1. The small locomotive​ engine, Number​ 4, came​ clanking, stumbling down from Selston with seven full wagons. It appeared round the corner with loud threats of​ speed, but the colt that it s

1. The small locomotive​ engine, Number​ 4, came​ clanking, stumbling down from Selston with seven full wagons. It appeared round the corner with loud threats of​ speed, but the colt that it startled from among the​ gorse, which still flickered indistinctly in the raw​ afternoon, out-distanced it at a canter. A​ woman, walking up the railway line to​ Underwood, drew back into the​ hedge, held her basket​ aside, and watched the footplate of the engine advancing. The trucks thumped heavily​ past, one by​ one, with slow inevitable​ movement, as she stood insignificantly trapped between the jolting black wagons and the​ hedge; then they curved away towards the coppice where the withered oak leaves dropped​ noiselessly, while the​ birds, pulling at the scarlet hips beside the​ track, made off into the dusk that had already crept into the spinney. In the​ open, the smoke from the engine sank and cleaved to the rough grass. The fields were dreary and​ forsaken, and in the marshy strip that led to the​ whimsey, a reedy pit​ pond, the fowls had already abandoned their run among the​ alders, to roost in the tarred fowl house. The pit bank loomed up beyond the​ pond, flames like red sores licking its ashy​ sides, in the afternoon​'s stagnant light. Just beyond rose the tapering chimneys and the clumsy black headstocks of Brinsley colliery. The two wheels were spinning fast up against the​ sky, and the winding engine rapped out its little spasms. The miners were being turned up.

Based on context​ clues, what does the word​ “forsaken” mean in paragraph​ 1?

A.

Deserted

B.

Harvested

C.

Wet

D.

Alive