英文名著精选阅读：《红字》第三章（上）
英文名著精选阅读：《红字》第三章(上)
Chapter 03 THE RECOGNITION
第三章 相认
FROM this intense consciousnessof being the object of severe and universalobservation, the wearer of the scarlet letter was at length relieved, by discerning, on the outskirts of the crowd, a figure which irresistiblytook possession of her thoughts. An Indian, in his native garb, was standing there; but the red men were not so infrequentvisitors 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 companionshipwith him, stood a white man, cladin a strange disarrayof civilised and savagecostume.
这个身佩红字的人终于从充当众目严历注视的对象的强烈意识中解脱出来，因为她此时注意到人群的外围站着一个身影，那个人立刻不可遏止地占据了她的头脑。一个身着土著装束的印第安人正站在那里，但在这块英国殖民地中，红种人并非鲜见，此时有这么一个人站在那儿，不会引起海丝特·白兰的任何注意，更不会把一切其它形象和思绪一概从她的头脑中排挤出去。在那个印第安人的身边，站着一个身上混穿着文明与野蛮服装的白种人，无疑是那印第安人的同伴。
He was small in stature, with a furrowedvisage, which, as yet, could hardly be termed aged. There was a remarkable intelligence in his features, as of a person who had so cultivatedhis mental part that it could not fail to mould the physical to itself, and become manifestby unmistakable tokens. Although, by a seemingly careless arrangement of his heterogeneousgarb, he had endeavoured to conceal or abatethe peculiarity, it was sufficientlyevident 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 deformityof the figure, she pressed her infant to her bosom with so convulsivea force that the poor babe uttered another cry of pain. But the mother did not seem to hear it.
他身材矮小，满脆皱纹，不过还很难说年事已高。他一望可知是个智慧出众的人，似乎智力上的高度发展不可能不引起形体上的变化，从而在外表上具备了显著的特征。尽管他似乎是漫不经心地随便穿了件土人的衣服，其实是要遮掩或减少身体的怪异之处，但海丝特·白兰仍一眼便看出那个人的两肩并不一般高。她一看到了那人瘦削、多皱的面孔和稍稍变形的躯体，便不由自主地再一次把婴儿紧楼在胸前，直弄得那可怜的孩子义疼得哭出了声。但作母亲的好象对此听而不闻。
At his arrival in the market-place, and some time before she saw him, the stranger had benthis 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 glidingswiftly over them, and making one little pause, with all its wreathedintervolutions, in open sight. His face darkened with some powerful emotion, which, nevertheless, he so instantaneouslycontrolled by an effort of his will, that, save at a single moment, its expression might have passed for calmness. After a brief space, the convulsiongrew almost imperceptible, and finally subsidedinto 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.
在那个不速之客来到市场，海丝特·白兰还没看到他之前，他的目光早已直勾勾地盯上了她。起初，他的目光只是随随便便的，象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，否则外观便既无价值又不重要。然而，他的目光很快就变得犀利而明察秋毫了。他的面孔上掠过一阵痛苦的恐怖，象是一条蛇在上面迅速蜿蜒，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有力的内心冲动而变得阴暗，不过他人刻用一种意志力控制住，使这种脸色稍纵即逝，换上了一副可以说是平静的表情。仅仅过了瞬间，那种痉挛就几乎消逝得无影无踪，终于沉积在他天性的深渊。当他发现海丝特·白兰的目光与他的目光相遇，并且看来已经认出了他时，他便缓慢而乎落地举起一个手指，在空中做了一个姿势，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 courteousmanner.
随后，他碰了碰旁边站着的一个本镇居民的肩膀，礼数周到地开了腔。
"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，“这位妇女是淮?——为什么要站在这里示众受辱?”
"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."
“你大概在这儿人生地不熟，朋友，”那个镇上人一边回答，一边好奇地打量这个发问的人和他的不开化的同伴，“不然的话，你一定会听到过海丝特·白兰太太，还有她干的丑事了。我可以向你保证，她在虔诚的丁梅斯代尔牧师的教堂里已经引起了公愤。”
"You say truly," replied the other. "I am a stranger, and have been a wanderer, sorely against my will. I have met with grievousmishapsby sea and land, and have been long held in bonds among the heathenfolk, to the southward; and am now brought hitherby this Indian, to be redeemedout 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 yonderscaffold?"
“您算说对了，”那人接口说。“我是个外地人，一直迫不得已地到处流浪。我在海上和陆上屡遭险衅，在南方不信教的人当中给囚禁了很久;如今又给这个印第安人带到这里来找人赎身。因此，请问您肯不肯告诉我，海丝特·白兰——我把她的名字说对了吗?——这个女人犯了什么过错，给带到那座刑台上呢?”
"Truly, friend; and methinksit must gladdenyour heart, after your troubles and sojournin the wilderness," said the townsman, "to find yourself, at length, in a land where iniquityis 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 dweltin 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 tidingshave come of this learned gentleman, Master Prynne; and his young wife, look you, being left to her own misguidance-"
“真的，朋友，我想，你在人迹罕到的地方历经劫难之后，”那个镇上人说，“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;这里的一切罪恶都要当众揭发出来，在长官和百姓面前加以惩罚呢。那上边站着的女人嘛，先生，你应该知道，是一个有学问的人的妻子，男人生在英国，但已经长期在阿姆斯特丹定居，不知为了什么，他好久以前想起要飘洋过海，搬到我们马萨诸塞这地方来。为此，他先把他妻子送来，自己留在那边处理那些免不了的事。天啊，好心的光生，在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这儿的居民，那位学者白兰先生却始终没有一点音讯;而他这位年轻的老婆，你看，就自个儿走上了邪道——”
"Ah!- aha!- I conceiveyou," 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!——我明白了，”那陌生人苦笑着说。“照您说的，这位饱学之士本应在他的书本中也学到这一点的。那么，您能不能开个思告诉我，先生，谁可能是那婴儿的父亲呢?我看，那孩子——就是白兰太太怀里抱着的，也就有三四个月吧。”
"Of a truth, friend, that matter remaineth a riddleand the Daniel who shall expoundit is yet a-wanting," answered the townsman. "Madam Hester absolutely refuseth to speak, and the magistrateshave laid their heads together in vain. Peradventurethe guilty one stands looking on at this sad spectacle, unknown of man, and forgetting that God sees him."
“说实在的，朋友，那件事还是一个谜呢;象但以理①那样聪明的解谜人，我们这儿还没有哪，”那镇上人回答说。“海丝特太太守口如瓶，地方官挖空心思也白费劲。说不定那个犯下罪的人正站在这儿看这个让人伤心的场面呢，可别人还不知道正是他干的，他可忘了上帝正盯着他哪，”
"The learned man," observed the stranger, with another smile, "should come himself, to look into the mystery."
“那个学者，”那陌生人又冷笑着评论说，“应该亲自来调查调查这桩奇案。”
"It behooveshim 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 extremityof our righteouslaw against her. The penalty thereof is death. But in their great mercy and tendernessof 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，”那镇上人附和着说。“唉，好心的先生，我们马萨诸塞的当局认为，这个女人年轻漂亮，准是受了极大的诱惑才堕落的——何况，很可能，她的丈夫已经葬身海底——那些当官的不敢大胆地用我们正义的法律强制判她极刑。论罪，她是该处死的。但是，由于他们心肠软，大慈大悲，只判了白兰太太在刑台上站三个小时，以后，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, gravelybowing his head. "Thus she will be a living sermonagainst sin, until the ignominiousletter be engravedupon her tombstone. It irksme, 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!"
“好聪明的判决!”那陌生人沉重地垂下头说。“这样她就成了告诫人们抵制罪恶的活训条了，直到那个耻辱的字母刻到她的墓碑上为止。不过，让我不痛快的是，那个和她通同犯罪的人居然没有在刑台上陪她站着，这本来是最起码的嘛。反正他会让人知道的!——会让人知道的!——他一定会让人知道的!”
He bowed courteously to the communicative townsman, and, whispering a few words to his Indian attendant, they both made their way through the crowd.
他向和他谈话的那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，便双双穿过人群按到前边去了。
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. Such an interview, perhaps, would have been more terrible than even to meet him as she now did, with the hot, mid-day sun burning down upon her face, and lighting up its shame; with the scarlet token of infamyon 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 gleamof the fireside, in the happy shadow of a home, or beneath a matronlyveil, 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 betwixthim 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, audibleto the whole multitude.
在这段时间里，海丝特·白兰一直站在高台上，牢牢盯视着那陌生人;她的注意力完全集中到他身上，那一阵子，她的视界内的一切目标全都从她眼前消失了，只剩下了他和她两个人。或许，在另外一种场合同他邂逅要益发可怕。如今呢，她那本来只该在壁炉旁恬静的柔光中，在家中幸福的暗处或在教堂的庄严气氛笼罩下才能看到的姿容，却在聚拢来的全镇人面前，被大家象看热闹似的死盯着：炎炎的午日烧灼着她的面孔，照亮了脸上的耻辱，她胸前佩着丑陋的鲜红标记，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。她这样站着，在她和他之间隔着这么多入，总比只有他们俩面面相溯要好受一些。她确实向这种示众场面寻求着避难之所，唯恐这项保护伞会从她身边撤掉。她的脑际充满了这种种念头，对于她身后传来的话语竟然充耳不闻一直到后来那严肃的话音越来越高地一再重复她的名字，使得在场的所有的人都听得一清二楚了。
"Hearkenunto me, Hester Prynne!" said the voice.
“听我说，海丝特·白兰!”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, appendedto the meeting-house. It was the place whence proclamationswere wont to be made, amidst an assemblageof 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 sergeantsabout his chair, bearing halberds, as a guard of honour. He wore a dark feather in his hat, a border of embroideryon his cloak, and a black velvettunicbeneath; 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 sternand tempered energies of manhood, and the sombresagacityof age; accomplishing so much, precisely because it imagined and hoped so little. The other eminentcharacters, 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 sacrednessof 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 virtuouspersons, who should be less capable of sitting in judgment on an erringwoman's heart, and disentanglingits meshof 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.
前面已经提及，就在海丝特·白兰站立的高台的正上方.有一处阳台，或者说是露天走廊，是从议事厅延伸出来的。当年，在地方陡官开会中间如果要发布什么公告，需要镇民都来出席聆听时，就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，贝灵汉总督亲自坐阵，椅子后面站着四个持朝的警卫充当仪仗。他帽子上插着一支黑羽毛，大氅上绣着花边，里面衬着的是黑丝绒紧身衣;他是一位中长的绅士，皱纹中印下了他的艰苦的经历。他出任这一地区的首脑和代表很适当，因为这一殖民地的起源和发展及其现状，并非取决于青春的冲动，而有赖于成年的严厉和老练，以及老中的权谋和手腕;他们所以能成就颇多，恰恰因为他们的幻想和希望有限。环绕着这位总督的其他显要，一个个都威风凛凛，因为他们所属的时代，官方机构被公认为具有神权制度的仲圣性。不消说，他们都是为人圣洁、主持正义的好人。然而，要从整个人类大家庭中遴选出同等数量的英明贤德之士绝非易举，假如让这种人坐下来审判一个犯了罪的女人的心灵，并分清善与恶的交错盘结，比起海丝特·白兰此时转过身来面对着的这伙表情倡滞的圣人们，不一定高明多少。确实，她似乎深知这一点，不管她期待着什么样的同情，只能到人群中的博大及温暖曲胸怀中去寻求，因此，当她始眼朝阳台上望去时，这个不幸的女人立时面色苍白，周身战栗了。
①据传为《旧约·但以理书》的作者，被视为最贤明的裁判者。
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