英文名著精选阅读：《红字》第七章（下）
英文名著精选阅读：《红字》第七章(下)
Chapter 07 THE GOVERNOR'S HALL
第七章 总督的大厅
They approached the door; which was of an archedform, and flanked on each side by a narrow tower or projectionof the edifice, in both of which were lattice-windows, with wooden shuttersto close over them at need. Lifting the iron hammer that hung at the portal, Hester Prynne gave a summons, which was answered by one of the Governor's bond-servants; a free-born Englishman, but now a seven years' slave. During that term he was to be the property of his master, and as much a commodityof bargain and sale as an ox, or a joint-stool. The serf wore the blue coat, which was the customarygarbof serving-men at that period, and long before, in the old hereditaryhalls of England.
她们走近了大门;那建筑物有一座拱形门洞，两侧各有一座细高的塔楼或者说是突出的前脸，上面镶着格子窗，里面还有木制的百叶窗，必要时可以关上。海丝特·白兰举起吊在门口的腿于，敲了一下门;总督的一个家奴应声而至，他本是一个英国的自由民，但已当了七年奴仆了。这期间，他只是主人的财产，无非是和一头公牛或一把折椅一样可以交易和出售的一件商品。那奴仆按照当时和早先英国世袭击宅中仆人的习惯装束，穿着一件蓝色号衣。
"Is the worshipfulGovernor Bellingham within?" inquired Hester.
“贝灵汉总督大人在吗?”海丝特问。
"Yea, forsooth," replied the bond-servant, staring with wide-open eyes at the scarlet letter, which, being a new-comer in the country, he had never before seen. "Yea, his honourable worship is within. But he hath a godlyminister or two with him, and likewise a leech. Ye may not see his worship now."
“是的，在家，”那家奴一边回答，一边睁大眼睛瞪着那红字，他来到这地方只有几年，以前还从未见过那标记。“是的，大人在。只是他有—两位牧师陪着，还有一个医生。你此刻恐怕不能见大人。”
"Nevertheless, I will enter," answered Hester Prynne; and the bond-servant, perhaps judging from the decision of her air, and the glittering symbol in her bosom, that she was a great lady in the land, offered no opposition.
“不过，我还是要进去，”海丝特·白兰回答说，那家奴大概是从她那不容置辩的神气和胸前闪光的标志判断，把她当作了本地的一位贵妇，没有表示反对。
So the mother and little Pearl were admitted into the hall of entrance. With many variations, suggested by the nature of his building-materials, diversity of climate, and a different mode of social life, Governor Bellingham had planned his new habitation after the residencesof gentlemen of fair estate in his native land. Here, then, was a wide and reasonably loftyhall, extending through the whole depth of the house and forming a medium of general communication, more or less directly, with all the other apartments. At one extremity, this spacious room was lighted by the windows of the two towers, which formed a small recesson either side of the portal. At the other end, though partly muffledby a curtain, it was more powerfully illuminatedby one of those embowed hall-windows which we read of in old books, and which was provided with a keep and cushionedseat. Here, on the cushion, lay a foliotome, probably of the Chronicles of England, or other such substantialliterature; even as, in our own days, we scatter gilded volumes on the centre-table, to be turned over by the casual guest. The furniture of the hall consisted of some ponderouschairs, the backs of which were elaborately carved with wreaths of oakenflowers; and likewise a table in the same taste; the whole being of the Elizabethan age, or perhaps earlier, and heirlooms, transferred hither from the Governor's paternal home. On the table- in token that the sentiment of old English hospitality had not been left behind- stood a large pewtertankard, at the bottom of which, had Hester or Pearl peeped into it, they might have seen the frothyremnantof a recent draughtof ale.
于是，母亲和小珠儿被引进了入门的大厅。贝灵汉总督是按照故乡广有土地的乡绅的住宅样式来设计他在殖民地的新居的，但又因他所使用的建筑树料的性质、此地气候的差异以及社交生活的不同模式，作了不少变动。于是，这座宅邸中就有了—座宽敞而高度恰到好处的大厅，前后贯穿整个住宅，形成一个公共活动的中心，与宅中所有的房间都直接或伺接地连通着。这座敞亮的大厅的一头，由两座塔楼的窗户透进阳光，在门的两侧各形成一个小小的方框。另一头，却由一扇让窗帘遮着一部分的凸肚窗照得十分明亮。这种凸肚窗——我们在古书中读到过，深深凹进墙中，而且还有铺了垫子的座位。在这扇窗子的座垫上放着一部对开本的厚书，可能是《英格兰编年史》这一类的大部头著作;正如同时至今，我们还会将一些烫金的书卷散放在室中的桌上，供来客翻阅消遣。大厅中的家具，包括几把笨重的椅子，椅背上精雕着团团簇簇的橡树花，还有一张与椅子配套的桌子，以及一整套伊丽莎白时代的全部设备，说不定还是从更早的年代祖传下来的，由总督从故土运到了这里。桌子上面，为表明英格兰好客的遗风犹存，摆着一个硕大的锡制单柄酒杯，如果海丝特或珠儿往杯里张望的话，还可看见杯底上残存着刚喝光的啤酒的泡沫。
On the wall hung a row of portraits, representing the forefathers of the Bellingham lineage, some with armouron their breasts, and others with stately ruffs and robes of peace. All were characterised by the sternnessand severity which old portraits so invariably put on; as if they were the ghosts, rather than the pictures, of departed worthies, and were gazing with harsh and intolerant criticism at the pursuits and enjoyments of living men.
墙上悬着一排肖像，都是贝灵汉家族的先祖，有的胸前护着铠甲，有的则穿着衬有环状皱领的乎日的长袍，但个个面露威严，这是当年的肖像所必备的特征，似乎他们都是已故的风云人物的鬼魂而不是他们的画像，以苛刻掘狭的批评目光审视着活人的活动和娱乐。
At about the centre of the oaken panels, that lined the hall, was suspended a suit of mail, not, like the pictures, an ancestralrelic, but of the most modern date; for it had been manufactured by a skilful armourer in London, the same year in which Governor Bellingham came over to New England. There was a steel headpiece, a cuirass, a gorget, and greaves, with a pair of gauntletsand a sword hanging beneath; all, and especially the helmetand breastplate, so highly burnished as to glow with white radiance, and scatter an illumination everywhere about upon the floor. This bright panoplywas not meant for mere idle show, but had been worn by the Governor on many a solemn musterand training field, and had glittered, moreover, at the head of a regiment in the Pequod war. For, though bred a lawyer, and accustomed to speak of Bacon, Coke, Noye, and Finch, as his professional associates, the exigenciesof this new country had transformed Governor Bellingham into a soldier, as well as a statesman and ruler.
大厅四周全都镶嵌着橡木护墙板，正中位置上悬接着一副甲胄，那可不象画中的那种遗物，面是当时的最新制品;因为那是在贝灵汉总督跨海来到新英格兰那一年，由伦敦的一位技术熟练的工匠打造的，包括一具头盔、一面护胸、一个颈套、一对护腔、一副臂销和吊在下面的一把长剑。这全套甲胃，尤其是头盔和护胸，都擦得授亮，闪着白色的光辉，把四下的地板照得通明。这套明晃晃的盔甲，可不只是摆设，总督确曾穿着它多次在庄严的阅兵式演武场上耀武扬威，而且，更重要的，也确曾穿着它在皮廓德之战②中冲锋陷阵。因为贝灵汉总督虽是律师出身，而且惯于在谈到培根③、柯克④、诺职和芬奇⑤时，将他们引为同道相知，但这一新国家的事态已经将他变成了政治家和统治者，同时也变成了军人。
Little Pearl- who was as greatly pleased with the gleaming armour as she had been with the glittering frontispieceof the house- spent some time looking into the polished mirror of the breastplate.
小珠儿就象她刚才对宅瞪闪光的前脸大为高兴一样，此时对那明晃晃的盔甲也兴奋异常，她在擦得缀亮的护胸镜前照了好长时间。
"Mother," cried she, "I see you here. Look! Look!"
“妈妈，”她叫道，“我在这里面看见你了。瞧啊!。瞧啊!
Hester looked, by way of humouring the child; and she saw that, owing to the peculiar effect of this convexmirror, the scarlet letter was represented in exaggerated and giganticproportions, so as to be greatly the most prominent feature of her appearance. In truth, she seemed absolutely hidden behind it. Pearl pointed upward, also, at a similar picture in the head-piece; smiling at her mother, with the elfish intelligence that was so familiar an expression on her small physiognomy. That look of naughty merrimentwas likewise reflected in the mirror, with so much breadth and intensity of effect, that it made Hester Prynne feel as if it could not be the image of her own child, but of an impwho was seeking to mould itself into Pearl's shape.
海丝特出哄孩子高兴的愿望，往里隔了瞧;由于这一凸面镜的特殊功能，她看到红字的映象极为夸张，显得比例极大，成了她全身最显著的特征。事实上，她仿佛完全给红字遮住了。珠儿还向上指着头盔中一个相似的映象，一边向母亲笑着，小脸上又露出了那常有的鬼精灵的表现。她那又调皮又开心的神情，也同样映现在盔甲的凸面镇中，显得益发夸张和专注，使海丝特·白兰觉得，那似乎不是她自已孩子的形象，而是一个精灵正在试图变作珠儿的模样。
"Come along, Pearl," said she, drawing her away. "Come and look into this fair garden. It may be, we shall see flowers there; more beautiful ones than we find in the woods."
“走吧，珠儿，”海丝特说着，便拉着她走开。“来看看这座漂亮的花园。我们也许能在那儿看到一些花，比我们在树林里找得到的还要好看呢。
Pearl, accordingly, ran to the bow-window, at the farther end of the hall, and looked along the vistaof a garden-walk, carpetedwith closely shaven grass, and bordered with some rude and immature attempt at shrubbery. But the proprietor appeared already to have relinquished, as hopeless, the effort to perpetuateon this side of the Atlantic, in a hard soil and amid the close struggle for subsistence, the native English taste for ornamentalgardening. Cabbages grew in plain sight; and a pumpkin vine, rooted at some distance, had run across the intervening space, and deposited one of its gigantic products directly beneath the hall-window; as if to warn the Governor that this great lump of vegetable gold was as rich an ornament as New England earth would offer him. There were a few rose-bushes, however, and a number of apple-trees, probably the descendants of those planted by the Reverend Mr. Blackstone, the first settler of the peninsulathat half mythologicalpersonage, who rides through our early annals, seated on the back of a bull.
于是珠儿便跑到大厅最远端的凸肚窗前，沿着困中小径望过去，小径上铺着剪得矮矮的青草，两侧夹着一些由外行人粗粗种下的灌木。但花园的主人似乎已经看到：在大西洋的此岸，在坚硬的土地上和剧烈的生存竞争中，要把故乡英格兰的装点园艺的情趣移植过来，实在是枉费心机，从而决定放弃了这一努力。圆白菜长得平乎常常;远远种着的一株南瓜藤，穿过空隙，在大厅窗下，端端结下—颗硕大的果实，似乎在提醒总督：这颗金黄色的大南瓜，已经是新英格兰的土壤能够为他奉献的最丰富多采的点缀了。不过，园中还有几丛玫瑰花和几株苹果树，大概是布莱克斯通牧师先生⑥所栽植株曲质裔。这位波士顿半岛的第一位定居人和半神话的人物，在我们早期的编年史中，常可读到他骑在牛背上四处行走。
Pearl, seeing the rose-bushes, began to cry for a red rose, and would not be pacified.
珠儿看见了玫瑰丛，开始叫着要一朵红玫瑰，而且怎么哄都不听。
"Hush, child, hush!" said her mother earnestly. "Do not cry, dear little Pearl! I hear voices in the garden. The Governor is coming, and gentlemen along with him!"
“轻点，孩子，轻点!”她母亲正正经经地说。“别嚷，亲爱的小珠儿!我听见花园里有人说话。总督走来了，还有几位先生跟他在一起呢!
In fact, adownthe vista of the garden avenue, a number of persons were seen approaching towards the house. Pearl, in utter scornof her mother's attempt to quiet her, gave an eldritchscream, and then became silent; not from any notion of obedience, but because the quick and mobile curiosity of her disposition was excited by the appearance of these new personages.
事实上，可以看见从花园中曲林荫路的那头，有几个人正朝房子走过来。珠儿对母亲劝她安静下来毫不在乎，反倒发出一声怪叫，然后才不吱声，而且也不是出于听话，只因为她那种瞬息万变的好奇心此时被几个新出现的人激励起来了。
②皮廓德本是印第安阿尔员钦人之部落，17世纪定居新英格兰南部，此战在1636—1638年。
③弗兰西斯·培根(1561—1636)，英国著名散文家、哲学家和政治家，文艺复兴的杰出代表。
④爱德华·柯克爵士(1552—1624)，英国法理学家和法律学作家。
⑤诺职(Noye)和芬奇(Finch)，生平不详，当是与培根和柯克同时代的名人，多半是由作者故意杜撰出来，讽刺贝灵汉的。
⑥威廉·布莱克斯通牧师(1595—1675)，原为英国教会牧师，是波士顿及罗德岛的第一位定居者，先于1623年到达波士顿，后因1635年教会论战令失败，迁居罗德岛。
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