英文名著精选阅读：《红字》第二十三章（下）

英文名著精选阅读：《红字》第二十三章(下)

Chapter 23 THE REVELATIONOF THE SCARLET LETTER

第二十三章 红字的显露

Bellingham, for the last few moments, had kept an anxiouseye upon him. He now left his own place in the procession, and advanced to give assistance; judging, from Mr. Dimmesdale's aspect, that he must otherwise inevitablyfall. But there was something in the latter's expression that warned back the magistrate, although a man not readily obeying the vague intimationsthat pass from one spirit to another. The crowd, meanwhile, looked on with awe and wonder. This earthly faintness was, in their view, only another phase of the ministers' celestialstrength; nor would it have seemed a miracle too high to be wrought for one so holy, had he ascended before their eyes, waxing dimmer and brighter, and fading at last into the light of heaven!

贝灵汉在这几分钟里始终焦虑地注视着他。此时贝灵汉离开了队伍中自己的位置，走上前来帮助他，因为从丁梅斯代尔先生的面容来判断，不去扶他一把就一定会摔倒的。但是，牧师的表情中有一种推拒之意，令这位达官不敢上前，尽管他并不是那种乐于听命于人与人之间心息相通的隐约暗示的人。与此同时，人群则怀着谅惧参半的心情观望着。在他们看来，这种肉体的衰竭只不过是牧师的神力的另一种表现;设若象他这样神圣的人，就在众人眼前飞升，渐黯又渐明，最终消失在天国的光辉中，也不会被视为难以企及的奇迹。

He turned towards the scaffold, and stretched forth his arms.

他转向刑台，向前伸出双臂。

"Hester," said he, "come hither! Come, my little Pearl!"

“海丝特，他说，“过来呀!来，我的小珠儿!

It was a ghastlylook with which he regarded them; but there was something at once tender and strangely triumphantin it. The child, with the bird-like motion which was one of her characteristics, flew to him, and clasped her arms about his knees. Hester Prynne- slowly, as if impelled by inevitable fate, and against her strongest will- likewise drew near, but paused before she reached him. At this instant, old Roger Chillingworth thrust himself through the crowd- or, perhaps, so dark, disturbed, and evil was his look, he rose up out of some nether region- to snatch back his victim from what he sought to do! Be that as it might, the old man rushed forward, and caught the minister by the arm.

他盯着她们的眼神十分可怖;但其中马上就映出温柔和奇异的胜利的成分。那孩子，以她特有的鸟儿一般的动作，朝他飞去，还搂住了他的双膝。海丝特·白兰似乎被必然的命运所推动，但又违背她的坚强意志，也缓缓向前，只是在她够不到他的地方就站住了。就在此刻，老罗杰·齐灵渥斯从人群中脱颖而出——由于他的脸色十分阴暗、十分慌乱、十分邪恶，或许可以说他是从地狱的什么地方钻出来的——想要抓住他的牺牲品，以免他会做出什么举动!无论如何吧，反正那老人冲到前面，一把抓住了牧师的胳臂。

"Madman, hold! what is your purpose?" whispered he. "Wave back that woman! Cast off this child! All shall be well! Do not blacken your fame, and perishin dishonour. I can yet save you! Would you bring infamyon your sacred profession?"

“疯子，稳住!你要干什么?他小声说。“挥开那女人!甩开这孩子!一切都会好的!不要玷污你的名声，不光彩地毁掉自己!我还能拯救你!你愿意给你神圣的职业蒙受耻辱吗?

"Ha, tempter! Methinks thou art too late!" answered the minister, encountering his eye, fearfully, but firmly. "Thy power is not what it was! With God's help, I shall escape thee now!"He again extended his hand to the woman of the scarlet letter.

“哈，诱惑者啊!我认为你来得太迟了!牧师畏惧而坚定地对着他的目光，回答说。“你的权力如今已不象以前了!有了上帝的帮助，我现在要逃脱你的羁绊了!他又一次向戴红字的女人伸出了手。

"Hester Prynne," cried he, with a piercing earnestness, "in the name of Him, so terrible and so merciful, who gives me grace, at this last moment, to do what- for my own heavy sin and miserable agony- I withheld myself from doing seven years ago, come hither now, and twine thy strength about me! Thy strength, Hester; but let it be guided by the will which God hath granted me! This wretched and wronged old man is opposing it with all his might!- with all his own might, and the fiend's! Come, Hester, come! Support me up yonder scaffold!"The crowd was in a tumult. The men of rank and dignity, who stood more immediately around the clergyman, were so taken by surprise, and so perplexedas to the purportof what they saw- unable to receive the explanation which most readily presented itself, or to imagine any other- that they remained silent and inactive spectators of the judgment which Providence seemed about to work. They beheld the minister, leaning on Hester's shoulder, and supported by her arm around him, approach the scaffold, and ascend its steps; while still the little hand of the sin-born child was clasped in his. Old Roger Chillingworth followed, as one intimately connected with the drama of guilt and sorrow in which they had all been actors, and well entitled, therefore, to be present at its closing scene.

“海丝特·白兰，他以令人撕心裂肺的真诚呼叫道，“上帝啊，他是那样的可畏，又是那样的仁慈，在这最后的时刻，他已恩准我——为了我自己沉重的罪孽和悲惨的痛楚——来做七年前我规避的事情，现在过来吧，把你的力量缠绕到我身上吧!你的力量，海丝特;但要让那力量遵从上帝赐于我的意愿的指导!这个遭受委屈的不幸的老人正在竭力反对此事!竭尽他自己的，以及魔鬼的全力!来吧，海丝特，来吧!扶我登上这座刑台吧!人群哗然，骚动起来。那些紧靠在牧师身边站着的有地位和身分的人万分震惊，对他们目睹的这一切实在不解：既不能接受那显而易见的解释，又想不出别的什么涵义，只好保持沉默，静观上天似乎就要进行的裁决。他们眼睁睁地瞅着牧师靠在海丝特的肩上，由她用臂膀搀扶着走近刑台，跨上台阶;而那个由罪孽而诞生的孩子的小手还在他的手中紧握着。老罗杰·齐灵渥斯紧随在后，象是与这出他们几人一齐参加演出的罪恶和悲伤的戏剧密不可分，因此也就责无旁贷地在闭幕前亮了相。

"Hadst thou sought the whole earth over," said he, looking darklyat the clergyman, "there was no one place so secret- no high place nor lowly place, where thou couldst have escaped me- save on this very scaffold!"

“即使你寻遍全世界，他阴沉地望着牧师说，“除去这座刑台，再也没有一个地方更秘密——高处也罢，低处也罢，使你能够逃脱我了!

"Thanks be to Him who hath led me hither" answered the minister.

“感谢上帝指引我来到了这里!牧师回答说。

Yet he trembled, and turned to Hester with an expression of doubt and anxiety in his eyes, not the less evidently betrayed, that there was a feeblesmile upon his lips.

然而他却颤抖着，转向海丝特，眼睛中流露着疑虑的神色，嘴角上也同样明显地带着一丝无力的微笑。

"Is not this better," murmured he, "than what we dreamed of in the forest?"

“这样做，他咕哝着说，“比起我们在树林中所梦想的，不是更好吗?

"I know not! I know not!" she hurriedly replied. "Better? Yea; so we may both die, and little Pearl die with us!"

“我不知道!我不知道!她匆匆回答说。“是更好吗?是吧;这样我们就可以一起死去，还有小珠儿陪着我们!

"For thee and Pearl, be it as God shall order," said the minister; "and God is merciful! Let me now do the will which He hath made plain before my sight. For, Hester, I am a dying man. So let me make haste to take my shame upon me!"

“至于你和珠儿，听凭上帝的旨意吧，牧师说;“而上帝是仁慈的!上帝已经在我眼前表明了他的意愿，我现在就照着去做。海丝特，我已经是个垂死的人了。那就让我赶紧承担起我的耻辱吧!

Partly supported by Hester Prynne, and holding one hand of little Pearl's, the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale turned to the dignifiedand venerablerulers; to the holy ministers, who were his brethren; to the people, whose great heart was thoroughly appalled, yet overflowing with tearful sympathy, as knowing that some deep life-matter- which, if full of sin, was full of anguish and repentance likewise- was now to be laid open to them. The sun, but little past its meridian, shone down upon the clergyman, and gave a distinctnessto his figure, as he stood out from all the earth, to put in his plea of guilty at the bar of Eternal Justice.

丁梅斯代尔牧师先生一边由海丝特·白兰撑持着，一边握着小珠儿的手，转向那些年高望重的统治者;转向他的那些神圣的牧师兄弟;转向在场的黎民百姓——他们的伟大胸怀已经给彻底惊呆了，但仍然泛滥着饱含泪水的同情，因为他们明白，某种深透的人生问题——即使充满了罪孽，也同样充满了极度的痛苦与悔恨——即将展现在他们眼前。刚刚越过中天的太阳正照着牧师，将他的轮廓分明地勾勒出来，此时他正高高矗立在大地之上，在上帝的法庭的被告栏前，申诉着他的罪过。

"People of New England!" cried he, with a voice that rose over them, high, solemn, and majestic- yet had always a tremor through it, and sometimes a shriek, struggling up out of a fathomlessdepth of remorse and woe- "ye, that have loved me!- ye, that have deemed me holy- behold me here, the one sinner of the world! At last!- at last!- I stand upon the spot where, seven years since, I should have stood; here, with this woman, whose arm, more than the little strength wherewith I have crept hitherward, sustains me, at this dreadful moment, from grovelling down upon my face! Lo, the scarlet letter which Hester wears! Ye have all shuddered at it! Wherever her walk hath been- wherever, so miserably burdened, she may have hoped to find repose- it hath cast a lurid gleam of awe and horrible repugnanceround about her. But there stood one in the midst of you, at whose brand of sin and infamy ye have not shuddered!"

“新英格兰的人们!他的声音高昂、庄严而雄浑，一直越过他们的头顶，但其中始终夹杂着颤抖，有时甚至是尖叫，因为那声音是从痛苦与悔恨的无底深渊中挣扎出来的，“你们这些热爱我的人!——你们这些敬我如神的人!——向这儿看，看看我这个世上的罪人吧!终于!——终于!——我站到了七年之前我就该站立的地方;这儿，是她这个女人，在这可怕的时刻，以她的无力的臂膀，却支撑着我爬上这里，搀扶着我不致扑面跌倒在地!看看吧，海丝特佩戴着的红字!你们一直避之犹恐不及!无论她走到哪里，——无论她肩负多么悲惨的重荷，无论她可能多么巴望能得到安静的休息，这红字总向她周围发散出使人畏惧、令人深恶痛绝的幽光。但是就在你们中间，却站着一个人，他的罪孽和耻辱并不为你们所回避!

It seemed, at this point, as if the minister must leave the remainderof his secret undisclosed. But he fought back the bodily weakness- and, still more, the faintness of heart- that was striving for the mastery with him. He threw off all assistance, and stepped passionately forward a pace before the woman and the child."It was on him!" he continued, with a kind of fiercenessso determined was he to speak out the whole. "God's eye beheld it! The angels were forever pointing at it! The Devil knew it well, and frettedit continually with the touch of his burning finger! But he hid it cunningly from men, and walked among you with the mien of a spirit, mournful, because so pure in a sinful world!- and sad, because he missed his heavenly kindred! Now, at the death-hour, he stands up before you! He bids you look again at Hester's scarlet letter! He tells you, that, with all its mysterioushorror, it is but the shadow of what he bears on his own breast, and that even this, his own red stigma, is no more than the type of what has seared his inmostheart! Stand any here that question God's judgment on a sinner? Behold! Behold a dreadfulwitness of it!"

牧师讲到这里，仿佛要留下他的其余的秘密不再揭示了。但他击退了身体的无力，尤其是妄图控制他的内心的软弱。他甩掉了一切支持，激昂地向前迈了一步，站到了那母女二人之前。“那烙印就在他身上!他激烈地继续说着，他是下定了决心要把一切全盘托出了。“上帝的眼睛在注视着它!天使们一直都在指点着它!魔鬼也知道得一清二楚，不时用他那燃烧的手指的触碰来折磨它!但是他却在人们面前狡猾地遮掩着它，神采奕奕地定在你们中间;其实他很悲哀，因为在这个罪孽的世界上人们竟把他看得如此纯洁!——他也很伤心，因为他思念他在天国里的亲属!如今，在他濒死之际，他挺身站在你们面前!他要求你们再看一眼海丝特的红字!他告诉你们，她的红字虽然神秘而可怕，只不过是他胸前所戴的红字的影像而已，而即使他本人的这个红色的耻辱烙印，仍不过是他内心烙印的表象罢了!站在这里的人们，有谁要怀疑上帝对一个罪人的制裁吗?看吧!看看这一个骇人的证据吧!

With a convulsivemotion, he tore away the ministerialband from before his breast. It was revealed! But it were irreverent to describe that revelation. For an instant, the gaze of the horror-stricken multitudewas concentred on the ghastly miracle; while the minister stood, with a flush of triumph in his face, as one who, in the crisis of acutest pain, had won a victory. Then, down he sank upon the scaffold! Hester partly raised him, and supported his head against her bosom. Old Roger Chillingworth knelt down beside him, with a blank, dull countenance, out of which the life seemed to have departed.

他哆哆嗦嗦地猛地扯开法衣前襟的饰带。露出来了!但是要描述这次揭示实在是大不敬。刹那间，惊慌失措的人们的凝视的目光一下子聚集到那可怖的奇迹之上;此时，牧师却面带胜利的红光站在那里，就象一个人在备受煎熬的千钧一发之际却赢得了胜利。随后，他就瘫倒在刑台上了!海丝特撑起他的上半身，让他的头靠在自己的胸前。老罗杰·齐灵渥斯跪在他身旁，表情呆滞，似乎已经失去了生命。

"Thou hast escaped me!" he repeated more than once. "Thou hast escaped me!""May God forgive thee!" said the minister. "Thou, too, hast deeply sinned!"

“你总算逃过了我!他一再地重复说。“你总算逃过了我!“愿上帝饶恕你吧!牧师说。“你，同样是罪孽深重的!

（编辑：薛琳）