英文名著精选阅读：《红字》第二章（上）

英文名著精选阅读：《红字》第二章(上)

Chapter 02 THE MARKET-PLACE

第二章 市场

THE grass-plot before the jail, in Prison Lane, on a certain summer morning, not less than two centuries ago, was occupied by a pretty large number of the inhabitantsof Boston; all with their eyes intentlyfastenedon the iron-clamped oaken door. Amongst any other population, or at a later period in the history of New England, the grimrigiditythat petrifiedthe bearded physiognomiesof these good people would have augured some awful business in hand. It could have betokenednothing short of the anticipated execution of some noted culprit, on whom the sentence of a legal tribunalhad but confirmed the verdict of public sentiment. But, in that early severityof the Puritan character, an inference of this kind could not so indubitablybe drawn. It might be, that a sluggishbond-servant, or an undutiful child, whom his parents had given over to the civil authority, was to be corrected at the whipping-post. It might be, that an Antinomian, a Quaker, or other heterodoxreligionist, was to be scourgedout of the town, or an idle and vagrantIndian, whom the white man's fire-water had made riotousabout the streets, was to be driven with stripes into the shadow of the forest. It might be, too, that a witch, like old Mistress Hibbins, the bitter-tempered widow of the magistrate, was to die upon the gallows. In either case, there was very much the same solemnityof demeanouron the part of the spectators; as befitted a people amongst whom religion and law were almost identical, and in whose character both were so thoroughly interfused, that the mildest and the severest acts of public discipline were alike made venerableand awful. Meagre, indeed, and cold, was the sympathy that a transgressormight look for, from such bystanders, at the scaffold. On the other hand, a penaltywhich, in our days, would infer a degree of mocking infamyand ridicule, might then be invested with almost as sterna dignity as the punishment of death itself.

二百多年前一个夏日的上午，狱前街上牢房门前的草地上，满满地站着好大一群波士顿的居民，他们一个个都紧盯着布满铁钉的橡木牢门。如若换成其他百姓，或是推迟到新英格兰后来的历史阶段，这些蓄着胡须的好心肠的居民们板着的冷冰冰的面孔，可能是面临凶险的征兆，至少也预示着某个臭名昭著的罪犯即将受到人们期待已久的制裁，因为在那时，法庭的判决无非是认可公众舆论的裁处。但是，由于早年清教徒性格严峻，这种推测未免过于武断。也许，是一个慷倾的奴隶或是被家长送交给当局的一名逆子要在这笞刑柱上受到管教。也许，是一位唯信仰论者①、一位教友派②的教友或信仰其它异端的教徒被鞭挞出城，或是一个闲散的印第安游民，因为喝了白人的烈酒满街胡闹，要挨着鞭子给赶进树林。也许，那是地方宫的遗愿西宾斯老夫人那样生性恶毒的巫婆，将要给吊死在绞架上。无论属于哪种情况，围观者总是摆出分毫不爽的庄严姿态;这倒十分符合早期移民的身分，因为他们将宗教和法律视同一体，二者在他们的品性中融溶为一，凡涉及公共纪律的条款，不管是最轻微的还是最严重的都同样今他们肃然起敬和望而生畏，确实，一个站在刑台上的罪人能够从这样一些旁观看身上谋得的同情是少而又少、冷而又冷的。另外，如今只意味着某种令人冷嘲热讽的惩罚，在当时却可能被赋予同死刑一样严厉的色彩。

It was a circumstance to be noted, on the summer morning when our story begins its course, that the women, of whom there were several in the crowd, appeared to take a peculiar interest in whatever penalinflictionmight be expected to ensue. The age had not so much refinement, that any sense of impropriety restrained the wearers of petticoat and farthingalefrom stepping forth into the public ways, and wedging their not unsubstantialpersons, if occasion were, into the throng nearest to the scaffold at an execution. Morally, as well as materially, there was a coarserfibrein those wives and maidens of old English birth and breeding, than in their fair descendants, separated from them by a series of six or seven generations; for, throughout that chain of ancestry, every successive mother has transmitted to her child a fainter bloom, a more delicate and briefer beauty, and a slighter physical frame, if not a character of less force and solidity, than her own. The women who were now standing about the prison-door stood within less than half a century of the period when the man-like Elizabeth had been the not altogether unsuitable representative of the sex. They were her country-women; and the beef and aleof their native land, with a moral diet not a whitmore refined, entered largely into their composition. The bright morning sun, therefore, shone on broad shoulders and well-developed busts, and on round and ruddycheeks, that had ripened in the far-off island, and had hardly yet grown paler or thinner in the atmosphere of New England. There was, moreover, a boldness and rotundityof speech among these matrons, as most of them seemed to be, that would startleus at the present day, whether in respect to its purport or its volume of tone.

就在我们的故事发生的那个夏天的早晨，有一情况颇值一书：挤在人群中的好几位妇女，看来劝可能出现的任何刑罚那抱有特殊的兴趣。那年月没有那么多文明讲究，身着衬裙和撑裙的女人们公然出入于大庭广众之中，只要有可能，便要撅动姻们那并不娇弱的躯体，挤进最靠近刑台的人群中去，也不会缎入什么不成体统的感觉。那些在英伦故土上出生和成长的媳妇和姑娘们，比起她们六七代之后的漂亮的后裔来，身体要粗壮些，精神也要粗犷些;因为通过家系承袭的链条，每代母亲遗传给她女儿的，即使不是较她为少的坚实有力的性格，总会是比较柔弱的体质、更加娇小和短暂的美貌和更加纤细的身材。当时在牢门附近站着的妇女们，和那位堪称代表女性的男子气概的伊丽莎白相距不足半个世纪。她们是那位女王的乡亲：她们家多的牛肉和麦酒，佐以未经提炼的精神食粮，大量充实进她们的躯体。因此，明亮的晨感所照射着的，是宽阔的肩膀、发育丰满的胸脯和又圆又红的双颊——她们都是在通远的祖国本岛上长大成人的，远还没有在新英格兰的气氛中变得白皙与瘦削些。尤其令人瞩目的是，这些主妇们多数人一开口便是粗喉咙、大嗓门，要是在今天，她们的言谈无论是含义还是音量，都足以使我们瞠目结舌。

"Goodwives," said a hard-featureddame of fifty, "I'll tell ye a piece of my mind. It would be greatly for the public behoof, if we women, being of mature age and church-members in good repute, should have the handling of such malefactressesas this Hester Prynne. What think ye, gossips? If the hussystood up for judgment before us five, that are now here in a knot together, would she come off with such a sentence as the worshipfulmagistrateshave awarded? Marry, I trow not!"

“婆娘们，一个满脸横肉的五十岁的老婆子说，“我跟你们说说我的想法。要是我们这些上了一把年纪、名声又好的教会会友，能够处置海丝特·白兰那种坏女人，倒是给大伙办了件好事。你们觉得怎么样，婆娘们?要是那个破靶站在眼下咱们这五个姐们儿跟前听候判决，她能够带着那些可敬的官老爷们赏给她的判决溜过去吗?老天爷，我才不信呢!

"People say," said another, "that the Reverend Master Dimmesdale, her godly pastor, takes it very grievouslyto heart that such a scandal should have come upon his congregation."

“听人说，另一个女人说，“尊敬的丁梅斯代尔教长，就是她的牧师，为了在他的教众中出了这桩丑事，简直伤心透顶啦。

"The magistrates are God-fearinggentlemen, but mercifulovermuch-that is a truth," added a third autumnalmatron. "At the very least,they should have put the brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynne's forehead. Madam Hester would have wincedat that, I warrantme. But she- the naughty baggage- little will she care what they put upon the bodiceof her gown! Why, look you, she may cover it with a brooch, or such like heathenishadornment, and so walk the streets as brave as ever!"

“那帮宫老爷都是敬神的先生，可惜慈悲心太重陛——这可是真事，第三个人老珠黄的婆娘补充说。“最起码，他们应该在海丝特·白兰的脑门上烙个记号。那总能让海丝特太太有点怕，我敢这么说。可她——那个破烂货——她才不在乎他们在她前襟上贴个什么呢!哼，你们等着瞧吧，她准会别上个胸针，或者是异教徒的什么首饰，档住胸口，照样招摇过市!

"Ah, but," interposed, more softly, a young wife, holding a child by the hand, "Let her cover the mark as she will, the pangof it will be always in her heart."

“啊，不过，一个手里领着孩子的年轻媳妇轻声插嘴说，“她要是想挡着那记号就随她去吧，反正她心里总会受折磨的。

"What do we talk of marks and brands, whether on the bodiceof her gown, or the flesh of her forehead?" cried another female, the ugliest as well as the most pitiless of these self-constituted judges. "This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die. Is there not law for it? Truly there is, both in the Scripture and the statute-book. Then let the magistrates, who have made it of no effect, thank themselves if their own wives and daughters go astray!"

“我们扯什么记号不记号的，管它是在她前襟上还是脑门上呢?另一个女人叫嚷着，她在这几个自命的法官中长相最丑，也最不留情。“这女人给我们大伙都丢了脸，她就该死。难道说没有管这种事的法律吗?明明有嘛，圣经里和法典上全都写着呢。那就请这些不照章办事的宫老爷们的太太小姐们去走邪路吧，那才叫自作自受呢!

"Mercy on us, goodwife," exclaimed a man in the crowd, "is there no virtue in woman, save what springs from a wholesomefear of the gallows? That is the hardest word yet! Hush, now, gossips! for the lock is turning in the prison-door, and here comes Mistress Prynne herself."

“天哪，婆娘们，人群中一个男人惊呼道，“女人看到绞刑架就害怕，除去这种廉耻之心，她们身上难道就没有德性了吗?别把话说得太重了!轻点，喂，婆娘们!牢门的锁在转呢，海丝特太太本人就要出来了。

The door of the jail being flungopen from within, there appeared, in the first place, like a black shadow emerging into sunshine, the grim and grislypresence of the town-beadle, with a sword by his side, and his staff of office in his hand. This personage prefiguredand represented in his aspect the whole dismalseverityof the Puritanic code of law, which it was his business to administer in its final and closest application to the offender. Stretching forth the official staff in his left hand, he laid his right upon the shoulder of a young woman, whom he thus drewforward; until, on the thresholdof the prison-door, she repelledhim, by an action marked with natural dignity and force of character, and stepped into the open air, as if by her own free will. She bore in her arms a child, a baby of some three months old, who winkedand turned aside its little face from the too vivid light of day; because its existence, heretofore, had brought it acquainted only with the grey twilight of a dungeon, or other darksome apartment of the prison.

牢门从里面给一下子打开了，最先露面的是狱吏，他腰侧挎着剑，手中握着权杖，那副阴森可怖的模样象个暗影似的出现在日光之中。这个角色的尊容便是清教徒法典全部冷酷无情的象征和代表，对触犯法律购人最终和最直接执法则是他的差事。此时他伸出左手举着权杖，右手抓着一个年轻妇女的肩头，挽着她向前走;到了牢门口，她用了一个颇能说明她个性的力量和天生的尊严的动作，推开狱吏，象是出于她自主的意志一般走进露天地。她怀里抱着一个三个月左右的婴儿，那孩子眨着眼睛，转动她的小脸躲避着过分耀眼的阳光——自从她降生以来，还只习惯于监狱中的土牢或其它暗室那种昏晦的光线呢。

When the young woman- the mother of this child- stood fully revealed before the crowd, it seemed to be her first impulseto claspthe infant closely to her bosom; not so much by an impulse of motherly affection, as that she might thereby conceal a certain token, which was wroughtor fastened into her dress. In a moment, however, wisely judging that one token of her shame would but poorly serve to hide another, she took the baby on her arm, and, with a burning blush, and yet a haughty smile, and a glance that would not be abashed, looked around at her townspeople and neighbours. On the breast of her gown, in fine red cloth, surrounded with an elaborateembroideryand fantastic flourishesof gold thread, appeared the letter A. It was so artisticallydone, and with so much fertilityand gorgeousluxurianceof fancy, that it had all the effect of a last and fitting decoration to the apparel which she wore; and which was of a splendourin accordance with the taste of the age, but greatly beyond what was allowed by the sumptuaryregulations of the colony.

当那年轻的妇女——就是婴儿的母亲——全身位立在人群面前时，她的第一个冲动似乎就是把孩子抱在胸前;她这么做与其说是出于母爱的激情，不如说可以借此掩盖钉在她衣裙上的标记。然而，她很快就醒悟过来了，用她的耻辱的一个标记来掩盖另一个标记是无济于事的，于是，索兴用一条胳膊架着孩子，她虽然面孔红得发烧，却露出高傲的微笑，用毫无愧色的目光环视着她的同镇居民和街坊邻里。她的裙袍的前胸上露出了一个用红色细布做就、周围用金丝线精心绣成奇巧花边的一个字母A。这个字母制作别致，体现了丰富面华美的匠心，佩在衣服上构成尽美尽善的装饰，而她的衣服把她那年月的情趣衬托得恰到好处，只是其艳丽程度大大超出了殖民地俭补标准的规定。

The young woman was tall, with a figure of perfect elegance on a large scale. She had dark and abundanthair, so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam, and a face which, besides being beautiful from regularity of feature and richness of complexion, had the impressivenessbelonging to a marked brow and deep black eyes. She was ladylike, too, after the manner of the femininegentilityof those days; characterised by a certain state and dignity, rather than by the delicate, evanescent, and indescribable grace, which is now recognised as its indication. And never had Hester Prynne appeared more ladylike, in the antique interpretation of the term, than as she issued from the prison. Those who had before known her, and had expected to behold her dimmedand obscured by a disastrouscloud, were astonished, and even startled, to perceive how her beauty shone out, and made a haloof the misfortune and ignominyin which she was enveloped. It may be true, that, to a sensitive observer, there was something exquisitelypainful in it. Her attire, which, indeed, she had wrought for the occasion, in prison, and had modelled much after her own fancy, seemed to express the attitude of her spirit, the desperate recklessnessof her mood, by its wild and picturesque peculiarity. But the point which drew all eyes, and, as it were, transfiguredthe wearer- so that both men and women, who had been familiarly acquainted with Hester Prynne, were now impressed as if they beheld her for the first time- was that SCARLETLETTER, so fantastically embroideredand illuminatedupon her bosom. It had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity, and enclosing her in a sphereby herself.

那年轻妇女身材颀长，体态优美之极。她头上乌黑的浓发光彩夺目，在阳光下说说熠熠生辉。她的面孔不仅皮肤滋润、五官端正、容貌秀丽，而且还有一对鲜明的眉毛和一双漆黑的深目，十分楚楚动人。就那个时代女性举止优雅的风范而论，她也属贵妇之列;她自有一种端庄的风韵，并不同子如今人们心目中的那种纤巧、轻盈和不可言喻的优雅。即使以当年的概念而吉，海丝特·白兰也从来没有象步出监狱的此时此刻这样更象贵妇。那些本来就认识她的人，原先满以为她经历过这一魔难，会缀然失色，结果却惊得都发呆了，因为他们所看到的，是她焕发的美丽，竟把笼罩着她的不幸和耻辱凝成一轮光环。不过，目光敏锐的旁观者无疑能从中觉察出一种微妙的痛楚。她在狱中按照自己的想象，专门为这场合制作的服饰，以其特有的任性和别致，似乎表达了她的精神境界和由绝望而无所顾忌的心情。但是，吸引了所有的人的目光而且事实上使海丝特·白兰焕然一新的，则是在她胸前额频闪光的绣得妙不可言的那个红字，以致那些与她熟识的男男女女简直感到是第一次与她谋面。这个红字具有一种震慑的力量，竟然把她从普通的人间关系中超脱出来，紧裹在自身的氛围里。

①一种主张基督徒可以按照福音书所阐明的受到感化而摆脱道德法律约束的教源。

②或称“员格汲或公谊会，是一个没有明确的教义，也没有常任牧师，而靠内心灵光指引的教派。

（编辑：薛琳）