英文名著精选阅读：《红字》第十七章（下）
英文名著精选阅读：《红字》第十七章(下)
Chapter 17 THE PASTOR AND HIS PARISHIONER
第十七章 教长和教民
He started at a thought that suddenly occurred to him.
他为突然闪现的一个念头而惊跳起来。
"Hester," cried he, "here is a new horror! Roger Chillingworth knows your purpose to reveal his true character. Will he continue, then, to keep our secret? What will now be the course of his revenge?"
“海丝特，”他叫道，“如今又有了一种新的可怕之处!罗杰·齐灵渥斯既然知道了你有意要揭示他的真实身份，那么，他还肯继续保持我们的秘密吗?今后他将采取什么途径来复仇呢?”
"There is a strange secrecy in his nature," replied Hester thoughtfully"and it has grown upon him by the hidden practices of his revenge. I deemit not likely that he will betraythe secret. He will doubtless seek other means of satiatinghis dark passion."
“他生性喜欢诡秘从事，”海丝特沉思着回答说;“而且这一秉性已经随着他悄悄行使他的复仇计划而益发牢固了。我认为他大概不会泄露这个秘密。他肯定会谋求另外的手段来满足他那不可告人的感情。”
"And I!- how am I to live longer, breathing the same air with this deadly enemy?" exclaimed Arthur Dimmesdale, shrinkingwithin himself, and pressing his hand nervouslyagainst his heart- a gesture that had grown involuntarywith him. "Think for me, Hester! Thou art strong. Resolve for me!"
“可是我啊!——同这样一个死对头呼吸同一处的空气，我又怎么能够活得长久呢?”阿瑟·丁梅斯代尔惊呼着，心里一沉，神经质地用手去捂住心口——他的这种姿势已经变得不由自主了。“为我想一想吧，海丝特!你是坚强的。替我想个办法吧!”
"Thou must dwellno longer with this man," said Hester, slowly and firmly. "Thy heart must be no longer under his evil eye!"
“你不能继续跟他住在一起了，”海丝特说，语气徐缓而坚定。“你的心再也不能处于他那双邪恶的眼睛的监视之下了!
"It were far worse than death!" replied the minister. "But how to avoid it? What choice remains to me? Shall I lie down again on these witheredleaves, where I castmyself when thou didst tell me what he was? Must I sink down there, and die at once?"
“这可比死还要糟糕得多!”牧师应道。“但是怎么来避免呢?我还有什么选择呢?你刚才告诉我他是什么人时，我就一屁股坐在了这些枯叶上，可是我还要倒在这里吗?我应该沉沦于此，并且马上死掉吗?”
"Alas, what a ruin has befallenthee!" said Hester, with the tears, gushinginto her eyes. "Wilt thou die for very weakness? There is no other cause!"
“天啊!你已经给毁成什么样子啦!”海丝特说着，泪水涌进了她的眼睛。“你难道就因为软弱而要死吗?此外再没有别的原因了!”
"The judgment of God is on me," answered the conscience-strickenpriest. "It is too mighty for me to struggle with!"
“上帝的裁判正落在我身上，”那位受到良心震撼的牧师回答说。“那力量太强大，我挣扎不动了!”
"Heaven would show mercy," rejoined Hester, "hadst thou but the strength to take advantage of it."
“上帝会显示仁慈的，”海丝特接口说，“只要你有力气来接受就成。”
"Be thou strong for me!" answered he. "Advise me what to do."
“你帮我振作振作吧!”他回答说。“给我出个主意该怎么办。”
"Is the world, then, so narrow?" exclaimed Hester Prynne, fixing her deep eyes on the minister's, and instinctivelyexercising a magneticpower over a spirit so shattered and subduedthat it could hardly hold itself erect. "Doth the universe lie within the compass of yonder town, which only a little time ago was but a leaf-strewn desert, as lonely as this around us? Whither leads yonder forest-track? Backward to the settlement, thou sayest! Yes; but onward, too! Deeper it goes, and deeper, into the wilderness, less plainly to be seen at every step; until, some few miles hence, the yellow leaves will show no vestigeof the white man's tread. There thou art free! So brief a journey would bring thee from a world where thou hast been most wretched, to one where thou mayest still be happy! Is there not shade enough in all this boundlessforest to hide thy heart from the gaze of Roger Chillingworth?"
“你说，这世界是这么狭小吗?”海丝特·白兰一边高声说着，一边用她那深沉的目光注视着牧师的眼睛，她的目光本能地有一种磁石般的效力，作用在那涣散消沉得简直无法撑持自己的精神之上。“难道整个天地就只在那边那小镇的范围之内吗?只在不久之前，那里还是一片撒满落时的荒野，和我们现在呆的这地方差不多凄凉。那林中小径是通往何处的呢?你会说，是返回居民区的!不错;但是还可以再往前走啊。它越往深处去，就更源源地通向蛮荒野地，每走一步，人们就会越看不清它，直到再走不多久，枯黄的落叶上便不见白人的足迹了。到那里，你就自由了!只消走这短短的一程路，就可以把你从使你万分苦恼的世界带到你仍可享受到幸福的地方!在这无边无际的大森林里难道还没有一处树荫足以将你的心隐藏起来，不让罗杰·齐灵渥斯监视吗?”
"Yes, Hester; but only under the fallen leaves!" replied the minister, with a sad smile.
“是有的，海丝特;不过只是在这些落叶之下!”牧师苦笑着回答说。
"Then there is the broad pathway of the sea!" continued Hester. "It brought thee hither. If thou so choose, it will bear thee back again. In our native land, whether in some remote rural village or in vast London- or, surely, in Germany, in France, in pleasant Italy- thou wouldst be beyond his power and knowledge! And what hast thou to do with all these iron men, and their opinions? They have kept thy better part in bondagetoo long already!"
“何况还有海上的宽阔航道!”海丝特继续说。“是它把你带到了这里。只要你愿意，它还可以把你再送回去。在我们的祖国，不管是在偏僻的农村，还是在大城市伦敦——或者，当然还有德国、法国、以及令人愉快的意大利，——你都会超出他努力所及并且不为他所知晓!到那时，你与这些铁石心肠的人们，还有他们的看法，又有什么关系呢?他们已经尽其所能把你禁锢这么久了!”
"It cannot be!" answered the minister, listening as if he were called upon to realise a dream. "I am powerless to go! Wretched and sinful as I am, I have had no other thought than to drag on my earthly existence in the sphere where Providence hath placed me. Lost as my own soul is, I would still do what I may for other human souls! I dare not quit my post, though an unfaithful sentinel, whose sure reward is death and dishonour, when his drearywatch shall come to an end!"
“那可不成!”牧师回答，听他那口气，就象是要他去实现一场梦。“我根本没力气去。象我这样一个悲惨的罪人，只有—个念头，就是在上天已经安排给我的地域里了此残生。既然我已经失去了自己的灵魂，我只有继续尽我所能来拯救别的灵魂!虽说我是个不忠于职守的哨兵，等到这种沉网的守望终了的时候，我所能得到的报酬只能是不光彩的死亡，但我仍不敢擅离岗位!”
"Thou art crushed under this seven years' weight of misery," replied Hester, ferventlyresolved to buoyhim up with her own energy. "But thou shalt leave it all behind thee! It shall not cumberthy steps, as thou treadest along the forest-path; neither shalt thou freightthe ship with it, if thou prefer to cross the sea. Leave this wreckand ruin here where it hath happened. Meddle no more with it! Begin all anew! Hast thou exhausted possibility in the failure of this one trial? Not so! The future is yet full of trial and success. There is happiness to be enjoyed! There is good to be done! Exchange this false life of thine for a true one. Be, if thy spirit summon thee to such a mission, the teacher and apostleof the red men. Or- as is more thy nature- be a scholar and a sage among the wisest and the most renowned of the cultivated world. Preach! Write! Act! Do anything, save to lie down and die! Give up this name of Arthur Dimmesdale, and make thyself another, and a high one, such as thou canst wear without fear or shame. Why wouldst thou tarryso much as one other day in the torments that have so gnawedinto thy life!- that have made thee feebleto will and to do!- that will leave thee powerless even to repent! Up, and away!"
“你已经给这长达七年的不幸的重荷压垮了，”海丝特应着，热心地用自己的精力给他鼓劲。“但是你应该把这一切都抛在身后!当你沿着林中小径走去时，你不该让它拖累你的脚步，如果你想跨海东归，你也不该把它带到船上。把你遭受到的一切损害都留在发生地吧。不要再去理睬它!一切从新开始!这次尝试失败了，你就不可能再干了吗?不是这样的!未来还是充满尝试和成功的。还有幸福有待你去享有!还有好事要你去做!把你的虚伪的生活变成真实的生活吧。如果你的精神召唤你去从事这一使命，就到红种印第安人中间去作牧师和使徒吧。或者，——也许更符合你的秉性——在有教养的世界的那些最聪明和最著名的人们中间去作一名学者和圣哲吧。你可以去布道!去写作!去有一番作为!你可以做任何事情，只要不躺下死掉!放弃阿瑟·丁梅斯代尔这个姓名，给你自己另起一个，换一个更高贵的，好使你在那姓名下不会感到恐惧和耻辱。你何必还要一天天陷在蚕食着你生命的痛苦之中!——它已经削弱了你的意志和行动!——它已经折磨得你甚至无力去悔改了!挺身起来，离开这里吧!”
"O Hester!" cried Arthur Dimmesdale, in whose eyes a fitfullight, kindledby her enthusiasm, flashed up and died away, "thou tellest of running a race to a man whose knees are totteringbeneath him! I must die here! There is not the strength or courage left me to venture into the wide, strange, difficult world, alone!"
“噢，海丝特!”阿瑟·丁梅斯代尔喊道，她的热情在他的眼中燃起一道闪光，亮了一下就又熄灭了，“你是在鼓励一个两膝发抖的人去赛跑!我身上已经没有力量和勇气独自到那广袤、陌生和困难的天地去闯荡了!”
It was the last expression of the despondencyof a broken spirit. He lacked energy to grasp the better fortune that seemed within his reach.
这是一颗破碎的心完全沮丧的最后表示。他没有力气去抓住那似是唾手可得的幸运。
He repeated the word.
他又重复了一遍那个字眼。
"Alone, Hester!"
“独自一人啊，海丝特!”
"Thou shalt not go alone!" answered she, in a deep whisper.
“不会叫你独自一人前往的!”她深沉地悄声回答说。
Then, all was spoken!
这样，话就全讲明了!
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