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THE RECOGNITION
第三章 相认
From this intense consciousness of being the object of severe and universal observation, the wearer of the scarlet letter was at length relieved, by discerning on the outskirts of the crowd, a figure which irresistibly took possession of her thoughts. An Indian, in his native garb, was standing there; but the red men were not so infrequent visitors of the English settlements, that one of them would have attracted any notice from Hester Prynne at such a time; much less would he have excluded all other objects and ideas from her mind. By the Indian's side, and evidently sustaining a companionship with him, stood a white man, clad in a strange disarray of civilised and savage costume.
这个佩戴红字的人终于从众人严厉的注视中解脱了出来，因为此时的她注意到人群外围站着一个身影，那个身影不可遏止地占据了她全部的思考。一个身穿土著装束的印第安人站在那里，但在这块英国殖民地中，红种人并不鲜见。此时有这么一个人站在那儿并不会引起赫斯特·普林的任何注意，更不会把其他一切的事情和思绪从她的脑海中排挤出去。那个印度安人的旁边站着一个白人，此人的服饰体现出一种文明与野蛮的奇怪组合，无疑是那个印第安人的同伴。
He was small in stature, with a furrowed visage, which, as yet, could hardly be termed aged. There was a remarkable intelligence in his features, as of a person who had so cultivated his mental part that it could not fail to mould the physical to itself, and become manifest by unmistakable tokens. Although, by a seemingly careless arrangement of his heterogeneous garb, he had endeavoured to conceal or abate the peculiarity, it was sufficiently evident to Hester Prynne that one of this man's shoulders rose higher than the other. Again, at the first instant of perceiving that thin visage, and the slight deformity of the figure, she pressed her infant to her bosom with so convulsive a force that the poor babe uttered another cry of pain. But the mother did not seem to hear it.
他身材矮小，满脸皱纹，不过还很难说他年事已高。他看上去像是一个很有智慧的人，似乎心智上的高度发展难免引起外形上的变化，而且形成了明显的特征。尽管他像是漫不经心地随便穿了件土著人的衣服，但其实是刻意用它遮掩或减少身体的怪异之处，可赫斯特·普林仍一眼便能看出那个人的双肩不一般高。同样，她第一眼看到那人瘦削的面孔和稍稍变形的躯体时，便不由自主地再一次把婴儿紧抱在胸前，弄得那可怜的孩子又疼得哭起来。但做母亲的好象对此充耳不闻。
At his arrival in the market-place, and some time before she saw him, the stranger had bent his eyes on Hester Prynne. It was carelessly, at first, like a man chiefly accustomed to look inward, and to whom external matters are of little value and import, unless they bear relation to something within his mind. Very soon, however, his look became keen and penetrative. A writhing horror twisted itself across his features, like a snake gliding swiftly over them, and making one little pause, with all its wreathed intervolutions in open sight. His face darkened with some powerful emotion, which, nevertheless, he so instantaneously controlled by an effort of his will, that, save at a single moment, its expression might have passed for calmness. After a brief space, the convulsion grew almost imperceptible, and finally subsided into the depths of his nature. When he found the eyes of Hester Prynne fastened on his own, and saw that she appeared to recognise him, he slowly and calmly raised his finger, made a gesture with it in the air, and laid it on his lips.
在他来到市场、赫斯特·普林没有看到他之前，那陌生人的目光早已直勾勾地盯上了她。起初，他的目光很随意，像是一个习惯于洞察他人内心的人，除非外表上的什么东西与内心有关，否则外表便无丝毫重要价值可言。然而很快，他的目光变得敏锐而犀利起来。一阵痛苦的恐惧扭曲了他的面孔，仿佛一条蛇在上面迅速地滑动，因稍停片刻而使那盘踞的形体清晰可见。他的脸色由于某种强大的情感而变得阴暗，不过他立刻用意志力控制住了，因而这种神色只停留了一小会儿，随即他脸上又出现一副平静的表情。转眼之间，那种扭曲抽搐几乎消逝得无影无踪，最终沉积在他天性的深渊里。当他发现赫斯特·普林与他的目光相遇，并认出了他时，便平静而缓慢地伸起一根手指做了个手势，然后把手指放在自己的嘴唇上。
Then, touching the shoulder of a townsman who stood next to him, he addressed him in a formal and courteous manner.
随后，他碰了碰旁边的一个本镇居民的肩膀，用正式客气的态度跟他说话。
"I pray you, good Sir, " said he, "who is this woman? -and wherefore is she here set up to public shame? "
“我请问您，好心的先生，” 他说， “这位妇女是谁？--为什么她要站在这里示众受辱呢？”
"You must needs be a stranger in this region, friend, " answered the townsman, looking curiously at the questioner and his savage companion, "else you would surely have heard of Mistress Hester Prynne, and her evil doings. She hath raised a great scandal, I promise you, in godly Master Dimmesdale's church. "
“朋友你大概不是本地人吧，” 那个人回答，并好奇地打量这个发问的人，和他那貌似还未开化的同伴， “不然的话，你一定听过赫斯特·普林太太，还有她的丑事。我可以向你保证，她在虔诚的丁梅斯代尔牧师的教堂里，引起了一件大丑闻。”
"You say truly, " replied the other. "I am a stranger, and have been a wanderer, sorely against my will. I have met with grievous mishaps by sea and land, and have been long held in bonds among the heathen folk, to the southward; and am now brought hither by this Indian, to be redeemed out of my captivity. Will it please you, therefore, to tell me of Hester Prynne's-have I her name rightly? -of this woman's offences, and what has brought her to yonder scaffold? "
“您说对了，” 那人接道， “我是外地人，迫不得已而四处漂泊。我在海上和陆上屡遭艰险，在南方被那些不信教的人囚禁了很久，如今又被这个印第安人带到这里来找人赎身。您能不能告诉我，赫斯特·普林--名字说对了吗？--这个女人犯了什么过错以至于给带到那座刑台上了呢？”
"Truly, friend; and methinks it must gladden your heart, after your troubles and sojourn in the wilderness, " said the townsman, "to find yourself, at length, in a land where iniquity is searched out, and punished in the sight of rulers and people, as here in our godly New England. Yonder woman, Sir, you must know, was the wife of a certain learned man, English by birth, but who had long dwelt in Amsterdam, whence, some good time agone, he was minded to cross over and cast in his lot with us of the Massachusetts. To this purpose, he sent his wife before him, remaining himself to look after some necessary affairs. Marry, good Sir, in some two years, or less, that the woman has been a dweller here in Boston, no tidings have come of this learned gentleman, Master Prynne; and his young wife, look you, being left to her own misguidance" -
镇上的人说道： “说实话，朋友，我想您在蛮荒之地历经千辛万苦之后，终于来到我们这块敬仰上帝的新英格兰，心里一定挺高兴的吧。在这里，一切罪恶都要被当众揭发，在长官和百姓面前加以惩罚。那上边站着的女人嘛，先生，你应该知道，她是一个有学问的人的妻子。他在英国出生，但在阿姆斯特丹长期定居，很久之前决心漂洋过海，搬到我们马萨诸塞这儿来。为此，他先把他妻子送来，自己留在那边处理一些必要的事务。天啊，好心的先生，差不多两年的时间里，也许还没那么久呢，这女人一直是我们波士顿的居民，那位学者普林先生却始终没有一点音讯。后来他这位年轻的老婆，你看，就误入歧途了--”
"Ah! -aha! -I conceive you, " said the stranger, with a bitter smile. "So learned a man as you speak of should have learned this too in his books. And who, by your favour, Sir, may be the father of yonder babe-it is some three or four months old, I should judge-which Mistress Prynne is holding in her arms? "
“啊！啊哈！明白了。” 那陌生人苦笑着说， “照您说的，那位饱学之士本应在书本中就学到这一点了。那么，先生您能不能顺便告诉我一下，谁是那婴儿的父亲呢？我看啊，普林太太怀里抱着的那个孩子，大概有三四个月大了吧。”
"Of a truth, friend, that matter remaineth a riddle; and the Daniel who shall expound it is yet a-wanting, " answered the townsman. "Madam Hester absolutely refuseth to speak, and the magistrates have laid their heads together in vain. Peradventure the guilty one stands looking on at this sad spectacle, unknown of man, and forgetting that God sees him. "
“说实话，朋友，那还是个谜呢。像丹尼尔那样能揭开谜底的人，我们这儿还没有哪，” 那个镇上人回答说。 “赫斯特太太守口如瓶，官爷们就算再挖空心思，想要弄清楚是怎么回事，那也是白费劲儿。说不定那个罪人正站在哪儿，注视着这让人伤心的场面呢。别人还不知道是他干的，不过他可别忘了，上帝正盯着呢。”
"The learned man, " observed the stranger, with another smile, "should come himself, to look into the mystery. "
“那个学者，” 陌生人冷笑着说， “应该亲自来调查调查这桩奇案。”
"It behooves him well, if he be still in life, " responded the townsman. "Now, good Sir, our Massachusetts magistracy, bethinking themselves that this woman is youthful and fair, and doubtless was strongly tempted to her fall-and that, moreover, as is most likely, her husband may be at the bottom of the sea-they have not been bold to put in force the extremity of our righteous law against her. The penalty thereof is death. But in their great mercy and tenderness of heart, they have doomed Mistress Prynne to stand only a space of three hours on the platform of the pillory, and then and thereafter, for the remainder of her natural life, to wear a mark of shame upon her bosom.
“要是他还活着，是该由他来办的。” 那镇上人附和道。 “好心的先生，现在我们马萨诸塞治安团认为，这个女人如此年轻貌美，毫无疑问是受了极大的诱惑才堕落的。更何况，她的丈夫很可能已经葬身海底，那些当官的不大敢用我们正义的法律强制判处她极刑。论罪，她是该处死的。可是，他们心肠太软，只判普林太太在刑台站三个小时，并且在她的有生之年，胸前要永远佩戴一个耻辱的标记。”
"A wise sentence! " remarked the stranger, gravely bowing his head. "Thus she will be a living sermon against sin, until the ignominious letter be engraved upon her tombstone. It irks me, nevertheless, that the partner of her iniquity should not, at least, stand on the scaffold by her side. But he will be known! -he will be known! -he will be known! " He bowed courteously to the communicative townsman, and, whispering a few words to his Indian attendant, they both made their way through the crowd.
“果然是明智的判决！” 陌生人沉重地垂下头说道。 “这样一来，她就成了告诫人们抵制罪恶的活生生的例子，直到那个耻辱的字母刻到她的墓碑上为止。不过，我最受不了的是，那个和她共同犯下罪孽的人，至少也应该陪她一起在刑台上站着才对啊。反正他会让人知道的！会让人知道的！他一定会让人知道的！” 陌生人向那健谈的镇上人恭恭敬敬地鞠了一躬，又跟他的印第安随从耳语了几句，便双双穿过人群到前边去了。
While this passed, Hester Prynne had been standing on her pedestal, still with a fixed gaze towards the stranger; so fixed a gaze, that, at moments of intense absorption, all other objects in the visible world seemed to vanish, leaving only him and her.
在这段时间里，赫斯特·普林一直站在刑台上，牢牢盯着那陌生人；她的注意力完全集中到他身上，一时间她视线内所有其他的东西全都从眼前消失了，只剩下了他和她两个人。
Such an interview, perhaps, would have been more terrible than even to meet him as she now did, with the hot, midday sun burning down upon her face, and lighting up its shame; with the scarlet token of infamy on her breast; with the sin-born infant in her arms; with a whole people, drawn forth as to a festival, staring at the features that should have been seen only in the quiet gleam of the fireside, in the happy shadow of a home, or beneath a matronly veil, at church. Dreadful as it was, she was conscious of a shelter in the presence of these thousand witnesses. It was better to stand thus, with so many betwixt him and her, than to greet him, face to face, they two alone. She fled for refuge, as it were, to the public exposure, and dreaded the moment when its protection should be withdrawn from her. Involved in these thoughts, she scarcely heard a voice behind her, until it had repeated her name more than once, in a loud and solemn tone, audible to the whole multitude.
或许，同现在的情形相比，在另一种场合同他邂逅要更加可怕。她的姿容，原本应该出现在壁炉旁恬静的柔光里、家庭中温馨的隐蔽处，或是戴着庄重的面纱出现在教堂里。可眼下，她在聚拢来的全镇人面前，被大家仿佛看热闹似的死盯着。正午的炎炎烈日烧灼着她的面容，照亮了她脸上的耻辱，她胸前佩戴着丑陋的鲜红标记，她怀中抱着因罪孽而生下的婴儿。此情此景虽然可怕，但她却感到，这数以千计的旁观者的存在，倒是一种庇护。这样站着就好了，他们之间虽然隔着这么多人，可总比只有他们两个面对面寒暄要好受一些。可以说，这种示众场合成了她所寻求的庇护，她担心不知何时这种保护会从她身边消失。她的脑海充满了种种念头，对于她身后传来的话语竟然充耳不闻。直到后来，那严肃的话音越来越高，并一再重复她的名字，使得在场所有的人都听得一清二楚。
"Hearken unto me, Hester Prynne! " said the voice.
“听我说，赫斯特·普林！” 那声音喊道。
It has already been noticed that directly over the platform on which Hester Prynne stood was a kind of balcony, or open gallery, appended to the meeting-house. It was the place whence proclamations were wont to be made, amidst an assemblage of the magistracy, with all the ceremonial that attended such public observances in those days. Here, to witness the scene which we are describing, sat Governor Bellingham himself, with four sergeants about his chair, bearing halberds, as a guard of honour. He wore a dark feather in his hat, a border of embroidery on his cloak, and a black velvet tunic beneath; a gentleman advanced in years, with a hard experience written in his wrinkles. He was not ill fitted to be the head and representative of a community, which owed its origin and progress, and its present state of development, not to the impulses of youth, but to the stern and tempered energies of manhood and the sombre sagacity of age; accomplishing so much, precisely because it imagined and hoped so little. The other eminent characters, by whom the chief ruler was surrounded, were distinguished by a dignity of mien, belonging to a period when the forms of authority were felt to possess the sacredness of Divine institutions. They were, doubtless, good men, just and sage. But, out of the whole human family, it would not have been easy to select the same number of wise and virtuous persons, who should be less capable of sitting in judgment on an erring woman's heart, and disentangling its mesh of good and evil, than the sages of rigid aspect towards whom Hester Prynne now turned her face. She seemed conscious, indeed, that whatever sympathy she might expect lay in the larger and warmer heart of the multitude; for, as she lifted her eyes towards the balcony, the unhappy woman grew pale and trembled. The voice which had called her attention was that of the reverend and famous John Wilson, the eldest clergyman of Boston, a great scholar, like most of his contemporaries in the profession, and withal a man of kind and genial spirit. This last attribute, however, had been less carefully developed than his intellectual gifts, and was, in truth, rather a matter of shame than self-congratulation with him. There he stood, with a border of grizzled locks beneath his skull-cap; while his grey eyes, accustomed to the shaded light of his study, were winking, like those of Hester's infant, in the unadulterated sunshine. He looked like the darkly engraved portraits which we see prefixed to old volumes of sermons; and had no more right than one of those portraits would have to step forth, as he now did, and meddle with a question of human guilt, passion, and anguish.
前面已经提过，就在赫斯特·普林所站的高台正上方，有一处阳台，或者说是露天走廊，从议事厅延伸出来。当年，在地方长官集会时，如果要发布什么公告，需要镇民都来出席聆听，就会在这里举行种种仪式。今天，为了目睹我们上面所描写的场面，贝林厄姆总督亲自坐镇，椅子后面站着四个持戟的警卫充当仪仗。他的帽子上插着一支黑羽毛，披风上绣着花边，里面衬着黑丝绒的紧身衣；他是一位中年的绅士，曾经艰苦的经历都深深烙印在皱纹里。他出任此地区的首脑和代表当之无愧，因为这个殖民地的起源和发展及其现状，并非源自青春的鲁莽冲动，而是有赖于成年人的坚毅而有节制的精力，以及经历过岁月洗礼之人的权谋和手腕。他们所以能成就颇多，恰恰是因为他们少有幻想和期望。总督周围还有其他显要，个个都威风凛凛，正因他们都属于那样一个年代，那时政府机构的组织形式具有神权制度的神圣性。毫无疑问，他们都是善良、正义且充满智慧的人。然而，要从整个人类大家庭里，选出同等数量的英明贤德之士绝非易事，因为他们将要坐下来审判一个犯罪女人的心灵，并分清善恶交错的盘结。比起赫斯特·普林此时转身面对的这群严厉圣人，他们定然做不到那么出色。确实，她似乎意识到，不管期待着什么样的同情，它们都只能从人们博大温暖的胸怀中升起。因为当她抬眼朝阳台上望去时，这个不幸的女人立即变得面色苍白，全身战栗。德高望重的约翰·威尔逊牧师刚才的呼喊声引起了她的注意。他是波士顿神职人员中年事最高的一位，如同大部分从事这个职业的同辈人一样，他是一位伟大的学者，而且亲切和蔼。不过，他这种待人亲切和蔼的心肠，并没有像他那理智的头脑一样得到认真的培养。事实上，对他来说，这种好心肠并不值得自我庆幸，反而更应该被视作是一种耻辱。他站在那里，无边便帽下露出一绺灰白的假发。他那双习惯了书斋朦胧光线的灰色眼睛，在纯净的阳光中，也像赫斯特的婴儿一样眨动着。他看上去就像我们在古老经书的扉页上见过的黑色木刻肖像。而此时，当他迈步向前干涉着人类的罪孽、情欲和苦恼时，他的权力也并不比那些肖像多。
"Hester Prynne, " said the clergyman, "I have striven with my young brother here, under whose preaching of the word you have been privileged to sit, " -here Mr. Wilson laid his hand on the shoulder of a pale young man beside him- "I have sought, I say, to persuade this godly youth, that he should deal with you, here in the face of Heaven, and before these wise and upright rulers, and in hearing of all the people, as touching the vileness and blackness of your sin. Knowing your natural temper better than I, he could the better judge what arguments to use, whether of tenderness or terror, such as might prevail over your hardness and obstinacy; insomuch that you should no longer hide the name of him who tempted you to this grievous fall. But he opposes to me (with a young man's over-softness, albeit wise beyond his years) that it were wronging the very nature of woman to force her to lay open her heart's secrets in such broad daylight, and in the presence of so great a multitude. Truly, as I sought to convince him, the shame lay in the commission of the sin, and not in the showing of it forth. What say you to it, once again, Brother Dimmesdale? Must it be thou, or I, that shall deal with this poor sinner's soul? "
“赫斯特·普林，” 牧师说道， “我已经和这位年轻的兄弟讨论过，由他来为你进行布道，” 此时，威尔逊先生把手放到了身边一个脸色苍白的年轻人肩头。 “我说，我曾经试图说服这位虔诚的青年，在神圣的苍穹之下，在这些英明正直的长官面前，在全体人民的旁听下，来处理你的问题，触及你罪孽中邪恶而阴暗的一面。他比我更了解你的脾性，所以应该是个更合格的法官，更清楚应该用刚柔相济的辞令，克服你的桀骜不驯，使你不再隐瞒那个诱惑你、并使你如此堕落的人的名字。然而， (尽管他的才华超出了年龄，却仍有年轻人的优柔) ，他同我争辩道，强制一个妇女在光天化日，大庭广众之中，敞开自己内心的隐私，对于女性来说是非常不公正的。确实，正如我试图说服他时所讲的那样，只有在犯下罪孽过程中才会觉得羞愧，而在事后的袒露中则不然。你再说一遍吧，丁梅斯代尔兄弟，你对此看法如何？到底该由你还是由我，去探究这个可怜罪人的灵魂呢？”
There was a murmur among the dignified and reverend occupants of the balcony; and Governor Bellingham gave expression to its purport, speaking in an authoritative voice, although tempered with respect towards the youthful clergyman whom he addressed.
阳台上那些高贵的、受人敬重的先生们彼此交头接耳，贝林厄姆总督对此作出了表示，他说话时语气庄重而威严，不过仍含有对他指认的那位年轻牧师的尊敬。
"Good Master Dimmesdale, " said he, "the responsibility of this woman's soul lies greatly with you. It behooves you, therefore, to exhort her to repentance, and to confession, as a proof and consequence thereof. "
“善良的丁梅斯代尔牧师先生，” 他说， “你对这女人的灵魂负有极大的责任。因此，应该由你亲自来规劝她悔过和坦白，以证明你的确尽职尽责。”
The directness of this appeal drew the eyes of the whole crowd upon the Reverend Mr Dimmesdale; a young clergyman who had come from one of the great English universities, bringing all the learning of the age into our wild forest-land. His eloquence and religious fervour had already given the earnest of high eminence in his profession. He was a person of very striking aspect, with a white, lofty, and impending brow, large, brown, melancholy eyes, and a mouth which, unless when he forcibly compressed it, was apt to be tremulous, expressing both nervous sensibility and a vast power of self-restraint. Notwithstanding his high native gifts and scholar-like attainments, there was an air about this young minister-an apprehensive, a startled, a half-frightened look-as of a being who felt himself quite astray and at a loss in the pathway of human existence, and could only be at ease in some seclusion of his own. Therefore, so far as his duties would permit, he trod in the shadowy bypaths, and thus kept himself simple and childlike, coming forth, when occasion was, with a freshness, and fragrance, and dewy purity of thought, which, as many people said, affected them like the speech of an angel.
这番直截了当的要求，把整个人群的目光都吸引到了丁梅斯代尔牧师的身上。他是个毕业于英国名牌大学的年轻牧师，把当时的全部学识都带到了我们这片荒野密林。他雄辩的口才和对宗教的热情，早已预示了他在职业上将要飞黄腾达。他的外貌很吸引人：他有着高耸、白皙的额头和一双忧郁深邃的褐色大眼，至于嘴唇，若不是刻意紧闭，很容易就会颤抖，表明他既有神经质的敏感又有极大的自制力。尽管有着极高的天赋和学者般的造诣，这位年轻的牧师身上却流露出一种忧心忡忡和惊慌失措的神色，就像一个人在人生道路上偏离了方向，充满了迷惘，只有把自己封闭起来才觉得安然。因此，只要职责允许，他就会在浓荫密布的小径上漫步，借以保持他自己的纯真和稚气。必要时，他还会带着清新芬芳和露水般晶莹纯洁的思想迈步走出来，正如许多人所说，用天使般的话语影响着他们。
Such was the young man whom the Reverend Mr. Wilson and the Governor had introduced so openly to the public notice, bidding him speak, in the hearing of all men, to that mystery of a woman's soul, so sacred even in its pollution. The trying nature of his position drove the blood from his cheek, and made his lips tremulous.
威尔逊牧师先生和总督大人为引起大家注意而作公开介绍的，正是这样一个年轻人。他们要他在万众瞩目下质问那个女人灵魂中的秘密--她的灵魂虽然受到玷污，却依然神圣不可侵犯。处于此种境地的他，面颊失去血色，双唇不停地颤抖。
"Speak to the woman, my brother, " said Mr. Wilson. "It is of moment to her soul, and therefore, as the worshipful Governor says, momentous to thine own, in whose charge hers is. Exhort her to confess the truth! "
“跟这个女人谈谈吧，我的兄弟，” 威尔逊先生说。 “这是她灵魂的关键时刻，正如我们崇敬的总督大人所说，由于你对她的灵魂负有职责，因此，这对你自己的灵魂也同样是关键时刻。劝诫她招认实情吧！”
The Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale bent his head, in silent prayer, as it seemed, and then came forward.
丁梅斯代尔牧师先生低下头去，像是在默默祈祷，然后便迈步向前。
"Hester Prynne, " said he, leaning over the balcony, and looking down steadfastly into her eyes, "thou hearest what this good man says, and seest the accountability under which I labour. If thou feelest it to be for thy soul's peace, and that thy earthly punishment will thereby be made more effectual to salvation, I charge thee to speak out the name of thy fellow-sinner and fellow-sufferer! Be not silent from any mistaken pity and tenderness for him; for, believe me, Hester, though he were to step down from a high place, and stand there beside thee, on thy pedestal of shame, yet better were it so, than to hide a guilty heart through life. What can thy silence do for him, except it tempt him-yea, compel him, as it were-to add hypocrisy to sin? Heaven hath granted thee an open ignominy, that thereby thou mayest work out an open triumph over the evil within thee, and the sorrow without. Take heed how thou deniest to him-who, perchance, hath not the courage to grasp it for himself-the bitter, but wholesome, cup that is now presented to thy lips! "
“赫斯特·普林，” 他俯身探出阳台，坚定地朝下凝视着她的眼睛说道， “你已经听到了这位好心的先生所讲的话，也已经看到了我所肩负的重任。如果你觉得这样做能让灵魂安宁，觉得现在所受的惩罚更能拯救你的灵魂，那么我就责令你说出和你一起犯下罪孽、并承受罪过的人吧！不要因为对他抱有错误的怜悯和慈悲而保持沉默。请你相信我的话，赫斯特，虽然那样一来，他就要从高位上走下来，站到你的身边，和你同受示众之辱，但总比终生埋藏着一颗罪恶的心灵要好受得多。你的沉默对他有何用？无非是诱引他--是的，事实上是迫使他--在罪孽上再蒙以虚伪？上天已经赐予你示众的机会，那么你就该光明正大地站胜你内心的邪恶和外在的悲伤。现在呈献到你唇边的酒，虽然苦涩却大有裨益。那个人或许缺乏勇气接过来端给自己，可是我要请你注意，不要阻止他去接受啊！”
The young pastor's voice was tremulously sweet, rich, deep, and broken. The feeling that it so evidently manifested, rather than the direct purport of the words, caused it to vibrate within all hearts, and brought the listeners into one accord of sympathy. Even the poor baby at Hester's bosom, was affected by the same influence; for it directed its hitherto vacant gaze towards Mr. Dimmesdale, and held up its little arms, with a half-pleased, half-plaintive murmur. So powerful seemed the minister's appeal that the people could not believe but that Hester Prynne would speak out the guilty name; or else that the guilty one himself, in whatever high or lowly place he stood, would be drawn forth by an inward and inevitable necessity, and compelled to ascend the scaffold. Hester shook her head.
青年牧师的话音不断颤抖着，听起来那么甜美、丰润、深沉，实在撼人心肺。那明显表达出来的感情，要比言词的直接涵义更能扣人心弦，因此博得了听众一致的同情。甚至赫斯特怀中那可怜的婴儿都受到了同样的感染：她将依旧还很茫然的目光投向丁梅斯代尔先生，还举起两条小胳膊，发出一阵似忧似喜的声音。牧师的规劝实在很有说服力，以致在场所有人都相信，赫斯特·普林就要说出那罪人的名字了。否则，那个犯罪的男人，不论身处的地位或高或低，也都会受内心不可避免的力量推动，而被迫登上刑台。赫斯特摇了摇头。
"Woman, transgress not beyond the limits of Heaven's mercy! " cried the Reverend Mr. Wilson, more harshly than before. "That little babe hath been gifted with a voice, to second and confirm the counsel which thou hast heard. Speak out the name! That, and thy repentance, may avail to take the scarlet letter off thy breast. "
“女人啊，你违背上天的仁慈可不要超过限度！” 威尔逊牧师先生更加严厉地嚷道。 “你那小小的婴儿都用她那天赐的声音，来附和并肯定你所听到的规劝了。把那人的名字说出来吧！那样一来，加上你的悔改，会有助于从你胸前取下那红字。”
"Never! " replied Hester Prynne, looking, not at Mr. Wilson, but into the deep and troubled eyes of the younger clergyman. "It is too deeply branded. Ye cannot take it off. And would that I might endure his agony, as well as mine! "
“我永远不会说的！” 赫斯特·普林回答说，她的眼睛没有去看威尔逊先生，而是凝视着那年轻牧师深邃而忧郁的眼睛。 “这红字烙得太深了。你是取不下来的。但愿我能在忍受我的痛苦，同时也替他承受他的痛苦！”
"Speak, woman! " said another voice, coldly and sternly, proceeding from the crowd about the scaffold. "Speak; and give your child a father! "
“说吧，女人！” 从刑台附近的人群中发出的另一个冷酷的声音。 “说出来吧，让你的孩子有一个父亲！”
"I will not speak! " answered Hester, turning pale as death, but responding to this voice, which she too surely recognized. "And my child must seek a heavenly Father; she shall never know an earthly one! "
“我不说！” 赫斯特回答着，她的脸色虽然变得像死人一样惨白，但还是对那个她确认无疑的声音作出了答复。 “我的孩子应该追求一个天上的父亲！她将永远不会知道她有一个世俗的父亲！”
"She will not speak! " murmured Mr. Dimmesdale, who, leaning over the balcony, with his hand upon his heart, had awaited the result of his appeal. He now drew back, with a long respiration. "Wondrous strength and generosity of a woman's heart! She will not speak! "
“她不肯说！” 丁梅斯代尔先生低声道。他一直俯身探出阳台，一只手捂住心口，等候着听他呼吁的结果。这时他长长吐了一口气，缩回了身体。 “这个女人的心胸是多么坚强和宽阔啊！她不肯说！”
Discerning the impractible state of the poor culprit's mind, the elder clergyman, who had carefully prepared himself for the occasion, addressed to the multitude a discourse on sin, in all its branches, but with continual reference to the ignominious letter. So forcibly did he dwell upon this symbol, for the hour or more during which his periods were rolling over the people's heads, that it assumed new terrors in their imagination, and seemed to derive its scarlet hue from the flames of the infernal pit. Hester Prynne, meanwhile, kept her place upon the pedestal of shame, with glazed eyes, and an air of weary indifference. She had borne, that morning, all that nature could endure; and as her temperament was not of the order that escapes from too intense suffering by a swoon, her spirit could only shelter itself beneath a stony crust of insensibility, while the faculties of animal life remained entire. In this state, the voice of the preacher thundered remorselessly, but unavailingly, upon her ears. The infant, during the latter portion of her ordeal, pierced the air with its wailings and screams; she strove to hush it, mechanically, but seemed scarcely to sympathise with its trouble. With the same hard demeanour, she was led back to prison, and vanished from the public gaze within its iron-clamped portal. It was whispered, by those who peered after her, that the scarlet letter threw a lurid gleam along the dark passage-way of the interior.
虽然看到这可怜的罪人一意孤行，年长的牧师却对此早已成竹在胸，他向人群发表了一通论述罪恶的演讲，列举了形形色色的罪过，并且不断涉及那耻辱的字母。他在长达一个多小时的演讲中，详尽地叙述着这个标记，他那强有力的言辞在人们耳边反复轰鸣，并在他们的心头引起了新的恐惧，似乎那鲜红的颜色乃是来源于地狱之火。与此同时，赫斯特·普林保持着一种疲惫的淡然神情，在耻辱的邢台上，她凝眸端立。那天早晨，她忍受了人性所能承担的一切。由于她的气质决定了她不会以昏厥来逃避过于强烈的苦难，她的灵魂只有躲藏在麻木的石质硬壳下，生命的机能才能完好无损。因此，那位布道者的声音虽在她耳畔残酷无情地轰响着，但到头来依旧徒劳无功。在她备受折磨的后一段时间里，婴儿的尖声哭号直贯云霄。她虽有下意识地哄孩子安静下来，但似乎对婴儿的痛痒并没有多少同情。就这样，她以同样僵硬的姿态又给带回了监狱，从众人眼前消失了，走进了钉满铁钉的牢门。人们窥视着她的背影，窃窃私语。她胸前的红字在监狱内黑漆漆的通路上投下了一道血红的闪光。