英文名著精选阅读：《红字》第四章（下）

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　　英文名著精选阅读：《红字》第四章(下)
　　Chapter 04 THE INTERVIEW
　　第四章　会面
　　"Hester," said he, "I ask not wherefore, nor how, thou hast fallen into the pit, or say, rather, thou hast ascended to the pedestalof infamy, on which I found thee. The reason is not far to seek. It was my folly, and thy weakness. I- a man of thought- the bookwormof great libraries- a man already in decay, having given my best years to feed the hungry dream of knowledge- what had I to do with youth and beauty like thine own! Misshapen from my birth-hour, how could I deludemyself with the idea that intellectualgifts might veilphysical deformityin a young girl's fantasy! Men call me wise. If sageswere ever wise in their own behoof, I might have foreseen all this. I might have known that, as I came out of the vast and dismalforest, and entered this settlement of Christian men, the very first object to meet my eyes would be thyself, Hester Prynne, standing up, a statue of ignominy, before the people. Nay, from the moment when we came down the old churchsteps together, a married pair, I might have beheld the bale-fire of that scarlet letter blazing at the end of our path!"
　　“海丝特，”他说，“我不对你盘诘：出于什么原因或以何种方式，你堕入了深渊，或者宁可说，你登上了耻辱的刑台——我正是在那儿见到你的。原因唾手可寻。那就是我的愚蠢和你的软弱。我，——一个有头脑的人，——一个博览群书的蛀书虫，——一个已经老朽的人，已经把我的大好年华都用来充实我对知识的饥渴之梦了，——我与你这样的青春与美貌已经无关了!我生来畸形，我怎能自欺，竟以为知识和智能可以在年轻站娘的心目中掩盖肉体的缺陷!人们都认为我聪明，如果智者有自知之明，我早就该预见到这一切了。我原先就应料到，当我走出那浩渺的莽林，步入这基督徒的居位区别，首先映入我眼帘的就是你本人，海丝特·白兰，作为不光彩的形象，高高站在众人面前。唉，从我们新婚燕尔，一起走下那古老教堂的门防的那一刻起，我就应该看到：在我们道路的尽头燃着红字的熊熊烈火!”
　　"Thou knowest," said Hester- for, depressed as she was, she could not endurethis last quiet stabat the token of her shame- "thou knowest that I was frank with thee. I felt no love, nor feignedany."
　　“你知道，”海丝特说，——尽管她十分沮丧，但依旧无法忍受刚才在她耻辱的标记上那平和的一戳——“你知道我一向对你很坦率。我没有感受到爱情，我也不想装假。”
　　"True," replied he. "It was my folly! I have said it. But, up to that epochof my life, I had lived in vain. The world had been so cheerless! My heart was a habitationlarge enough for many guests, but lonely and chill, and without a household fire. I longed to kindleone! It seemed not so wild a dream- old as I was, and sombreas I was, and misshapen as I was- that the simple bliss, which is scattered far and wide, for all mankind to gather up, might yet be mine. And so, Hester, I drew thee into my heart, into its innermostchamber, and sought to warm thee by the warmth which thy presence made there!"
　　“的确，”他回答说。“那是我的愚蠢!我刚才已经说过了。不过，直到我生命的那一刻为止，我都白活了。整个世界都是那么郁郁寡欢，我的心宽敞得可以容下好多客人，但孤寂而凄凉，没有一处家居的壁炉。我多盼望能点燃一护火啊!看来这并非非分之想，——尽管我年老，我阴沉，我畸形，——可这种天南地北人人都可以用来温暖自己的最朴素的福份，我也能够享有才是。于是，海丝特，我就把你装进了心窝：放进最深的地方，想用你给我的温暖来温暖你!”
　　"I have greatly wronged thee," murmured Hester.
　　“我让你太受委屈了，”海丝特讷讷着说。
　　"We have wronged each other," answered he. "Mine was the first wrong, when I betrayed thy buddingyouth into a false and unnatural relation with my decay. Therefore, as a man who has not thought and philosophised in vain, I seek no vengeance, plot no evil against thee. Between thee and me the scale hangs fairly balanced. But, Hester, the man lives who has wronged us both! Who is he?"
　　“我们彼此都让对方受了委屈，”他回答说。“是我先委屈了你，我把你含苞的青春同我这朽木错误地、不自然地嫁接在一起，从而断送了你。因此，作为一个没有白白具有思想而且懂得哲理的人，我对你既不谋求报复，也不怀有邪念。在你我之间，天平保持了相当的平衡。不过，那个坑害了你我二人的人还活着，海丝特!他是谁?”
　　
            
            

enthree

　　"Ask me not!" replied Hester Prynne, looking firmly into his face. "That thou shaltnever know!"
　　“不要问我!”海丝特·白兰定睛望着他的面孔回答说。“这一点你永远不会知道的!”
　　"Never, sayest thou?" rejoinedhe, with a smile of dark and self-relying intelligence. "Never know him! Believe me, Hester, there are few things- whether in the outward world, or, to a certain depth, in the invisible sphere of thought- few things hidden from the man who devotes himself earnestly and unreservedlyto the solution of a mystery. Thou mayest cover up thy secret from the pryingmultitude. Thou mayest conceal it, too, from the ministers and magistrates, even as thou didst this day, when they sought to wrenchthe name out of thy heart, and give thee a partner on thy pedestal. But, as for me, I come to the inquestwith other senses than they possess. I shall seek this man, as I have sought truth in books; as I have sought gold in alchemy. There is a sympathythat will make me conscious of him. I shall see him tremble. I shall feel myself shudder, suddenly and unawares. Sooner or later, he must needs be mine!"
　　“永远不，你是这么说的吗?”他接口说，脸上露出阴沉和自信的笑意。“永远不会知道他!相信我吧，海丝特，还没有什么事情，——无论是在外部世界上的，还是在不可见的某种思想深处之中的——都没有什么事情能够逃过一个对解决神秘问题孜孜以求的人的眼睛。你可以对那些刨根问底的群众隐藏你的秘密。你也可以对那些牧师和大人们掩饰你的秘密，即使在他们象今天所作的那样，竭力想把那人的名字从你心中挤轧出来，让你们结伴示众的时候，也是枉然。至于我呢，我要用他们所不具备的其它感觉来寻求答案。我要象我在书本中探索真理、用炼金术提炼黄金那样去找出这个男人。我可以靠一种共同感应来觉察出他来。我要看着他浑身战抖。我会突然而不自主地感到自己在颤栗。或迟或早，他必将落入我的掌握之中!”
　　The eyes of the wrinkled scholar glowedso intenselyupon her, that Hester Prynne claspedher hands over her heart, dreading lest he should read the secret there at once.
　　那个满脸皱纹的学者的眼睛，亮闪闪地死盯住海丝特·白兰，直逼得她用双手紧紧捂住胸口，唯恐他马上从那儿读到她的秘密。
　　"Thou wilt not reveal his name? Not the less he is mine," resumed he, with a look of confidence, as if destiny were at one with him. "He bears no letter of infamy wroughtinto his garment, as thou dost; but I shall read it on his heart. Yet fear not for him! Think not that I shall interfere with Heaven's own method of retribution, or, to my own loss, betray him to the gripeof human law. Neither do thou imagine that I shall contriveaughtagainst his life; no, nor against his fame, if, as I judge, he be a man of fair repute. Let him live! Let him hide himself in outward honour, if he may! Not the less he shall be mine!"
　　“你不想说出他的名字吗?反正他逃不出我的手心，”他接着说，露出得意的神情，似乎是他在主宰命运。“他的衣服上没有象你一样缝着耻辱的字毋;但我仍可以洞察他的内心。不过不必为他担心!不要以为我会扰乱上天的惩治方法，或者，把他揭露出来，诉请人间的法律去制裁，那样我会得不偿失。你也不要猜想我会设法勾消他的生命;不，我也不会诋毁他的名誉的，要是我判断得对，他是一个颇有名望的人。让他活着吧!反正他逃不出我的手心!”
　　"Thy acts are like mercy," said Hester, bewildered and appalled. "But thy words interpret thee as a terror!"
　　“你的行动象是在发慈悲，”海丝特困惑面惊恐地说。“可你的言辞只能让人感到害怕!”
　　"One thing, thou that wast my wife, I would enjoinupon thee," continued the scholar. "Thou hast kept the secret of thy paramour. Keep, likewise, mine! There are none in this land that know me. Breathe not, to any human soul, that thou didst ever call me husband! Here, on this wild outskirt of the earth, I shall pitch my tent; for, elsewhere a wanderer, and isolated from human interests, I find here a woman, a man, a child, amongst whom and myself there exist the closest ligaments. No matter whether of love or hate; no matter whether of right or wrong! Thou and thine, Hester Prynne, belong to me. My home is where thou art, and where he is. But betray me not!"
　　“既然你曾经是我的妻子，我要求你必须做到一点，”那学者继续说。“你始终不肖泄露你的奸夫。那就也为我保密吧!这地方没人认识我。绝对不要对任何人露一点口风，说我曾经是你的丈夫?这里，在地球的这块蛮荒野地里，我要扎下我的帐篷，因为在别的地方我也是一个飘泊者，与世人的兴趣隔绝，但在这里我发现了一个女人、一个男人、一个孩子，我和他们之间存在着最紧密的联系。不管是爱还是恨;也不管是对还是错!你和你的人，海丝特·白兰，都属于我。你在哪儿，他在哪儿，我的家就安在哪儿。但你别把我泄露出去!”
　　
            
            

enfive

　　"Wherefore dost thou desire it?" inquired Hester, shrinking, she hardly knew why, from this secret bond. "Why not announce thyself openly, and cast me off at once?"
　　“你为什么要这样呢?”海丝特怯生生地问，她也说不清她怎么会由于这一秘密的约束而畏缩了。“你为什么不公开站出来，把我立刻抛弃呢?”
　　"It may be," he replied, "because I will not encounter the dishonour that besmirchesthe husband of a faithless woman. It may be for other reasons. Enough, it is my purpose to live and die unknown. Let, therefore, thy husband be to the world as one already dead, and of whom no tidings shall ever come. Recognise me not, by word, by sign, by look! Breathe not the secret, above all, to the man thou wottestof. Shouldst thou fail me in this, beware! His fame, his position, his life, will be in my hands. Beware!"
　　“可能是，”他答道，“因为我不愿意蒙受一个不忠实的女人给丈夫带来玷辱。也许是别的什么原因。总之，我的目标是生生死死不为人所知。因此，让这里的人都以为你丈夫已经死了吧，关于他，不应再有任何消息了。无论从言谈间，从表情上，还是从动作上，都要装作不认识我!别露一点口风，尤其对你恋着的那个男人。要是你在这点上坏了我的事，你就小心点吧!他的名誉，他的地位，他的生命，全都握在我的手心里。当心吧!”
　　"I will keep thy secret, as I have his," said Hester.
　　“我将象为他保密一样来为你保密，”海丝特说。
　　"Swearit!" rejoined he.
　　“发个誓吧!”他接茬说。
　　And she took the oath.
　　她于是起了誓。
　　"And now, Mistress Prynne," said old Roger Chillingworth, as he was hereafter to be named, "I leave thee alone; alone with thy infant, and the scarlet letter! How is it, Hester? Doth thy sentence bind thee to wear the token in thy sleep? Art thou not afraid of nightmares and hideousdreams?"
　　“现在，白兰太太，”老罗杰·齐灵渥斯说——从今以后我们就这么称呼他了，“我丢下你不管了!让你和你的婴儿，还有那红字，一起过日子吧!怎么样，海丝特?判决是不是规定你睡觉时也要佩着那标记?你难道不怕睡魇和凶梦吗?”
　　"Why dost thou smile so at me?" inquired Hester, troubled at the expression of his eyes. "Art thou like the Black Man that hauntsthe forest round about us? Hast thou enticedme into a bond that will prove the ruin of my soul?"
　　“你干嘛要这样子冲我笑?”海丝特对着他的目光费解地问。“你打算象那个在森林里作祟的黑男人一样纠缠着我们吗?你是不是已经把我引进了一个圈套，证明我的灵魂给毁绰了呢?”
　　"Not thy soul," he answered, with another smile. "No, not thy soul."
　　“不是你的灵魂，”他说着，又露齿一笑。“不，不是你的!”