英文名著精选阅读：《红字》第二十一章（上）
英文名著精选阅读：《红字》第二十一章(上)
Chapter 21 THE NEW ENGLAND HOLIDAY
第二十一章 新英格兰的节日
BETIMES in the morning of the day on which the new Governor was to receive his office at the hands of the people, Hester Prynne and little Pearl came into the market-place. It was already throngedwith the craftsmen and other plebeianinhabitants of the town, in considerable numbers; among whom, likewise, were many rough figures, whose attireof deer-skins marked them as belonging to some of the forest settlements, which surrounded the little metropolisof the colony. On this public holiday, as on all other occasions, for seven years past, Hester was clad in a garmentof coarsegrey cloth. Not more by its hue than by some indescribablepeculiarityin its fashion, it had the effect of making her fade personally out of sight and outline; while, again, the scarlet letter brought her back from this twilight indistinctness, and revealed her under the moral aspect of its own illumination. Her face, so long familiar to the townspeople, showed the marble quietudewhich they were accustomed to behold there. It was like a mask; or, rather, like the frozen calmness of a dead woman's features; owing this drearyresemblance to the fact that Hester was actually dead, in respect to any claim of sympathy, and had departed out of the world with which she still seemed to mingle.
在新总督从人民手中接受他的职位的那天早晨，海丝特·白兰和小珠儿来到市场。那地方已然挤满了数量可观的工匠和镇上的其他黎民百姓;其中也有许多粗野的身形，他们身上穿的鹿皮衣装，表明他们是这个殖民地小都会周围的林中居民。在这个公共假日里，海丝特和七年来的任何场合一样，仍然穿着她那身灰色粗布作的袍子。这身衣服的颜色，尤其是那说不出来的独特的样式，有一种使她轮廓模糊、不引人注目的效果;然而，那红字又使她从朦胧难辨之中跳出来，以其自身的闪光，把她显示在其精神之下。她那早巳为镇上居民所熟悉的面孔，露出那种常见的大理石般的静穆，伊如一副面具，或者更象一个亡妇脸上的那种僵死的恬静;如此令人沮丧的类比，是因为事实上海丝特无权要求任何同情，犹如实际上死去一般，她虽然看来似混迹于人间，确已经辞世。
It might be, on this one day, that there was an expression unseen before, nor, indeed, vividenough to be detected now; unless some preternaturallygifted observer should have first read the heart, and have afterwards sought a corresponding development in the countenance and mien. Such a spiritual seer might have conceived, that, after sustaining the gaze of the multitude through seven miserable years as a necessity, a penance, and something which it was a stern religion to endure, she now, for one last time more, encountered it freely and voluntarily, in order to convertwhat had so long been agonyinto a kind of triumph. "Look your last on the scarlet letter and its wearer!"- the people's victim and life-long bond-slave, as they fancied her, might say to them. "Yet a little while, and she will be beyond your reach! A few hours longer, and the deep, mysterious ocean will quenchand hide for ever the symbol which ye have caused to burn upon her bosom!" Nor were it an inconsistency too improbableto be assigned to human nature, should we suppose a feeling of regret in Hester's mind, at the moment when she was about to win her freedom from the pain which had been thus deeply incorporated with her being. Might there not be an irresistibledesire to quaff a last, long, breathless draught of the cup of wormwoodand aloes, with which nearly all her years of womanhood had been perpetually flavoured? The wine of life, henceforth to be presented to her lips, must be indeed rich, delicious, and exhilarating, in its chased and golden beaker; or else leave an inevitable and weary languor, after the lees of bitterness wherewith she had been drugged, as with a cordial of intensest potency.
这一天，她脸上或许有一种前所未见的表情，不过此时尚未清晰可察;除非有一个具备超自然秉赋的观察者能够首先洞悉她的内心，然后才会在她的表情和举止上找到相应的变化。这样一个能够洞悉内心的观察者或许可以发现，历经七年痛苦岁月，她将众目睽睽的注视作为一种必然、一种惩罚和某种宗教的严峻煎熬忍受着，如今，已是最后一次了，她要自由而自愿地面对人们的注视，以便把长期的苦难一变而为胜利。“再最后看一眼这红字和佩戴红字的人吧!”人们心目中的这个牺牲品和终身奴仆会对他们这样说。“不过再过一段时间，她就会远走高飞了!只消几个小时，那深不可测的大海将把你们在她胸前灼烧的标记永远淹没无存!”假如我们设想，当海丝特此时此刻即将从与她深深相联的痛苦中赢得自由时，心中可能会升起一丝遗憾之感，恐怕也并不有悼于人之本性。既然自从她成为妇人以来的多年中，几乎始终品尝着苦艾和芦荟，难道这时就不会有一种难以逼止的欲望要最后一次屏住气吸上一大杯这种苦剂吗?今后举到她唇边的、盛在雕花的金色大杯中的生活的美酒，肯定是醇厚、馥郁和令人陶醉的;不然的话，在她喝惯了具有强效的兴奋剂式的苦酒渣之后，必然会产生一种厌烦的昏昏然之感。
Pearl was decked out with airy gaiety. It would have been impossible to guess that this bright and sunny apparitionowed its existence to the shape of gloomy grey; or that a fancy, at once so gorgeous and so delicate as must have been requisite to contrivethe child's apparel, was the same that had achieved a task perhaps more difficult, in imparting so distinct a peculiarity to Hester's simple robe. The dress, so proper was it to little Pearl, seemed an effluence, or inevitable development and outward manifestationof her character, no more to be separated from her than the many-hued brilliancyfrom a butterfly's wing, or the painted glory from the leaf of a bright flower. As with these, so with the child; her garb was all of one idea with her nature. On this eventful day, moreover, there was a certain singular inquietudeand excitement in her mood, resembling nothing so much as the shimmer of a diamond, that sparkles and flashes with the varied throbbingsof the breast on which it is displayed. Children have always a sympathy in the agitations of those connected with them; always, especially, a sense of any trouble or impending revolution, of whatever kind, in domestic circumstances; and therefore Pearl, who was the gem on her mother's unquiet bosom, betrayed, by the very dance of her spirits, the emotions which none could detect in the marblepassiveness of Hester's brow.
她把珠儿打扮得花枝招展。人们简直难以猜测，这个如阳光般明媚的精灵竟然来自那灰暗的母体;或者说，人们简直难以想象，设计那孩子服饰所需的华丽与精巧，与赋予海丝特那件简朴长袍以明显特色的——这任务或许更困难，竟然同时出自一人之手。那身衣裙穿在小珠儿身上恰到好处，俨如她个性的一种流露，或是其必然发展和外部表现，就象蝴蝶翅膀上的绚丽多彩或灿烂花朵上的鲜艳光辉一样无法与本体分割开来。衣裙之于孩子，也是同一道理，完全与她的本性浑自天成。更何况，在这事关重大的一天，她情绪上有一种特殊的不安和兴奋，极象佩在胸前的钻石，会随着心口的种种悸动而闪光生辉。孩子们与同他们相关的人们的激动总是息息相通;在家庭环境中出现了什么麻烦或迫在眉睫的变动时，尤其如此;因此，作为悬在母亲不安的心口上的一颗宝石，珠儿以她那跳动的精神，暴露了从海丝特眉间磐石般的平静中谁都发现不了的内心感情。
This effervescencemade her flit with a birdlike movement, rather than walk by her mother's side. She broke continually into shouts of a wild, inarticulate, and sometimes piercingmusic. When they reached the market-place, she became still more restless, on perceiving the stir and bustle that enlivenedthe spot; for it was usually more like the broad and lonesomegreen before a village meetinghouse, than the centre of a town's business.
她兴高采烈得不肯安分地走在她母亲身边，而且象鸟儿一样地蹦跳着。她不停地狂呼乱叫，也不知喊些什么，有时还尖着嗓子高唱。后来，她们来到了市场，看到那里活跃喧闹的气氛，她就益发不得安宁了;因为那地方平时与其说是镇上的商业中心，不如说象是村会所前的宽阔而孤寂的绿草地。
"Why, what is this, mother?" cried she. "Wherefore have all the people left their work to-day? Is it a play-day for the whole world? See, there is the blacksmith! He has washed his sootyface, and put on his Sabbath-day clothes, and looks as if he would gladly be merry, if any kind body would only teach him how! And there is Master Brackett, the old jailer, nodding and smiling at me. Why does he do so, mother?"
“咦，这是什么啊，妈妈?”她叫道。“大伙儿干嘛今天都不干活儿啦?今天全世界都休息吗?瞧啊，铁匠就在那儿!他洗掉了满脸煤烟，穿上了过星期日的衣服，象是只要有个好心人教教他，就要痛痛快快地玩玩哪!那位老狱吏布莱基特先生，还在那儿朝我点头微笑呢。他干嘛要这样呢，妈妈?”
"He remembers thee a little babe, my child," answered Hester.
他还记得你是个小小的婴儿的样子呢，我的孩子，”海丝特回答说。
"He should not nod and smile at me for all that- the black, grim, ugly-eyed old man!" said Pearl. "He may nod at thee, if he will; for thou art cladin grey, and wearest the scarlet letter. But see, mother, how many faces of strange people, and Indians among them, and sailors! What have they all come to do, here in the market-place?"
“那个长得又黑又吓人、眼睛很丑的老头儿，才不会因为这个对我点头微笑呢!”珠儿说。“他要是愿意，倒会向你点头的;因为你穿一身灰，还戴着红字。可是瞧啊，妈妈，这儿有多少生人的面孔啊，里边还有印第安人和水手呢!他们都到这市场上来干嘛呢?”
"They wait to see the processionpass," said Hester. "For the Governor and the magistrates are to go by, and the ministers, and all the great people and good people, with the music and the soldiers marching before them."
“他们等着看游行队伍经过，”海丝特说。“因为总督和官员们要从这里走过，还有牧师们，以及所有的大人物和好心人，前面要有乐队和士兵开路呢。”
"And will the minister be there?" asked Pearl. "And will he hold out both his hands to me, as when thou ledst me to him from the brook-side?"
“牧师会在那儿吗?”珠儿问。“他会朝我伸出双手，就象你从小河边领着我去见他的时候那样吗?”
"He will be there, child," answered her mother. "But he will not greet thee to-day; nor must thou greet him."
“他会在那儿的，孩子，”她母亲回答。“但是他今天不会招呼你;你也不该招呼他。”
"What a strange, sad man is he!" said the child, as if speaking partly to herself. "In the dark night-time he calls us to him, and holds thy hand and mine, as when we stood with him on the scaffoldyonder! And in the deep forest, where only the old trees can hear, and the strip of sky see it, he talks with thee, sitting on a heap of moss! And he kisses my forehead, too, so that the little brook would hardly wash it off! But here, in the sunny day, and among all the people, he knows us not; nor must we know him! A strange, sad man is he, with his hand always over his heart!"
“他是一个多么奇怪、多么伤心的人啊!”孩子说，有点象是自言自语。“在那个黑夜里，他叫咱们到他跟前去，还握住你和我的手，陪他一起站在那边那个刑台上。而在深源的树林里，只有那些老树能够听见、只有那一线青天可以看见的地方，他跟你坐在一堆青苔上谈话!他还亲吻了我的额头，连小河的流水都洗不掉啦!可是在这儿，天上晴晴的，又有这么些人，他却不认识我们;我们也不该认识他!他真是个又奇怪又伤心的人，总是用手捂着心口!”
"Be quiet, Pearl! Thou understandest not these things," said her mother. "Think not now of the minister, but look about thee, and see how cheery is everybody's face to-day. The children have come from their schools, and the grown people from their workshops and their fields, on purpose to be happy. For, to-day, a new man is beginning to rule over them; and so- as has been the custom of mankind ever since a nation was first gathered- they make merry and rejoice; as if a good and golden year were at length to pass over the poor old world!"
“别作声，珠儿!你不明白这些事情，”她母亲说。“这会儿别想着牧师，往周围看看吧，看看大伙今天脸上有多高兴，孩子们都从学校出来了，大人也都从店铺和农田里走来了，为的就是高兴一下子。因为，今天要有一个新人来统治他们了;自从人类第一次凑成一个国家就有这种习惯了，所以嘛，他们就病痛快快地来欢庆一番;就象又老又穷的世界终于要过上一个黄金般的好年景了!”
It was as Hester said, in regard to the unwonted jollitythat brightened the faces of the people. Into this festalseason of the year- as it already was, and continued to be during the greater part of two centuries- the Puritans compressed whatever mirthand public joy they deemed allowable to human infirmity; thereby so far dispelling the customary cloud, that, for the space of a single holiday, they appeared scarcely more grave than most other communities at a period of general affliction.
海丝特说得不错，人们的脸上确实闪耀着非同凡响的欢乐。过去已然这样，在随后两个世纪的大部分年月里依然如此，清教徒们把自认为人类的弱点所能容忍的一切欢乐和公共喜庆，全都压缩在一年中的这一节日中;因此，他们总算拨开积年的阴霾，就这独一无二的节日而论，他们的神情才不致比大多数别处的居民倒霉时的面容要严峻些。
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