英文名著精选阅读：《红字》第十九章（上）

英文名著精选阅读：《红字》第十九章(上)

Chapter 19 THE CHILD AT THE BROOK-SIDE

第十九章 溪边的孩子

"THOU wilt love her dearly," repeated Hester Prynne, as she and the minister sat watching little Pearl. "Dost thou not think her beautiful? And see with what natural skill she has made those simple flowers adornher! Had she gathered pearls, and diamonds, and rubies, in the wood, they could not have become her better. She is a splendid child! But I know whose brow she has!"

“你会十分喜爱她的，海丝特·白兰又说了下遍，这时她和牧师正坐在那里瞅着小珠儿。“你难道不认为她很美吗?你看，她天生有多大的本事用那些普通的花朵来装扮自己啊!就算她能在林中采到珍珠、钻石和红宝石，也不会把自己打扮得比这更漂亮了。她是一个十分出色的孩子!但我知道她的额头长得象谁!

"Dost thou know, Hester," said Arthur Dimmesdale, with an unquietsmile, "that this dear child, trippingabout always at thy side, hath caused me many an alarm? Methought- O Hester, what a thought is that, and how terrible to dread it!- that my own features were partly repeated in her face, and so strikinglythat the world might see them! But she is mostly thine!"

“你知道，海丝特，阿瑟·丁梅斯代尔带着不安的微笑说， “这个总是在你身边蹦蹦跳跳的可爱的孩子，曾经多次引起我心惊肉跳吗?我认为，——噢，海丝特，这是个什么样的念头，而且产生这种顾虑又是多么可怕啊!——我自己的一部分面容重现在她的脸上，而且那么酷似，我真怕人们会认出来!不过，她主要还是象你!

"No, no! Not mostly!" answered the mother, with a tendersmile. "A little longer and thou needest not be afraid to tracewhose child she is. But how strangely beautiful she looks, with those wild flowers in her hair! It is as if one of the fairies, whom we left in our dear old England, had deckedher out to meet us."

“不，不!不是主要象我!做母亲的露出温柔的微笑回答说。“过不多久，你就不必担心人们会追究她是谁的孩子了。她头发上戴着那些野花，显得她的模样漂亮得多么不平常啊!仿佛有一个被我们留在我们亲爱的老英格兰的仙子，把自己打扮好，跑来迎接我们了。

It was with a feeling which neither of them had ever before experienced, that they sat and watched Pearl's slow advance. In her was visible the tie that united them. She had been offered to the world, these seven years past, as the living hieroglyphic, in which was revealed the secret they so darkly sought to hide- all written in this symbol- all plainly manifest- had there been a prophetor magicianskilled to read the character of flame! And Pearl was the oneness of their being. Be the foregone evil what it might, how could they doubt that their earthly lives and future destinies were conjoined, when they beheld at once the material union, and the spiritual idea, in whom they met, and were to dwellimmortally together? Thoughts like these- and perhaps other thoughts, which they did not acknowledge or define- threw an awe about the child, as she came onward.

他俩坐在那里，正是怀着一种他们谁也没有体验过的感情来注视着珠儿慢慢走来。在她身上能够看出把他俩连系在一起的纽带。过去这七年里，她作为如同有生命的象形文字，被奉献给人类社会，在她身上揭示了他们竭力要隐藏的秘密，要是有一位先知或法师有本领破解这个火焰般的文字的话，就会懂得一切全都写在这个象征之中，一切全都显示得明明白自!而珠儿就是他俩生命的合而为一。不管以往的邪恶可能是什么，当他们一起看到，由他们交汇并将永在一起共存的肉体结晶和精神概念时，他们怎么可能会怀疑，他们在凡世的生命和未来的命运已经密不可分呢?象这样的想法，以及其它一些他们没有承认或尚未定形的可能的想法，当那孩子向前走着的时候，在她身上投射出一种使人敬畏的色彩。

"Let her see nothing strange- no passion nor eagerness- in thy way of accosting her," whispered Hester. "Our Pearl is a fitfuland fantastic little elf, sometimes. Especially, she is seldom tolerant of emotion, when she does not fully comprehend the why and wherefore. But the child hath strong affections! She loves me, and will love thee!"

“你跟她搭话的时候，别让她看出什么不同寻常的地方，既不要太热情，也不要太急切，海丝特轻声说。“我们的珠儿有时候是个一阵阵让人捉摸不定的小精灵。尤其是在她不大明白缘由的时候，很难接受别人的激情。不过，这孩子有着强烈的爱!她爱我，而且也会爱你的!

"Thou canst not think," said the minister, glancing aside at Hester Prynne, "how my heart dreads this interview, and yearns for it! But, in truth, as I already told thee, children are not readily won to be familiar with me. They will not climb my knee, nor prattlein my ear, nor answer to my smile; but stand apart, and eye me strangely. Even little babes, when I take them in my arms, weepbitterly. Yet Pearl, twice in her little lifetime, hath been kind to me! The first time- thou knowest it well! The last was when thou ledst her with thee to the house of yondersternold Governor."

“你难以想象，牧师说着，偏过头来瞥了一眼海丝特·白兰，“我又害怕这次见面，又盼着这次见面的那种心理!不过，说实话，就象我刚才跟你说的，孩子们是不大乐于同我亲近的。他们不会爬上我的膝头，不肯和我说悄悄话，也不愿回报我的微笑，而只是远远地站着，奇怪地打量着我。连小小的婴儿都一样;我把他们抱在怀里时，他们就使劲哭。可珠儿长这么大，竟有两次对我特别好!头一次，——你知道得很清楚!第二次就是你领她到板着面孔的老总督的那所房子里去的时候。

"And thou didst pleadso bravely in her behalf and mine!" answered the mother. "I remember it; and so shall little Pearl. Fear nothing! She may be strange and shy at first, but will soon learn to love thee!"

“那次你大胆地为了她和我进行了申辩!做母亲的回答。“我记得清清楚楚，小珠儿也会记得的。别怕!她开头也许会认生、害躁，但很快就会爱起你来的!

By this time Pearl had reached the marginof the brook, and stood on the farther side, gazing silently at Hester and the clergyman, who still sat together on the mossytree-trunk, waiting to receive her. Just where she had paused, the brook chanced to form a pool, so smooth and quiet that it reflected a perfect image of her little figure, with all the brilliantpicturesquenessof her beauty, in its adornmentof flowers and wreathed foliage, but more refined and spiritualised than the reality. This image, so nearly identical with the living Pearl, seemed to communicate somewhat of its own shadowy and intangiblequality to the child herself. It was strange, the way in which Pearl stood, looking so steadfastlyat them through the dim medium of the forest-gloom; herself, meanwhile, all glorified with a ray of sunshine, that was attracted thitherward as by a certain sympathy. In the brook beneath stood another child- another and the same- with likewise its ray of golden light. Hester felt herself, in some indistinctand tantalisingmanner, estrangedfrom Pearl; as if the child, in her lonely, ramblethrough the forest, had strayed out of the sphere in which she and her mother dwelt together, and was now vainlyseeking to return to it.

这时，珠儿已经来到小溪对岸，站在那儿不出声地瞅着海丝特和牧师，他俩依旧并肩坐在长满青苔的树干上，等着见她。就在她停下脚步的地方，小溪恰好聚成一个池塘，水面平静而光滑，把珠儿那小小的身影完满地映砚出来：她腰缠嫩枝编的花带，使她的美貌绚丽如画，比本人还要精美，更象仙女。那映象几乎与真的珠儿分毫不爽，似乎将其自身的某种阴影般莫测的品性传递给孩子本人了。奇妙的是，珠儿站在那里，不错眼珠地透过林中的幽暗盯视着他们;与此同时，她全身都沐浴在仿佛是被某种感应吸引到她身上的一道阳光中。在她脚下的小溪中站着另一个孩子——是另外一个，但又一模一样——身上同样洒满阳光。海丝特模糊而痛心地感到，她自己好象同珠儿变得陌生起来;好象那孩子独自在森林中游荡时，走出了她和她母亲同居的范围，如今正在徒劳地想回来。

There was both truth and error in the impressionthe child and mother were estranged, but through Hester's fault, not Pearl's. Since the latter rambled from her side, another inmatehad been admitted within the circle of the mother's feelings, and so modified the aspect of them all, that Pearl, the returning wanderer, could not find her wonted place, and hardly knew where she was.

这种印象有正确的一面，也有错误的一面;孩子和母亲是变得生疏了，但那要归咎于海丝特，而不是珠儿。自从孩子从她身边走开，另外一个亲人来到了母亲的感情圈内，从而改变了他们三人的地位，以致珠儿这个归来的流浪儿，找不到她一向的位置，几乎不知自己身在何方了。

"I have a strange fancy," observed the sensitive minister, "that this brook is the boundarybetween two worlds, and that thou canst never meet thy Pearl again. Or is she an elfishspirit, who, as the legends of our childhood taught us, is forbidden to cross a running stream? Pray hasten her; for this delay has already imparted a tremorto my nerves."

“我有一种奇怪的幻想，敏感的牧师说，“这条小溪是两个世界之间的分界线，你永远不会再和珠儿相会了。要不，说不定她是个小精灵，象我们儿时的童话所教的，她是不准渡过流淌的溪流的吧?请你赶快催催她;这么耽搁着，已经把我的神经弄得颤抖起来了。

"Come, dearest child!" said Hester encouragingly, and stretching out both her arms. "How slow thou art! When hast thou been so sluggishbefore now? Here is a friend of mine, who must be thy friend also. Thou wilt have twice as much love, henceforward, as thy mother alone could give thee! Leap across the brook, and come to us. Thou canst leap like a young deer!"

“过来，乖宝贝儿!海丝特给孩子鼓劲说，同时伸出了双臂。“你走得太慢慢腾腾了!你什么时候象现在这样懒洋洋过?这儿有我的一个朋友，他也该是你的朋友。从今以后，你就不只有你妈妈一个人的爱了，你要得到双倍的爱的!跳过小溪，到我们这儿来。你不是可以象一头小鹿一样地跳嘛!

Pearl, without responding in any manner to these honey-sweet expressions, remained on the other side of the brook. Now she fixed her bright, wild eyes on her mother, now on the minister, and now included them both in the same glance; as if to detect and explain to herself the relation which they bore to one another. For some unaccountablereason, as Arthur Dimmesdale felt the child's eyes upon himself, his hand- with that gesture so habitualas to have become involuntary- stole over his heart. At length, assuming a singular air of authority, Pearl stretched out her hand, with the small forefinger extended, and pointing evidently towards her mother's breast. And beneath, in the mirror of the brook, there was the flower-girdled and sunny image of little Pearl, pointing her small forefinger too.

珠儿对这些甜蜜的话语不理不睬，仍然呆在小溪的对岸。此时她那一对明亮而狂野的脖子，时而盯着她母亲，时而盯着牧师，时而同时盯住他们两个;仿佛耍想弄清并给自己解释他们两人之间的关系。出于某种难以名状的原因，阿瑟·丁梅斯代尔感到孩子助目光落在他身上时，他的手以习惯成自然的姿势，悄悄捂到了心口上。最后，珠儿作出一副独特的不容置辩的神情，伸出她小小的食指，显然是指着她母亲的胸部。在她脚下，映在镜面般的溪水中的那个戴着花环、浴满阳光的小珠儿的影象，也指点着她的小小的食指。

"Thou strange child, why dost thou not come to me?" exclaimed Hester.

“你这个怪孩子，为什么不到我身边来呢?海丝特叫道。

Pearl still pointed with her forefinger; and a frown gathered on her brow; the more impressivefrom the childish, the almost baby-like aspect of the features that conveyed it. As her mother still kept beckoningto her, and arraying her face in a holiday suit of unaccustomedsmiles, the child stamped her foot with a yet more imperiouslook and gesture. In the brook, again, was the fantastic beauty of the image, with its reflected frown, its pointed finger, and imperiousgesture, giving emphasis to the aspect of little Pearl.

珠儿依旧用她的食指指点着;眉间渐渐皱起;由于这姿态表情来自一个满脸稚气、甚至象婴儿般面孔的孩子，就给人印象尤深。而由于她母亲仍在不断呼唤她，而且脸上堆满非比寻常的笑容，那孩子便以更加专横的神情和姿态使劲跺着两脚。同样，在小溪中那个美得出奇的形象，也映出了皱着的眉头、伸出的手指和专横的姿态，为小珠儿的模样平添了效果。

（编辑：薛琳）