cupping-
glasses.
In
the
winter
time
the
air
couldn't
be
got
out
of
the
Castle,
and
in
the
summer
time
it
couldn't
be
got
in.
There
was
such
a
continual
reverberation
of
wind
in
it,
that
it
sounded
like
a
great
shell,
which
the
inhabitants
were
obliged
to
hold
to
their
ears
night
and
day,
whether
they
liked
it
or
no.
It
was
not,
naturally,
a
fresh-
smelling
house;
and
in
the
window
of
the
front
parlour,
which
was
never
opened,
Mrs
Pipchin
kept
a
collection
of
plants
in
pots,
which
imparted
an
earthy
flavour
of
their
own
to
the
establishment.
However
choice
examples
of
their
kind,
too,
these
plants
were
of
a
kind
peculiarly
adapted
to
the
embowerment
of
Mrs
Pipchin.
There
were
half-
a-
dozen
specimens
of
the
cactus,
writhing
round
bits
of
lath,
like
hairy
serpents;
another
specimen
shooting
out
broad
claws,
like
a
green
lobster;
several
creeping
vegetables,
possessed
of
sticky
and
adhesive
leaves;
and
one
uncomfortable
flower-
pot
hanging
to
the
ceiling,
which
appeared
to
have
boiled
over,
and
tickling
people
underneath
with
its
long
green
ends,
reminded
them
of
spiders
-
in
which
Mrs
Pipchin's
dwelling
was
uncommonly
prolific,
though
perhaps
it
challenged
competition
still
more
proudly,
in
the
season,
in
point
of
earwigs.
这位恶魔和儿童镇压者的城堡坐落在布赖顿的一条陡峭的小街上，那里的土壤比通常更富于白垩，更坚硬，更贫瘠；那里的房屋比通常更不坚固、更不厚实；房屋门前的小花园有一个莫名其妙的特点，就是：不论播种什么，长出的都是金盏花；那里经常可以看到蜗牛以吸杯那种毫不放松的劲头吸附在临街的大门上及其他人们不指望它们去装饰的公共场所。冬天空气不能从城堡中流出，夏天则空气不能流进去。风在里面经久不断地回荡着，城堡就像一只大贝壳似地发出声音，住在里面的人们不论是否乐意，都不得不日日夜夜捂着耳朵。房屋里的气味自然是不新鲜的；前面客厅的窗子永远也不打开；皮普钦太太在窗口摆了几盆植物，它们散发出的泥土气味充满了这座房屋。这些植物不论是从它们品种中多么精选出来的样品，它们都是属于特别适合于皮普钦太太住所的那种品种。这里有五六种仙人掌，像长了毛发的蛇似地围绕着一些板条蜿蜒移行，另外一个品种像绿色的大螯虾一样，伸出了宽阔的钳子；有几种爬行植物长着粘附性的叶子；有一个令人感到不快的花盆悬挂在天花板下面，盆里的植物看上去像是煮沸了的水似地从盆里漫溢出来，它长长的绿色的嫩枝撩拨着下面的行人，使他们联想起了蜘蛛；——皮普钦太太的住所中蜘蛛异常之多，然而在一年当中的某一个季节内，这个住所却可以更得意洋洋地提议以蠼螋的数目来跟别的住所竞赛。
Mrs
Pipchin's
scale
of
charges
being
high,
however,
to
all
who
could
afford
to
pay,
and
Mrs
Pipchin
very
seldom
sweetening
the
equable
acidity
of
her
nature
in
favour
of
anybody,
she
was
held
to
be
an
old
'lady
of
remarkable
firmness,
who
was
quite
scientific
in
her
knowledge
of
the
childish
character.
'
On
this
reputation,
and
on
the
broken
heart
of
Mr
Pipchin,
she
had
contrived,
taking
one
year
with
another,
to
eke
out
a
tolerable
sufficient
living
since
her
husband's
demise.
Within
three
days
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