【经典名著阅读】《红字》第十七章（中）
Chapter 17 THE PASTOR AND HIS PARISHIONER第十七章 教长和教民
Hester Prynne was now fully sensible of the deep injury for which she was responsible to this unhappy man, in permitting him to lie for so many years, or, indeed, for a single moment, at the mercy of one whose purposes could not be other than malevolent. The very contiguity of his enemy, beneath whatever mask the latter might conceal himself, was enough to disturb the magnetic sphere of a being so sensitive as Arthur Dimmesdale. There had been a period when Hester was less alive to this consideration; or, perhaps, in the misanthropy of her own trouble, she left the minister to bear what she might picture to herself as a more tolerable doom. But of late, since the night of his vigil, all her sympathies towards him had been both softened and invigorated. She now read his heart more accurately. She doubted not, that the continual presence of Roger Chillingworth the secret poison of his malignity, infecting all the air about him- and his authorised interference, as a physician, with the minister's physical and spiritual infirmities- that these bad opportunities had been turned to a cruel purpose. By means of them, the sufferer's conscience had been kept in an irritated state, the tendency of which was, not to cure by wholesome pain, but to disorganise and corrupt his spiritual being. Its result, on earth, could hardly fail to be insanity, and hereafter, that eternal alienation from the Good and True, of which madness is perhaps the earthly type.海丝特·白兰如今才充分意识到，这个不幸的男人所受的伤害有多深，她对此是有责任的，她不该允许那个一心抱着恶毒动机的人在他身边摆布他这么些年，其实即使是一瞬间也不该的。那个心怀叵测的人不管蒙上什么面具来遮掩，仅仅接近一下象阿瑟，丁梅斯代尔那样敏感的人，就足以扰乱他的方寸了。有一段时间，海丝特没怎么动脑筋考虑这一点；也许是因为她自己痛不欲生，而把他的厄运看得比较容易忍受，也就没去过问他。但自从他那天晚上夜游以来，最近她对他的全部同情都变得又温柔又有力了。如今她对他的心看得更准了。她毫不怀疑，罗杰·齐灵渥斯没日没夜地守在他身边，他那不可告人的险恶用心毒化了他周围的气氛，他那医生的身分对牧师的身心痈疾具有权威性的影响——这一切都构成了达到残酷目的的可乘之机。凡此种种，使那个受苦人的良心始终处于一种烦躁状态，长此以往，不但不会以有益健康的痛苦治愈他，反而会紊乱和腐蚀他的精神生命。其结果，他在世间难以不弄得精神错乱，之后则与“真”和“善”永远绝缘，其现世的表现就是疯狂。
Such was the ruin to which she had brought the man, once- nay, why should we not speak it?- still so passionately loved! Hester felt that the sacrifice of the clergyman's good name, and death itself, as she had already told Roger Chillingworth, would have been infinitely preferable to the alternative which she had taken upon herself to choose. And now, rather than have had this grievous wrong to confess, she would gladly have lain down on the forest-leaves, and died there, at Arthur Dimmesdale's feet.这就是她带给那个男人的毁灭，而那个男人正是她一度——唉，我们何必不直说呢？——而且至今仍满怀激情地爱恋着的！海丝特觉得，正如她最近对罗杰·齐灵渥斯所说，牺牲掉牧师的好名声，甚至让他死掉，都比她原先所选择的途径要强得多。如今，与其把这极其严重的错误坦白出来，她宁可高高兴兴地躺在这林中落叶之上，死在阿瑟·丁梅斯代尔脚旁。
"O Arthur," cried she, "forgive me! In all things else, I have striven to be true! Truth was the one virtue which I might have held fast, and did hold fast, through all extremity; save when thy good- thy life thy fame- were put in question! Then I consented to a deception. But a lie is never good, even though death threaten on the other side! Dost thou not see what I would say? That old man!- the physician!- he whom they call Roger Chillingworth!- he was my husband!"“啊，阿瑟，”她叫道，“原谅我吧！不管我有什么不好，我可一直想努力作一个诚实的人！诚实是我可以仅守的美德，而且不管有什么艰难险阻，我也确实牢牢守住了这一美德；只有一条例外，那就是当你的利益、你的生命、你的名誉受到挑战的时候！只有在这种时候，我才同意采取欺骗的手段。但说谎永远不能算是好事，哪怕退路是死亡的威胁！你难道还不明白我要说的话吗？那个老人！——那个医生！——就是人们叫他罗杰·齐灵渥斯的那个人！——他是我过去的丈夫！”
The minister looked at her, for an instant, with all that violence of passion, which- intermixed, in more shapes than one, with his higher, purer, softer qualities- was, in fact, the portion of him which the Devil claimed, and through which he sought to win the rest. Never was there a blacker or a fiercer frown than Hester now encountered. For the brief space that it lasted, it was a dark transfiguration. But his character had been so much enfeebled by suffering, that even its lower energies were incapable of more than a temporary struggle. He sank down on the ground, and buried his face in his hands.牧师以他的激情的全部冲动，看了她一会儿，这种激情以各种形态同他那比较高尚、比较纯洁、比较温柔的品德混杂在一起，事实上是恶魔在他身上所占领的阵地，并借以战胜其它的那部分。海丝特还从来没见过这么阴暗、这么凶猛的脸色。在那理额皱眉的刹那间，那可真是一种阴森的变脸。但他本人已经给折磨得十分虚弱，即使这种较低劣的表现也只能是转瞬即逝的挣扎。他一屁股坐在地上，把脸埋在双手之中。
"I might have known it," murmured he. "I did know it! Was not the secret told me, in the natural recoil of my heart, at the first sight of him, and as often as I have seen him since? Why did I not understand? O Hester Prynne, thou little, little knowest all the horror of this thing! And the shame!- the indelicacy!- the horrible ugliness of this exposure of a sick and guilty heart to the very eye that would gloat over it? Woman, woman, thou are accountable for this! I cannot forgive thee!"“我早就该明白了，”他幽幽地说。“我其实早就知道了！从我第一眼看到他起，直到后来每次见到他，我的心都会退缩，这难道不是向我泄露了秘密吗？我怎么还没明白呢？噢，海丝特·白兰，你简直，你根本不懂这件事有多可怕！有多无耻！——有多粗鄙！——竟然把一颗病弱和犯罪的心暴露给幸灾乐祸地注视着的眼睛，丑得有多可怕啊！女人啊，女人啊，你要对此负责的！我不能原谅你！”
"Thou shalt forgive me!" cried Hester, flinging herself on the fallen leaves beside him. "Let God punish! Thou shalt forgive!"“你应当原谅我！”海丝特一边叫着，一边扑倒在落叶上，躺在他身边。“让上帝来惩罚吧！你得原谅我！”
With sudden and desperate tenderness, she threw her arms around him, and pressed his head against her bosom; little caring though his cheek rested on the scarlet letter. He would have released himself, but strove in vain to do so. Hester would not set him free, lest he should look her sternly in the face. All the world had frowned on her- for seven long years had it frowned upon this lonely woman- and still she bore it all, nor ever once turned away her firm, sad eyes. Heaven, likewise, had frowned upon her, and she had not died. But the frown of this pale, weak, sinful, and sorrow-stricken man was what Hester could not bear, and live!她怀着突然和绝望的柔情，猛地伸出两臂搂住了他，并且把他的头靠在她胸前；她没有顾及这样一来，他的面颊恰好贴在那红字上。他本想抽身出来，但是动弹不得。海丝特不肯放松他，以免看见他盯望着她面孔的那种严厉表情。整整七年，全世界都曾经对她，对她这孤苦无依的女人，皱起眉头，但她还是挺过来了，从来没有一次掉转开她那坚定而伤心的目光。上天也同样向她皱眉，但她活了过来。然而，这个苍白虚弱、负罪而伤透心的男人的皱眉，却是海丝特所忍受不了，会让她死掉的！
页:
[1]