【经典名著阅读】《红字》第二十三章（上）

英语自学网

15287231.jpg

        Chapter 23 THE REVELATION OF THE SCARLET LETTER第二十三章　红字的显露
        THE eloquent voice, on which the souls of the listening audience had been borne aloft as on the swelling waves of the sea, at length came to a pause. There was a momentary silence, profound as what should follow the utterance of oracles. Then ensued a murmur and half-hushed tumult; as if the auditors, released from the high spell that had transported them into the region of another's mind, were returning into themselves, with all their awe and wonder still heavy on them. In a moment more, the crowd began to gush forth from the doors of the church. Now that there was an end, they needed other breath, more fit to support the gross and earthly life into which they relapsed, than that atmosphere which the preacher had converted into words of flame, and had burdened with the rich fragrance of his thought.犹如汹涌的海港般载着听众的灵魂高高升起的雄辩的话音，终于告一段落。那一刹那的静穆，如同宣告了神谕之后一般深沉。随后便是一阵窃窃私语和压低嗓门的瞳哗；似乎听众们从把他们带到另中种心境去的高级咒语中解脱出来，如今依然怀着全部惊惧的重荷重新苏醒了。过了一会儿，人群便开始从教堂的大门蜂拥而出。如今布道已经结束，他们步出被牧师化作火一般语言的、满载着他思想的香馥的气氛，需要换上另一种空气，才更适合支持他们的世俗生活。
        In the open air their rapture broke into speech. The street and the market-place absolutely babbled, from side to side, with applauses of the minister. His hearers could not rest until they had told one another of what each knew better than he could tell or hear. According to their united testimony, never had man spoken in so wise, so high, and so holy a spirit, as he that spake this day; nor had inspiration ever breathed through mortal lips more evidently than it did through his. Its influence could be seen, as it were, descending upon him, and possessing him, and continually lifting him out of the written discourse that lay before him, and filling him with ideas that must have been as marvellous to himself as to his audience. His subject, it appeared, had been the relation between the Deity and the communities of mankind, with a special reference to the New England which they were here planting in the wilderness. And, as he drew towards the close, a spirit as of prophecy had come upon him, constraining him to its purpose as mightily as the old prophets of Israel were constrained; only with this difference, that, whereas the Jewish seers had denounced judgments and ruin on their country, it was his mission to foretell a high and glorious destiny for the newly gathered people of the Lord. But, throughout it all, and through the whole discourse, there had been a certain deep, sad undertone of pathos, which could not be interpreted otherwise than as the natural regret of one soon to pass away. Yes; their minister whom they so loved- and who so loved them all, that he could not depart heavenward without a sigh- had the foreboding of untimely death upon him, and would soon leave them in their tears! This idea of his transitory stay on earth gave the last emphasis to the effect which the preacher had produced; it was as if an angel, in his passage to the skies, had shaken his bright wings over the people for an instant- at once a shadow and a splendour- and had shed down a shower of golden truths upon them.来到户外，他们如醉如痴的狂喜进发成语言。街道上、市场中、到处都翻腾着对牧师的腆美之词。他的听众们滔滔不绝地彼此诉说着每个人所知道的一切，直到全都说尽听够为止。他们异口同声地断言，从来没有淮象他今天这样讲得如此睿智、如此祟高、如此神圣；也没有哪个凡人的口中能够象他这样吐出如此鲜明的启示。显而易见，那启示的力量降临到了他身上，左右着他，不断地把他从面前的讲稿上提高，并以一些对他本人和对听众都妙不可言的观念充实着他。他所讲的主题音乐是上帝与人类社会的关系，尤指他们在这里垦荒播种的新英格兰。当他的布道接近结尾的时候，似是预言的一种精神降临在他身上，如同当年支配着以色列的老预言家一样强有力地迫使他就范；唯一不同的是，犹太人预言家当年宣告的是他们国内的天罚和灭亡，而他的使命则是预示新近在这里集结起来的上帝的臣民们的崇高而光荣的命运。但是，贯穿布道词始终的，一直有某种低沉、哀伤的悲调，使人们只能将其解释为一个即将告别人世的人的自然的仟悔。是啊；他们如此爱戴、也如此热爱他们的牧师不能不叹息一声就离开他们飞向天国啊！他们的牧师已经预感到那不合时宜的死亡的降临，很快就要在他们的哭声中离他们而去了！想到牧师弥留世上的时间已经不长，他那番布道词所产生的效果就更增加了最终强调的力量；如同一个天使在飞往天国的途中在人们的头上扇动了一下明亮的翅膀，随着一片阴影和一束光彩，向他们洒下了一阵黄金般的真理。

ensix

        Thus, there had come to the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale- as to most men, in their various spheres, though seldom recognised until they see it far behind them- an epoch of life more brilliant and full of triumph than any previous one, or that any which could hereafter be. He stood, at this moment, on the very proudest eminence of superiority, to which the gifts of intellect, rich lore, prevailing eloquence, and a reputation of whitest sanctity, could exalt a clergyman in New England's earliest days, when the professional character was of itself a lofty pedestal. Such was the position which the minister occupied, as he bowed his head forward on the cushions of the pulpit, at the close of his Election Sermon. Meanwhile Hester Prynne was standing beside the scaffold of the pillory, with the scarlet letter still burning on her breast!于是，丁梅斯代尔牧师先生来到了他一生中空前绝后的最辉煌也是最充满胜利的时期，许多人在他们不同的领域里也曾有过这样的时期；只是经过好久以后他们往往才意识到。此时，他是站在最骄傲的卓越地位之上，在早期的新英格兰，牧师这一职业本身已然是一座高高的础座，而一个牧师要想达到他如今那种高度，还有赖于智慧的天赋、丰富的学识、超凡的口才和最无理的圣洁的名声。当我们的这位牧师结束了他在庆祝选举日的布道，在讲坛的靠垫上向前垂着头时，所处的正是这样一个高位。与此同时，海丝特·白兰却站在刑台的旁边，胸前依然灼烧着红字！
        Now was heard again the clangour of the music, and the measured tramp of the military escort, issuing from the church-door. The procession was to be marshalled thence to the town-hall, where a solemn banquet would complete the ceremonies of the day.这时又听到了铿锵的音乐和卫队的整齐的步伐声从教堂门口传出。游行队伍将从那里走到镇议事厅，以厅中的一个庄严的宴会来结束这一天的庆典。
        Once more, therefore, the train of venerable and majestic fathers was seen moving through a broad pathway of the people, who drew back reverently, on either side, as the Governor and magistrates, the old and wise men, the holy ministers, and all that were eminent and renowned, advanced into the midst of them. When they were fairly in the market-place, their presence was greeted by a shout. This- though doubtless it might acquire additional force and volume from the child- like loyalty which the age awarded to its rulers- was felt to be an irrepressible outburst of enthusiasm kindled in the auditors by that high strain of eloquence which was yet reverberating in their ears. Each felt the impulse in himself, and, in the same breath, caught it from his neighbour. Within the church, it had hardly been kept down; beneath the sky, it pealed upward to the zenith. There were human beings enough, and enough of highly wrought and symphonious feeling, to produce that more impressive sound than the organ tones of the blast, or the thunder, or the roar of the sea, even that mighty swell of many voices, blended into one great voice by the universal impulse which makes likewise one vast heart out of the many. Never, from the soil of New England, had gone up such a shout! Never, on New England soil, had stood the man so honoured by his mortal brethren as the preacher!于是，人们又一次看到，由令人肃然起敬的威风凛凛的人士组成的队伍走在宽宽的通道上，夹道观看的群众在总督和官员们、贤明的长者、神圣的牧师以及一切德高望重的人们走道他们身边时，纷纷敬畏地向后退避。这支队伍出现在市场时，人群中进发出一阵欢呼，向他们致意。这种欢呼无疑额外增加了声势，表明了当年人们对其统治者孩提式的忠诚，但也让人感到，仍在听众耳际回荡的高度紧张的雄辩布道所激起的热情借此而不可遏止地爆发。每一个人不但自身感到了这种冲动，而且也从旁边的人身上感受到了程度相当的冲动。在教堂里的时候，这种冲动已经难以遏制；如今到了露天，便扶摇直冲云霄。这里有足够多的人，也有足够高的激昂交汇鲍情感，可以发出比狂风的呼啸、闪电的雷鸣或大海的咆哮更为震撼人心的声响；众心结成一心，形成一致的冲动，众声融成一声，发出巨大的浪涛声。在新英格兰的土壤中还从未进发出这样响彻云霄的欢呼！在新英格兰的土地上还从未站立过一个人象这位布道师那样受到他的人间兄弟的如此尊崇！