【经典名著阅读】《红字》第十九章（上）
Chapter 19 THE CHILD AT THE BROOK-SIDE第十九章 溪边的孩子
"THOU wilt love her dearly," repeated Hester Prynne, as she and the minister sat watching little Pearl. "Dost thou not think her beautiful? And see with what natural skill she has made those simple flowers adorn her! Had she gathered pearls, and diamonds, and rubies, in the wood, they could not have become her better. She is a splendid child! But I know whose brow she has!"“你会十分喜爱她的，”海丝特·白兰又说了下遍，这时她和牧师正坐在那里瞅着小珠儿。“你难道不认为她很美吗？你看，她天生有多大的本事用那些普通的花朵来装扮自己啊！就算她能在林中采到珍珠、钻石和红宝石，也不会把自己打扮得比这更漂亮了。她是一个十分出色的孩子！但我知道她的额头长得象谁！”
"Dost thou know, Hester," said Arthur Dimmesdale, with an unquiet smile, "that this dear child, tripping about always at thy side, hath caused me many an alarm? Methought- O Hester, what a thought is that, and how terrible to dread it!- that my own features were partly repeated in her face, and so strikingly that the world might see them! But she is mostly thine!"“你知道，海丝特，”阿瑟·丁梅斯代尔带着不安的微笑说， “这个总是在你身边蹦蹦跳跳的可爱的孩子，曾经多次引起我心惊肉跳吗？我认为，——噢，海丝特，这是个什么样的念头，而且产生这种顾虑又是多么可怕啊！——我自己的一部分面容重现在她的脸上，而且那么酷似，我真怕人们会认出来！不过，她主要还是象你！”
"No, no! Not mostly!" answered the mother, with a tender smile. "A little longer and thou needest not be afraid to trace whose child she is. But how strangely beautiful she looks, with those wild flowers in her hair! It is as if one of the fairies, whom we left in our dear old England, had decked her out to meet us."“不，不！不是主要象我！”做母亲的露出温柔的微笑回答说。“过不多久，你就不必担心人们会追究她是谁的孩子了。她头发上戴着那些野花，显得她的模样漂亮得多么不平常啊！仿佛有一个被我们留在我们亲爱的老英格兰的仙子，把自己打扮好，跑来迎接我们了。”
It was with a feeling which neither of them had ever before experienced, that they sat and watched Pearl's slow advance. In her was visible the tie that united them. She had been offered to the world, these seven years past, as the living hieroglyphic, in which was revealed the secret they so darkly sought to hide- all written in this symbol- all plainly manifest- had there been a prophet or magician skilled to read the character of flame! And Pearl was the oneness of their being. Be the foregone evil what it might, how could they doubt that their earthly lives and future destinies were conjoined, when they beheld at once the material union, and the spiritual idea, in whom they met, and were to dwell immortally together? Thoughts like these- and perhaps other thoughts, which they did not acknowledge or define- threw an awe about the child, as she came onward.他俩坐在那里，正是怀着一种他们谁也没有体验过的感情来注视着珠儿慢慢走来。在她身上能够看出把他俩连系在一起的纽带。过去这七年里，她作为如同有生命的象形文字，被奉献给人类社会，在她身上揭示了他们竭力要隐藏的秘密，要是有一位先知或法师有本领破解这个火焰般的文字的话，就会懂得一切全都写在这个象征之中，一切全都显示得明明白自！而珠儿就是他俩生命的合而为一。不管以往的邪恶可能是什么，当他们一起看到，由他们交汇并将永在一起共存的肉体结晶和精神概念时，他们怎么可能会怀疑，他们在凡世的生命和未来的命运已经密不可分呢？象这样的想法，以及其它一些他们没有承认或尚未定形的可能的想法，当那孩子向前走着的时候，在她身上投射出一种使人敬畏的色彩。
"Let her see nothing strange- no passion nor eagerness- in thy way of accosting her," whispered Hester. "Our Pearl is a fitful and fantastic little elf, sometimes. Especially, she is seldom tolerant of emotion, when she does not fully comprehend the why and wherefore. But the child hath strong affections! She loves me, and will love thee!"“你跟她搭话的时候，别让她看出什么不同寻常的地方，既不要太热情，也不要太急切，”海丝特轻声说。“我们的珠儿有时候是个一阵阵让人捉摸不定的小精灵。尤其是在她不大明白缘由的时候，很难接受别人的激情。不过，这孩子有着强烈的爱！她爱我，而且也会爱你的！”
"Thou canst not think," said the minister, glancing aside at Hester Prynne, "how my heart dreads this interview, and yearns for it! But, in truth, as I already told thee, children are not readily won to be familiar with me. They will not climb my knee, nor prattle in my ear, nor answer to my smile; but stand apart, and eye me strangely. Even little babes, when I take them in my arms, weep bitterly. Yet Pearl, twice in her little lifetime, hath been kind to me! The first time- thou knowest it well! The last was when thou ledst her with thee to the house of yonder stern old Governor."“你难以想象，”牧师说着，偏过头来瞥了一眼海丝特·白兰，“我又害怕这次见面，又盼着这次见面的那种心理！不过，说实话，就象我刚才跟你说的，孩子们是不大乐于同我亲近的。他们不会爬上我的膝头，不肯和我说悄悄话，也不愿回报我的微笑，而只是远远地站着，奇怪地打量着我。连小小的婴儿都一样；我把他们抱在怀里时，他们就使劲哭。可珠儿长这么大，竟有两次对我特别好！头一次，——你知道得很清楚！第二次就是你领她到板着面孔的老总督的那所房子里去的时候。”
"And thou didst plead so bravely in her behalf and mine!" answered the mother. "I remember it; and so shall little Pearl. Fear nothing! She may be strange and shy at first, but will soon learn to love thee!"“那次你大胆地为了她和我进行了申辩！”做母亲的回答。“我记得清清楚楚，小珠儿也会记得的。别怕！她开头也许会认生、害躁，但很快就会爱起你来的！”
By this time Pearl had reached the margin of the brook, and stood on the farther side, gazing silently at Hester and the clergyman, who still sat together on the mossy tree-trunk, waiting to receive her. Just where she had paused, the brook chanced to form a pool, so smooth and quiet that it reflected a perfect image of her little figure, with all the brilliant picturesqueness of her beauty, in its adornment of flowers and wreathed foliage, but more refined and spiritualised than the reality. This image, so nearly identical with the living Pearl, seemed to communicate somewhat of its own shadowy and intangible quality to the child herself. It was strange, the way in which Pearl stood, looking so steadfastly at them through the dim medium of the forest-gloom; herself, meanwhile, all glorified with a ray of sunshine, that was attracted thitherward as by a certain sympathy. In the brook beneath stood another child- another and the same- with likewise its ray of golden light. Hester felt herself, in some indistinct and tantalising manner, estranged from Pearl; as if the child, in her lonely, ramble through the forest, had strayed out of the sphere in which she and her mother dwelt together, and was now vainly seeking to return to it.这时，珠儿已经来到小溪对岸，站在那儿不出声地瞅着海丝特和牧师，他俩依旧并肩坐在长满青苔的树干上，等着见她。就在她停下脚步的地方，小溪恰好聚成一个池塘，水面平静而光滑，把珠儿那小小的身影完满地映砚出来：她腰缠嫩枝编的花带，使她的美貌绚丽如画，比本人还要精美，更象仙女。那映象几乎与真的珠儿分毫不爽，似乎将其自身的某种阴影般莫测的品性传递给孩子本人了。奇妙的是，珠儿站在那里，不错眼珠地透过林中的幽暗盯视着他们；与此同时，她全身都沐浴在仿佛是被某种感应吸引到她身上的一道阳光中。在她脚下的小溪中站着另一个孩子——是另外一个，但又一模一样——身上同样洒满阳光。海丝特模糊而痛心地感到，她自己好象同珠儿变得陌生起来；好象那孩子独自在森林中游荡时，走出了她和她母亲同居的范围，如今正在徒劳地想回来。
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