【经典名著阅读】《红字》第十章（下）
Chapter 10 THE LEECH AND HIS PATIENT第十章 医生和病人
Before Roger Chillingworth could answer, they heard the clear, wild laughter of a young child's voice, proceeding from the adjacent burial-ground. Looking instinctively from the open window- for it was summer-time- the minister beheld Hester Prynne and little Pearl passing along the footpath that traversed the enclosure. Pearl looked as beautiful as the day, but was in one of those moods of perverse merriment which, whenever they occurred, seemed to remove her entirely out of the sphere of sympathy or human contact. She now skipped irreverently from one grave to another; until, coming to the broad, flat, armorial tombstone of a departed worthy- perhaps of Isaac Johnson himself- she began to dance upon it. In reply to her mother's command and entreaty that she would behave more decorously, little Pearl paused to gather the prickly burrs from a tall burdock which grew beside the tomb. Taking a handful of these, she arranged them along the lines of the scarlet letter that decorated the maternal bosom, to which the burrs, as their nature was, tenaciously adhered. Hester did not pluck them off.罗杰·齐灵渥斯还没有来得及回答，就听到从邻近的墓地里传来了一个小孩子的清澈而狂野的笑声。当时正是夏天，牧师不自主地从打开的窗子向外面望去，看到海丝特·白兰和小珠儿在穿越围栏的小径上走着。珠儿的模样如白昼一般美丽，但处于那种调皮任性的兴致之中，每当此刻，她便象完全脱离了人性的共鸣与交往的范围。此时她正大不敬地从一个坟墓跳到另一个坟墓；终于来到一位逝去的大人物——说不定正是艾萨克，约翰逊本人——的宽大、平整、带纹章的墓石跟前，在那上面跳起舞来。听到她母亲又是命令又是恳求地要她放规矩些，小珠儿才不再跳舞，从长在墓旁的一株高大的牛蒡上采集多刺的果实。她摘了满满一把之后，便在缀在母亲胸前的红字周围，沿着笔画一一插满，这些带刺的牛蒡便牢牢地扎在上面了。海丝特并没有把它们取下。
Roger Chillingworth had by this time approached the window, and smiled grimly down. "There is no law, nor reverence for authority, no regard for human ordinances or opinions, right or wrong, mixed up with that child's composition," remarked her, as much to himself as to his companion. "I saw her, the other day, bespatter the Governor himself with water, at the cattle-trough in Spring Lane. What, in Heaven's name, is she? Is the imp altogether evil? Hath she affections? Hath she any discoverable principle of being?"罗杰·齐灵渥斯这时已走到窗前，面带狞笑地向下望着。“在那孩子的气质中，根本没有法律，没有对权威的敬重，对于人类的法令或意向，不管正确与否，也不屑一顾，”他这样讲着，与其说是在同他的同伴谈话，倒更象是自言自语。“有一天，我看到她在春巷的畜槽边，竟然往总督身上泼水。我的天，她究竟是个什么东西呢？这小鬼是不是彻头彻尾地邪恶了？她有感情吗？在她身上能看到什么人性原则吗？
"None- save the freedom of a broken law," answered Mr. Dimmesdale, in a quiet way, as if he had been discussing the point within himself. "Whether capable of good I know not."“完全没有——只有把法律破坏得支离破碎的自由，”丁梅斯代尔先生回答说，其态度之安详，简直象是对此自问自答。“至于能否为善，我可就不得而知了。
The child probably overheard their voices; for, looking up to the window, with a bright, but naughty smile of mirth and intelligence, she threw one of the prickly burrs at the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale. The sensitive clergyman shrunk, with nervous dread, from the light missile. Detecting his emotion, Pearl clapped her little hands, in the most extravagant ecstasy. Hester Prynne, likewise, had involuntarily looked up; and all these four persons, old and young, regarded one another in silence, till the child laughed aloud, and shouted, "Come away, mother! Come away, or yonder old Black Man will catch you! He hath got hold of the minister already. Come away, mother, or he will catch you! But he cannot catch little Pearl!"那孩子可能是远远听到了他俩的声音；因为她抬头看着窗户，面带欢快而聪明的顽皮笑容，朝丁梅斯代尔牧师先生扔上一颗带刺的牛蒡。那敏感的牧师怀着神经质的恐惧，将身子一缩，躲开了那轻飘的飞弹。珠儿发现了他的激动，在极度狂喜之中，拍起了小手。海丝特·白兰也同样禁不住始眼来看；于是这老老少少四个人便默默地互相瞅着；后来，孩子出声笑了，还大叫着——“走吧，妈妈！走吧，要不，那老黑人就抓住你了！他已经抓住了牧师。走吧，妈妈，要不他就抓住你了！可他抓不住小珠儿！
So she drew her mother away, skipping, dancing, and frisking fantastically, among the hillocks of the dead people, like a creature that had nothing in common with a bygone and buried generation, nor owned herself akin to it. It was as if she had been made afresh, out of new elements, and must perforce be permitted to live her own life, and be a law unto herself, without her eccentricities being reckoned to her for a crime.于是她在死者的坟墓间蹦蹦跳跳，欢快雀跃地拽着她母亲走开了，她那出奇的劲头似乎说明她与那逝去并埋葬的一代毫无共同之处，也不承认她自己与他们同属一个族类。仿佛她是由新元素刚刚做成的，因此必得获准去过她自身的生活，并自有其定法，面不能将她的怪异看作是一种罪过。
"There goes a woman," resumed Roger Chillingworth, after a pause, "who, be her demerits what they may, hath none of that mystery of hidden sinfulness which you deem so grievous to be borne. Is Hester Prynne the less miserable, think you, for that scarlet letter on her breast?"“那边走着一个妇人，”罗杰·齐灵渥斯停了一会儿后接着说，“她不论有什么过错，绝不会被你认为如此难以忍受的隐蔽着的负罪感所左右。你看，海丝特·白兰是不是胸前佩戴了那红字，就不那么痛苦了呢？
"I do verily believe it," answered the clergyman. "Nevertheless, I cannot answer for her. There was a look of pain in her face, which I would gladly have been spared the sight of. But still, methinks, it must needs be better for the sufferer to be free to show his pain, as this poor woman Hester is, than to cover it all up in his heart."“我的确十分相信这一点，”牧师回答说。“不过我无法为她作答。她面孔上有一种痛楚的表情，那是我不情愿看到的。话说回来，我认为，一个受折磨的人能够象这可怜的妇人海丝特这样，有自由来表达自己的痛苦，总比全都闷在心里要强。
There was another pause; and the physician began anew to examine and arrange the plants which he had gathered.又是一阵停顿；医生开始重新动手检查和整理他采集来的植物。
"You inquired of me, a little time agone," said he, at length, "my judgment as touching your health."“刚才你在问我，”他终于开口说，“我对你的健康有何看法。
"I did," answered the clergyman, "and would gladly learn it. Speak frankly, I pray you, be it for life or death."“是啊，”牧师回答说，“我很乐于听一听。我请你坦率地讲出来，不管我是该活还是该死。
"Freely, then, and plainly," said the physician, still busy with his plants, but keeping a wary eye on Mr. Dimmesdale, "the disorder is a strange one; not so much in itself, nor as outwardly manifested- in so far, at least, as the symptoms have been laid open to my observation. Looking dally at you, my good sir, and watching the tokens of your aspect, now for months gone by, I should deem you a man sore sick, it may be, yet not so sick but that an instructed and watchful physician might well hope to cure you. But- I know not what to say- the disease is what I seem to know, yet know it not."“那我就坦率直陈吧，”医生说着，一边仍然忙着摆弄他那些药草，一边始终不动声色地睨视着丁梅斯代尔先生，“你的身体失调很奇怪，症候本身并不严重，也不象表现出来的那样厉害——到目前为止，至少我所观察到的症状是如此。我的好先生，我每日都在观察你，注意你的表象，如今已经有几个月过去了，我应该说你是一个病得很重的人，不过也还没有病到连一个训练有素而且克尽职守的医生都感到无望和不治的地步。可是——我不知道说什么才是——这病我似乎知道，可又不明白。
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