"Goodwives," said a hard-featured dame 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 malefactresses as this Hester Prynne. What think ye, gossips? If the hussy stood up for judgment before us five, that are now here in a knot together, would she come off with such a sentence as the worshipful magistrates have awarded? Marry, I trow not!"
“婆娘們，”一個滿臉橫肉的五十歲的老婆子說，“我跟你們說說我的想法。要是我們這些上了一把年紀(jì)、名聲又好的教會會友，能夠處置海絲特·白蘭那種壞女人，倒是給大伙辦了件好事。你們覺得怎么樣，婆娘們？要是那個破靶站在眼下咱們這五個姐們兒跟前聽候判決，她能夠帶著那些可敬的官老爺們賞給她的判決溜過去嗎？老天爺，我才不信呢！”

"People say," said another, "that the Reverend Master Dimmesdale, her godly pastor, takes it very grievously to heart that such a scandal should have come upon his congregation."
“聽人說，”另一個女人說，“尊敬的丁梅斯代爾教長，就是她的牧師，為了在他的教眾中出了這樁丑事，簡直傷心透頂啦?！?/div>?

"The magistrates are God-fearing gentlemen, but merciful overmuch-that is a truth," added a third autumnal matron. "At the very least,they should have put the brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynne's forehead. Madam Hester would have winced at that, I warrant me. But she- the naughty baggage- little will she care what they put upon the bodice of her gown! Why, look you, she may cover it with a brooch, or such like heathenish adornment, and so walk the streets as brave as ever!"
“那幫宮老爺都是敬神的先生，可惜慈悲心太重陛——這可是真事，”第三個人老珠黃的婆娘補(bǔ)充說。“最起碼，他們應(yīng)該在海絲特·白蘭的腦門上烙個記號。那總能讓海絲特太太有點怕，我敢這么說?？伤莻€破爛貨——她才不在乎他們在她前襟上貼個什么呢！哼，你們等著瞧吧，她準(zhǔn)會別上個胸針，或者是異教徒的什么首飾，檔住胸口，照樣招搖過市！”

"Ah, but," interposed, more softly, a young wife, holding a child by the hand, "Let her cover the mark as she will, the pang of it will be always in her heart."
“啊，不過，”一個手里領(lǐng)著孩子的年輕媳婦輕聲插嘴說，“她要是想擋著那記號就隨她去吧，反正她心里總會受折磨的。”

"What do we talk of marks and brands, whether on the bodice of 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!"
“我們扯什么記號不記號的，管它是在她前襟上還是腦門上呢？”另一個女人叫嚷著，她在這幾個自命的法官中長相最丑，也最不留情?！斑@女人給我們大伙都丟了臉，她就該死。難道說沒有管這種事的法律嗎？明明有嘛，圣經(jīng)里和法典上全都寫著呢。那就請這些不照章辦事的宮老爺們的太太小姐們?nèi)プ咝奥钒?，那才叫自作自受呢！?/div>

"Mercy on us, goodwife," exclaimed a man in the crowd, "is there no virtue in woman, save what springs from a wholesome fear 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，婆娘們，”人群中一個男人驚呼道，“女人看到絞刑架就害怕，除去這種廉恥之心，她們身上難道就沒有德性了嗎？別把話說得太重了！輕點，喂，婆娘們！牢門的鎖在轉(zhuǎn)呢，海絲特太太本人就要出來了?！?/div>?

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