英文名著精选阅读：《红字》第十八章（下）

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　　英文名著精选阅读：《红字》第十八章(下)
　　Chapter 18 A FLOOD OF SUNSHINE
　　第十八章　一片阳光
　　The stigmagone, Hester heaveda long, deep sigh, in which the burden of shame and anguishdeparted from her spirit. Oh, exquisiterelief! She had not known the weight, until she felt the freedom! By another impulse, she took off the formal cap that confined her hair; and down it fell upon her shoulders, dark and rich, with at once a shadow and a light in its abundance, and imparting the charm of softness to her features. There played around her mouth, and beamed out of her eyes, a radiantand tender smile, that seemed gushingfrom the very heart of womanhood. A crimson flush was glowing on her cheek, that had been long so pale. Her sex, her youth, and the whole richness of the beauty, came back from what men call the irrevocablepast, and clustered themselves, with her maidenhope, and a happiness before unknown, within the magic circle of this hour. And, as if the gloom of the earth and sky had been but the effluenceof these two mortal hearts, it vanished with their sorrow. All at once, as with a sudden smile of heaven, forth burst the sunshine, pouring a very flood into the obscure forest, gladdeningeach green leaf, transmutingthe yellow fallen ones to gold, and gleaming adownthe grey trunks of the solemn trees. The objects that had made a shadow hitherto, embodied the brightness now. The course of the little brookmight be traced by its merry gleamafar into the wood's heart of mystery, which had become a mystery of joy.
　　海丝特除掉那耻辱的标志之后，深深长叹一声，她的精神就此解脱了耻辱和苦闷的重荷，轻松得简直飘然欲仙了!她如今感到了自由，才明白那重荷的份量!随着另一次冲动，她摘下了那顶束发的正正经经的帽子;满头乌黑浓密的秀发立刻飘洒在肩头，厚实之中显出光影婆婆，为她的容貌乎添了柔和之美。她的嘴角和眼波中散发出温柔的嫣然笑意，似是涌自她女性的心头。长期以来十分苍白的面颊也泛起红潮。她的女性，她的青春，和她各方面的美，都从所谓的无可挽回的过去中恢复了，伴随而来的是她少女时期的希望和一种前所不知的幸福，都在此时此刻的魔圈中荟萃一堂。而且，那种天昏地暗似乎是这两个人心中流泄出来的，此时也随着他们忧伤的消逝而消散了。突然之间，天空似乎一下子绽出微笑，立时阳光四射，将灿烂的光芒洒向膝腕的树林，使每一片绿叶都兴高采烈，把所有枯黄的落时染成金黄，连肃穆的树木的灰色树干也闪出亮光。原先造成阴影的东西，如今也成了发光体。小溪的河道也愉快地粼粼闪光，溯源而上可以直抵树林的那神秘心脏。此时也已成为一种欢乐的神秘。
　　Such was the sympathy of Nature- that wild, heathen Nature of the forest, never subjugatedby human law, nor illuminedby higher truth- with the blissof these two spirits! Love, whether newly born, or aroused from a death-like slumber, must always create a sunshine, filling the heart so full of radiance, that it overflows upon the outward world. Had the forest still kept its gloom, it would have been bright in Hester's eyes, and bright in Arthur Dimmesdale's!
　　这就是大自然——从未被人类法律管制过的、也从未被更高的真理照射过的蛮荒的、异端的、森林中的大自然——对这两个人精神的祝福所表示的同情!无论是新诞生的、抑或是从昏死般沉睡中醒来的爱情，总要产生一种阳光，将内心充满，并洋溢而出，喷薄到外界。此时即使林中仍然幽暗如故，在海丝特的眼中，在阿瑟。丁梅斯代尔的眼中，也仍然会是光芒四射的!
　　
            
            

ensix

　　Hester looked at him with the thrillof another joy.
　　海丝特望着他，心头又是一阵喜悦的震颤。
　　"Thou must know Pearl!" said she. "Our little Pearl! Thou hast seen her- yes, I know it!- but thou wilt see her now with other eyes. She is a strange child! I hardly comprehendher! But thou wilt love her dearly, as I do, and wilt advise me how to deal with her."
　　“你应该认识一下珠儿!”她说。“我们的小珠儿!你已经见过她了，——是啊，我知道的!——但现在你要用另一副目光来见她。她是一个怪孩子!我简直不理解她!但你会象我一样亲亲热热地爱她，还要给我出出主意怎么对付她。”
　　"Dost thou think the child will be glad to know me?" asked the minister, somewhat uneasily. "I have long shrunk from children, because they often show a distrust- a backwardnessto be familiar with me. I have even been afraid of little Pearl!"
　　“你看孩子会高兴认识我吗?”牧师有点不安地问。“我躲着小孩子已有好长时间了，因为他们常常对我表示不信任——一种回避和我亲近的态度。我甚至一直害怕小珠儿!”
　　"Ah, that was sad!" answered the mother. "But she will love thee dearly, and thou her. She is not far off. I will call her! Pearl! Pearl!"
　　“唉，那可太让人难过了!”做母亲的回答说。“但是她会亲亲热热地爱你的，你也会一样爱她的。她就在不远的地方。我来叫叫她!珠儿!珠儿!”
　　"I see the child," observed the minister. "Yonder she is, standing in a streakof sunshine, a good way off, on the other side of the brook, So thou thinkest the child will love me?"
　　“我看见孩子了，”牧师说。“她就在那边，站在一道阳光下，离这儿还有一段路，在小溪的对岸。你是说这孩子会爱我?”
　　Hester smiled, and again called to Pearl, who was visible, at some distance, as the minister had described her, like a bright-apparelledvision, in a sunbeam, which fell down upon her through an arch of boughs. The ray quiveredto and fro, making her figure dim or distinct- now like a real child, now like a child's spirit- as the splendourwent and came again. She heard her mother's voice, and approached slowly through the forest.
　　海丝特莞尔一笑，又叫了一声珠儿，这时可以看见她了，就在一段距离之外，正如牧师所说，她站在透过树弯照到她身上的一道阳光之中，象是个被了一层灿烂衣装的幻影。那阳光来回抖动，使得她的身影忽明忽暗——一会儿象是个活生生的孩子，一会儿又象是孩子的精灵——随着阳光去面复返。她听到了她母亲的呼唤，慢慢穿过树林走了过来。
　　
            
            

enfour

　　Pearl had not found the hour pass wearisomely, while her mother sat talking with the clergyman. The great black forest- stern as it showed itself to those who brought the guilt and troubles of the world into its bosom- became the playmateof the lonely infant, as well as it knew how. Sombre as it was, it put on the kindest of its moods to welcome her. It offered her the partridge-berries, the growth of the precedingautumn, but ripening only in the spring, and now red as drops of blood upon the witheredleaves. These Pearl gathered, and was pleased with their wild flavour. The small denizensof the wilderness hardly took pains to move out of her path. A partridge, indeed, with a broodof ten behind her, ran forward threatingly, but soon repentedof her fierceness, and clucked to her young ones not to be afraid. A pigeon, alone on a low branch, allowed Pearl to come beneath, and uttered a sound as much of greeting as alarm. A squirrel, from the lofty depths of his domestic tree, chattered either in anger or merriment- for a squirrel is such a cholericand humorouslittle personage, that it is hard to distinguish between his moods- so he chattered at the child, and flung down a nut upon her head. It was a last year's nut, and already gnawedby his sharp tooth. A fox, startled from his sleep by her light footstep on the leaves, looked inquisitivelyat Pearl, as doubting whether it were better to steal off, or renew his nap on the same spot. A wolf, it is said- but here the tale has surely lapsed into the improbable- came up, and smelt of Pearl's robe, and offered his savagehead to be patted by her hand. The truth seems to be, however, that the mother-forest, and these wild things which it nourished, all recognised a kindredwildness in the human child.
　　她母亲坐在那儿和牧师谈话的当儿，珠儿并不觉得时间过得无聊。那座阴森森的大树林——对那些把世间的罪孽和烦恼都装进胸扉的人们来说，虽然显得那么严厉，但却成了那孤独的幼儿的玩伴，而且懂得怎么陪着她玩。大森林尽管阴沉忧郁，却露出最亲切的心情来欢迎她。向她提供了红树浆果，那是去年秋天长出，今年春天才成熟的，此时红得象珠珠血滴，树在枯叶上。珠儿采集了这些浆果，很喜欢那种野果的滋味。那些野生的小动物，都不肯从她的小径上走开。一只身后随着十只雏鸟的雌鹧鸪，确曾冲上前来威吓她，但很快就后悔那么凶，还咯咯叫着她的孩子不必害怕。一只独栖在低校上的野鸽，在珠儿来到树下时没有飞开，只是发出一声既象问候又象惊讶的叫声。一只松鼠从它作巢的高树的密时中叽叽咕咕，不知是生气还是高兴——因为松鼠本是爱发怒又逗人爱的小家伙，它的脾气实在让人捉摸不定——它边向那孩子叽叽咕咕，还扔下一颖坚果在她的头上。那是一颗去年结下的坚果，已经被它的利齿咬啮过了。一只狐狸被她踏在落时上的轻轻的脚步声所惊醒，探头探脑地望着珠儿，似乎拿不定主意，是悄悄溜走，还是呆在原地继续它的瞌睡。据说——故事叙述到这里确实有些荒唐了——，还有一只狼走上前来，嗅了嗅珠儿的衣服，还把它那野兽的头仰起来让她拍拍。不过，实情大概是：那森林母亲及其养育的这些野兽，全都在这人类的孩子身上辨出了一种亲切的野味。
　　And she was gentler here than in the grassy-margined streets of the settlement, or in her mother's cottage. The flowers appeared to know it; and one and another whispered as she passed, "Adornthyself with me, thou beautiful child, adorn thyself with me!"- and, to please them, Pearl gathered the violets, and anemones, and columbines, and some twigsof the freshest green, which the old trees held down before her eyes. With these she decorated her hair, and her young waist, and became a nymph-child, or an infant dryad, or whatever else was in closest sympathy with the antique wood. In such guisehad Pearl adorned herself, when she heard her mother's voice, and came slowly back.
　　而她在这林中，也要比在居民区两边铺了草的街道上，或是她母亲的茅屋中，显得温和些。花朵象是明白这一点;在她经过时，就会有那么一两朵悄声低语：“用我来打扮打扮你自己吧，你这漂亮的孩子，用我来打扮打扮你自己吧!”——而为了让它们高兴，珠儿也就摘了几朵紫罗兰、银莲花和耧斗菜，以及一些从老树上垂到她眼前的翠绿的嫩枝。她用这些花枝编成花环，戴往头发上，缠在腰肢间，于是便成了一个小仙子，或是林中小仙女，或是同古老的树林最为亲密无间的什么精灵。珠儿把自己这样打扮好了，便听到她母亲的呼唤，慢慢地往回走去。
　　Slowly; for she saw the clergyman!
　　她走得很慢，因为她看到了牧师。