Chapter 04 THE INTERVIEW
第四章　會(huì)面

"Hester," said he, "I ask not wherefore, nor how, thou hast fallen into the pit, or say, rather, thou hast ascended to the pedestal of infamy, on which I found thee. The reason is not far to seek. It was my folly, and thy weakness. I- a man of thought- the bookworm of great libraries- a man already in decay, having given my best years to feed the hungry dream of knowledge- what had I to do with youth and beauty like thine own! Misshapen from my birth-hour, how could I delude myself with the idea that intellectual gifts might veil physical deformity in a young girl's fantasy! Men call me wise. If sages were ever wise in their own behoof, I might have foreseen all this. I might have known that, as I came out of the vast and dismal forest, and entered this settlement of Christian men, the very first object to meet my eyes would be thyself, Hester Prynne, standing up, a statue of ignominy, before the people. Nay, from the moment when we came down the old churchsteps together, a married pair, I might have beheld the bale-fire of that scarlet letter blazing at the end of our path!"
“海絲特，”他說，“我不對(duì)你盤詰：出于什么原因或以何種方式，你墮入了深淵，或者寧可說，你登上了恥辱的刑臺(tái)——我正是在那兒見到你的。原因唾手可尋。那就是我的愚蠢和你的軟弱。我，——一個(gè)有頭腦的人，——一個(gè)博覽群書的蛀書蟲，——一個(gè)已經(jīng)老朽的人，已經(jīng)把我的大好年華都用來充實(shí)我對(duì)知識(shí)的饑渴之夢(mèng)了，——我與你這樣的青春與美貌已經(jīng)無關(guān)了！我生來畸形，我怎能自欺，竟以為知識(shí)和智能可以在年輕站娘的心目中掩蓋肉體的缺陷！人們都認(rèn)為我聰明，如果智者有自知之明，我早就該預(yù)見到這一切了。我原先就應(yīng)料到，當(dāng)我走出那浩渺的莽林，步入這基督徒的居位區(qū)別，首先映入我眼簾的就是你本人，海絲特·白蘭，作為不光彩的形象，高高站在眾人面前。唉，從我們新婚燕爾，一起走下那古老教堂的門防的那一刻起，我就應(yīng)該看到：在我們道路的盡頭燃著紅字的熊熊烈火！”
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"Thou knowest," said Hester- for, depressed as she was, she could not endure this last quiet stab at the token of her shame- "thou knowest that I was frank with thee. I felt no love, nor feigned any."
“你知道，”海絲特說，——盡管她十分沮喪，但依舊無法忍受剛才在她恥辱的標(biāo)記上那平和的一戳——“你知道我一向?qū)δ愫芴孤?。我沒有感受到愛情，我也不想裝假。”

"True," replied he. "It was my folly! I have said it. But, up to that epoch of my life, I had lived in vain. The world had been so cheerless! My heart was a habitation large enough for many guests, but lonely and chill, and without a household fire. I longed to kindle one! It seemed not so wild a dream- old as I was, and sombre as I was, and misshapen as I was- that the simple bliss, which is scattered far and wide, for all mankind to gather up, might yet be mine. And so, Hester, I drew thee into my heart, into its innermost chamber, and sought to warm thee by the warmth which thy presence made there!"
“的確，”他回答說?！澳鞘俏业挠薮溃∥覄偛乓呀?jīng)說過了。不過，直到我生命的那一刻為止，我都白活了。整個(gè)世界都是那么郁郁寡歡，我的心寬敞得可以容下好多客人，但孤寂而凄涼，沒有一處家居的壁爐。我多盼望能點(diǎn)燃一護(hù)火?。】磥磉@并非非分之想，——盡管我年老，我陰沉，我畸形，——可這種天南地北人人都可以用來溫暖自己的最樸素的福份，我也能夠享有才是。于是，海絲特，我就把你裝進(jìn)了心窩：放進(jìn)最深的地方，想用你給我的溫暖來溫暖你！”
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"I have greatly wronged thee," murmured Hester.
“我讓你太受委屈了，”海絲特訥訥著說。

"We have wronged each other," answered he. "Mine was the first wrong, when I betrayed thy budding youth into a false and unnatural relation with my decay. Therefore, as a man who has not thought and philosophised in vain, I seek no vengeance, plot no evil against thee. Between thee and me the scale hangs fairly balanced. But, Hester, the man lives who has wronged us both! Who is he?"
“我們彼此都讓對(duì)方受了委屈，”他回答說?！笆俏蚁任四?，我把你含苞的青春同我這朽木錯(cuò)誤地、不自然地嫁接在一起，從而斷送了你。因此，作為一個(gè)沒有白白具有思想而且懂得哲理的人，我對(duì)你既不謀求報(bào)復(fù)，也不懷有邪念。在你我之間，天平保持了相當(dāng)?shù)钠胶狻２贿^，那個(gè)坑害了你我二人的人還活著，海絲特！他是誰？”
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