書蟲四級《紅字》：1.赫斯特·普林的恥辱

1．Hester Prynne's shame

1．赫斯特·普林的恥辱

On that June morning, in the middle years of the seventeenth century, the prison in Boston was still a new building. But it already looked old, and was a dark, ugly place, surrounded by rough grass. The only thing of beauty was a wild rose growing by the door, and its bright, sweet-smelling flowers seemed to smile kindly at the poor prisoners who went into that place, and at those who came out to their death.

這是17世紀中期一個6月的早上，當時波士頓的監(jiān)獄剛剛建成不久，但是看上去已經很舊了。這是一個陰暗、丑陋的地方，四周雜草叢生。唯一美麗的是門旁的一株野玫瑰，它那鮮艷的花朵散發(fā)出甜美氣息，好像在向那些入獄的犯人或出監(jiān)赴死的可憐囚徒善意地微笑著。

A crowd of people waited in Prison Lane. The men all had beards, and wore sad-coloured clothes and tall grey hats. There were women, too, in the crowd, and all eyes watched the heavy wooden door of the prison. There was no mercy in the faces, and the women seemed to take a special interest in what was going to happen. They were country women, and the bright morning sun shone down on strong shoulders and wide skirts, and on round, red faces. Many of them had been born in England, and had crossed the sea twenty years before, with the first families who came to build the town of Boston in New England. They brought the customs and religion of old England with them—and also the loud voices and strong opinions of Englishwomen of those times.

一大群人等候在監(jiān)獄外的小道上。男人們都留著胡須，穿著灰暗的衣服，戴著灰色的高頂帽。人群中也有婦女，所有人的視線都集中在監(jiān)獄那扇沉重的木門上。人們的臉上沒有一絲同情，女人們似乎對即將發(fā)生的事更有興致。她們都是些鄉(xiāng)下女人，早上明媚的陽光照著她們強壯的肩膀、寬松的裙子和飽滿、紅潤的臉。她們當中的很多人都出生在英格蘭，在20年前和最先來到這里的家庭一起橫渡大海，在新英格蘭這片土地上共同創(chuàng)建了波士頓城。她們帶來了英格蘭本土的風俗和宗教——也帶來了那個時代英格蘭婦女特有的響亮嗓門和強烈偏見。

It would be better,' said one hard-faced woman of fifty, 'if we good, sensible, church-going women could judge this Hester Prynne. And would we give her the same light punishment that the magistrates give her? No!'

一個五十多歲、一臉刻薄相的女人說：“如果能讓我們這些正直、理智、行事符合教規(guī)的女性來審判赫斯特·普林就更好了。我們會像治安官那樣給她那么輕的判決嗎？不會！”

People say,' said another woman, 'that Mr Dimmesdale, her priest, is deeply saddened by the shame that this woman has brought on his church.'

“大家都說，”另一個女人說，“丁梅斯代爾先生，就是她的牧師，因為這個女人給他的教眾帶來的恥辱，簡直傷心透啦。”

The magistrates are too merciful,' said a third woman. 'They should burn the letter into her forehead with hot metal, not put it on the front of her dress!'

“那幫治安官真是太寬大了，”第三個女人說道，“他們應該用燒紅的烙鐵把那個字母烙在她腦門上，而不是讓她戴在胸口。”

She ought to die!' cried another woman. 'She has brought shame on all of us! Ah—here she comes!'

“她應該去死！”另一個女人叫嚷著，“她把我們大家的臉都丟盡了！啊——她來了！”

The door of the prison opened and, like a black shadow coming out into sunshine, the prison officer appeared. He put his right hand on the shoulder of a woman and pulled her forward, but she pushed him away and stepped out into the open air. There was a child in her arms—a baby of three months—which shut its eyes and turned its head away from the bright sun.

牢門打開了，監(jiān)獄長像一道出現(xiàn)在日光下的黑影似的走了出來。他右手抓著一個女人的肩頭，拽著她向前走，但是她推開了他，自己走了出來。她懷里抱著個孩子——一個三個月大的嬰兒。那孩子閉上眼睛，轉過頭去，好避開那耀眼的陽光。

The woman's face was suddenly pink under the stares of the crowd, but she smiled proudly and looked round at her neighbours and the people of her town. On the bosom of her dress, in fine red cloth and surrounded with fantastic patterns of gold thread, was the letter A.

在眾目睽睽之下，那個女人臉上突然泛起紅暈，但她卻露出高傲的微笑，用目光環(huán)視著街坊鄰里和同鎮(zhèn)居民。她的衣服的前胸上露出了一個用紅色細布做成、周邊用金線繡成精巧花邊的字母“A”。

The young woman was tall and perfectly shaped. She had long dark hair which shone in the sunlight, and a beautiful face with deep black eyes. She walked like a lady, and those who had expected her to appear sad and ashamed were surprised how her beauty shone out through her misfortune.

那年輕婦女身材高挑，體態(tài)優(yōu)美，烏黑的長發(fā)在陽光下熠熠生輝。她面容姣好，眸如點漆，走起路來的儀態(tài)就像一位淑女。那些原先期待著看她流露出悲慘、羞恥的人，都為她在不幸中所煥發(fā)的美麗感到有些意外。

But the thing that everyone stared at was the Scarlet Letter, sewn so fantastically on to her dress.

但是，吸引所有人目光的還是在她衣服上繡得精妙絕倫的那個紅字。

She is clever with her needle,' said one of the women. 'But what a way to show it! She is meant to wear that letter as a punishment, not as something to be proud of!'

“她倒做得一手好針線，”一個女人說，“但是居然用這種方法來賣弄！讓她佩戴這個字是一種懲罰，而不是什么拿來炫耀的東西。”

The officer stepped forward and people moved back to allow the woman to walk through the crowd. It was not far from the prison to the market-place, where, at the western end, in front of Boston's earliest church, stood the scaffold. Here, criminals met their death before the eyes of the townspeople, but the scaffold platform was also used as a place of shame, where those who had done wrong in the eyes of God were made to stand and show their shameful faces to the world.

監(jiān)獄長走上前來，人們向后退去，讓出了一條路，讓這個女人走過去。從牢門到市場沒幾步路。在市場西端，波士頓最古老的教堂前，豎立著那座絞刑臺。就在那里，犯人在眾目睽睽下被處死，但是這座刑臺也被用作犯人示眾之地。在上帝眼中犯了過錯的人被帶到這里，將他們可恥的面孔展現(xiàn)給世人。

Hester Prynne accepted her punishment bravely. She walked up the wooden steps to the platform, and turned to face the stares of the crowd.

赫斯特·普林勇敢地接受了這個懲罰。她踏著木階走上刑臺，轉過身面對著眾人的注視。

A thousand eyes fixed on her, looking at the scarlet letter on her bosom. People today might laugh at a sight like this, but in those early years of New England, religious feeling was very strong, and the shame of Hester Prynne's sin was felt deeply by young and old throughout the town.

千百雙眼睛盯著她，望著她胸前的紅字。這一場景也許會令今天的人們發(fā)笑，但是在新英格蘭創(chuàng)建之初，宗教的影響十分強大，因此赫斯特·普林的恥辱罪惡深深地震撼著全鎮(zhèn)老少。

As she stood there, feeling every eye upon her, she felt she wanted to scream and throw herself off the platform, or else go mad at once. Pictures from the past came and went inside her head: pictures of her village in Old England, of her dead parents—her father's face with his white beard, her mother's look of worried love. And her own face—a girl's face in the dark mirror where she had often stared at it. And then the face of a man old in years, a thin, white face, with the serious look of one who spends most of his time studying books. A man whose eyes seemed to see into the human soul when their owner wished it, and whose left shoulder was a little higher than his right. Next came pictures of the tall grey houses and great churches of the city of Amsterdam, where a new life had begun for her with this older man.

她站在那兒，感到每只眼睛都盯著自己。她真想尖叫，想從刑臺上跳下去，或者馬上瘋掉。過去的記憶一幕幕浮現(xiàn)在腦海里：故國英格蘭的小村，她那已經去世的父母——父親長著白胡子的面容，母親擔憂而關愛的表情。還有她自己的面孔——在她經常照的那面昏暗的鏡子中那個小姑娘的臉。她還想到了另一張臉，那是一個年老男人的面孔，瘦削而蒼白，帶著一種大多數(shù)時間都埋頭書卷的人特有的嚴肅表情。只要這個男人愿意，他那雙眼睛似乎就能看到別人的靈魂深處。他左肩比右肩稍高。她腦海里接下來出現(xiàn)的是阿姆斯特丹那高大的灰色房屋和宏偉教堂，在那里她和那個老男人開始了一種嶄新的生活。

And then, suddenly, she was back in the Boston market-place, standing on the platform of the scaffold.

接著，突然之間，她又回到了波士頓的市場，站在絞刑臺上。

Could it be true? She held the child so close to her bosom that it cried out. She looked down at the scarlet letter, touched it with her finger to be sure that the child and the shame were real. Yes—these things were real—everything else had disappeared.

這一切都是真的嗎？她把胸前的孩子抱得太緊，孩子一下哭了。她低頭注視著那猩紅的字母，還用指頭觸摸了一下，以證實嬰兒和恥辱都確實存在。是的——這些都是現(xiàn)實——其余的一切幻境全都消失了。

After a time the woman noticed two figures on the edge of the crowd. An Indian was standing there, and by his side was a white man, small and intelligent-looking, and wearing clothes that showed he had been travelling in wild places. And although he had arranged his clothes to hide it, it was clear to Hester Prynne that one of the man's shoulders was higher than the other.

不久，這個女人注意到人群邊上站著兩個人。一個是印第安人，在他身邊是一個白人，那人身材矮小，看上去很有智慧。他的穿著顯示出曾去荒蠻之地游歷過。雖然他已經用衣服做了掩飾，赫斯特·普林還是看出這個男人的肩膀一邊高一邊低。

Again, she pulled the child to her bosom so violently that it cried out in pain. But the mother did not seem to hear it.

她再一次把嬰兒緊緊摟在胸前，孩子疼得哭起來。但作母親的好像根本沒聽到。

The man on the edge of the crowd had been looking closely at Hester Prynne for some time before she saw him. At first, his face had become dark and angry—but only for a moment, then it was calm again. Soon he saw Hester staring, and knew that she recognized him.

站在人群邊上的那個男人，在赫斯特·普林看到他之前，便已經緊緊盯了她好一會兒了。起初，他滿臉怒氣——但就只有那么一會兒，后來就恢復了平靜。不久，他發(fā)現(xiàn)赫斯特凝望著他，就知道她已經認出他來了。

Excuse me,' he said to a man near him. 'Who is this woman, and why is she standing there in public shame?'

“請問，”他問站在旁邊的一個男人，“這個女人是誰？為什么要站在那里當眾受辱？”

You must be a stranger here, friend,' said the man, looking at the questioner and his Indian companion, 'or you would know about the evil Mistress Prynne. She has brought great shame on Mr Dimmesdale's church.'

“你肯定不是本地人吧，朋友，”那個人一邊回答，一邊打量著提問的人和他的印第安同伴，“要不然，你一定聽說過這個罪孽深重的普林太太。她使丁梅斯代爾先生的教堂蒙受了奇恥大辱啊。”

It is true,' said the stranger. 'I am new here. I have had many accidents on land and at sea, and I've been a prisoner of the wild men in the south. This Indian has helped me get free. Please tell me what brought this Hester Prynne to the scaffold.'

“您算說對了，”那人說，“我剛到此地，我在陸上和海上遭遇了很多風險，在南方，我還成了野蠻人的囚徒。這個印第安人幫我獲得了自由。請問這位赫斯特·普林是因為什么被押上絞刑臺的呢？”

She was the wife of an Englishman who lived in Amsterdam,' said the townsman. 'He decided to come to Massachusetts, and sent his wife ahead of him as he had business matters to bring to an end before he could leave. During the two years that the woman has lived here in Boston, there has been no news of Master Prynne; and his young wife, you see...'

“那女人的丈夫是個英國人，原來住在阿姆斯特丹，”鎮(zhèn)上的這個人說，“他決定搬到馬薩諸塞來，可是還有生意沒完，因此他先把妻子送來了。這女人在波士頓住了兩年，那位普林先生始終沒有一點兒音訊；而他這位年輕的老婆，你看……”

Ah! I understand,' said the stranger, with a cold smile. 'And who is the father of the child she is holding?'

“啊！我明白了。”外地人冷笑著說，“那她抱著的那個孩子的父親是誰呢？”

That remains a mystery,' said the other man. 'Hester Prynne refuses to speak his name.'

“那還是一個謎呢。”另一個說，“赫斯特·普林不肯說出他的名字。”

Her husband should come and find the man,' said the stranger, with another smile.

“她的丈夫應該來找出那個男人。”外地人又冷笑著說。

Yes, indeed he should if he is still alive,' replied the townsman. 'Our magistrates, you see, decided to be merciful. She is obviously guilty of adultery, and the usual punishment for adultery is death. But Mistress Prynne is young and good-looking, and her husband is probably at the bottom of the sea. So, in their mercy, the magistrates have ordered her to stand on the scaffold for three hours, and to wear the scarlet "A" for adultery for the rest of her life.'

“要是他還活著，是該這么做。”鎮(zhèn)上那人回答說，“你看，我們的長官決定從寬處理。她犯的顯然是通奸罪，對通奸的懲罰通常是死刑。但是普林太太年輕漂亮，而且她的丈夫可能已經葬身海底了。所以，那些長官大發(fā)慈悲，只命令普林太太在絞刑臺上站三個小時，不過在她的有生之年，胸前要永遠佩戴那個代表通奸的‘A’字。”

A sensible punishment,' said the stranger. 'It will warn others against this sin. However, it is wrong that the father of her child, who has also sinned, is not standing by her side on the scaffold. But he will be known! He will be known!'

“合理的判決！”那外地人說，“這可以告誡人們不要再犯這樣的罪。不過，孩子的父親也犯下了罪過，卻沒有和她一起站在絞刑臺上，這可不對。不過他會被發(fā)現(xiàn)的！他一定會被發(fā)現(xiàn)的！”

The stranger thanked the townsman, whispered a few words to his Indian companion, and then they both moved away through the crowd.

他謝過鎮(zhèn)上那個人，又跟他的印第安同伴耳語了幾句，然后兩人便穿過人群離開了。

During this conversation, Hester Prynne had been watching the stranger—and was glad to have the staring crowd between herself and him. It was better to stand like this, than to have to meet him alone, and she feared the moment of that meeting greatly. Lost in these thoughts, she did not at first hear the voice behind her.

他們談話的這段時間里，赫斯特·普林一直盯著那外地人——她很慶幸他們當中隔了一群旁觀者。這樣站著，總比他們倆單獨相對要好受一些，她很怕跟他會面的時刻。她想得出了神，甚至一開始都沒有聽到身后傳來的聲音。

Listen to me, Hester Prynne!' the voice said again.

“聽我說，赫斯特·普林！”那聲音又說道。

It was the voice of the famous John Wilson, the oldest priest in Boston, and a kind man. He stood with the other priests and officers of the town on a balcony outside the meeting-house, which was close behind the scaffold.

這個聲音發(fā)自德高望重的約翰·威爾遜牧師——波士頓最年長的牧師，一位和藹可親的人。他與鎮(zhèn)上其他的牧師和官員站在議事廳的陽臺上，就在絞刑臺的后面。

I have asked my young friend' —Mr Wilson put a hand on the shoulder of the pale young priest beside him— 'to ask you once again for the name of the man who brought this terrible shame upon you. Mr Dimmesdale has been your priest, and is the best man to do it. Speak to the woman, Mr Dimmesdale. It is important to her soul, and to you, who cares about her soul. Persuade her to tell the truth!'

“我已經請我這位年輕的朋友”——威爾遜先生把手放在身旁那位面色蒼白的青年牧師的肩膀上——“再問你一次，請?zhí)拱渍f出那個男人的名字，是他給你帶來了奇恥大辱。丁梅斯代爾先生是你的牧師，讓他來問你最合適不過了。規(guī)勸這個女人吧，丁梅斯代爾先生。這對拯救她的靈魂至關重要；對你也是，因為是你為她的靈魂負責。規(guī)勸她說出真相吧！”

The young priest had large, sad brown eyes, and lips that trembled as he spoke. He seemed shy and sensitive, and his face had a fearful, half-frightened look. But when he spoke, his simple words and sweet voice went straight to people's hearts and often brought tears to their eyes.

這位青年牧師有一雙憂郁的棕色大眼睛，說話的時候他嘴唇顫抖。他看上去羞澀而敏感，臉上流露出一種緊張而近乎驚恐的神色。但是當他說話的時候，他那簡練的語句和優(yōu)美的聲音直達人的內心深處，經常使人熱淚盈眶。

He stepped forward on the balcony and looked down at the woman below him.

他在陽臺上邁步向前，俯視著下面的那個女人。

Hester Prynne,' he said. 'If you think it will bring peace to your soul, and will bring you closer to the path to heaven, speak out the name of the man! Do not be silent because you feel sorry for him. Believe me, Hester, although he may have to step down from a high place and stand beside you on the platform of shame, it is better to do that than to hide a guilty heart through his life. Heaven has allowed you public shame, and the chance to win an open battle with the evil inside you and the sadness outside. Do you refuse to give him that same chance—which he may be too afraid to take himself?'

“赫斯特·普林，”他說，“如果你覺得這樣做可以使你的靈魂得到平靜，并且使你離通向天堂之路更加接近，就說出那個男人的名字！不要因為對他抱有憐憫而保持沉默。相信我吧，赫斯特，雖然那樣會令他跌下高位，和你并肩站在這恥辱的高臺上，但這總比讓他終生隱藏著一顆罪惡的心靈要好得多。上天讓你承受這種公開的污辱，同時也給了你機會，讓你戰(zhàn)勝內心的罪惡和外在的悲哀。你不想給他相同的機會嗎？也許他自己過于膽怯，不敢主動接受這樣的機會。”

Hester shook her head, her face now as pale as the young priest's.

赫斯特搖了搖頭，此刻她的臉變得和那個青年牧師一樣蒼白。

I will not speak his name,' she said. 'My child must find a father in heaven. She will never know one on earth!'

“我不會說出他的名字。”她說，“我的孩子一定會在天堂找到父親。她永遠不會知道她人世間的父親。”

Again she was asked, and again she refused. Then the oldest priest spoke to the crowd about all the evil in the world, and about the sin that brought the mark of the scarlet letter. For an hour or more he spoke, but Hester Prynne kept her place alone upon the platform of shame.

她再一次遭到問詢，再一次拒絕回答。那位最年長的牧師對人群發(fā)表了一通論述世間所有罪惡的演講，其中包括招致那個紅字的罪惡。在長達一個多小時的演講中，赫斯特·普林始終獨自站在恥辱臺上。

When the hours of punishment were over, she was taken back to the prison. And it was whispered by those who stared after her that the scarlet letter threw a terrible, ghostly light into the darkness inside the prison doors.

數(shù)小時的懲罰結束后，她被帶回監(jiān)獄。一些人盯著她的背影竊竊私語，說看到她胸前的紅字在監(jiān)獄大門內的黑暗中投下了一道可怕而詭異的閃光。