The young pastor's voice was tremulously sweet, rich, deep, and broken. The feeling that it so evidently manifested, rather than the direct purport of the words, caused it to vibrate within all hearts, and brought the listeners into one accord of sympathy. Even the poor baby, at Hester's bosom, was affected by the same influence; for it directed its hitherto vacant gaze towards Mr. Dimmesdale, and held up its little arms, with a half-pleased, half-plaintive murmur. So powerful seemed the minister's appeal, that the people could not believe but that Hester Prynne would speak out the guilty name; or else that the guilty one himself, in whatever high or lowly place he stood, would be drawn forth by an inward and inevitable necessity, and compelled to ascend the scaffold.
青年牧師的話音時(shí)斷時(shí)續(xù)，聽起來甜美、豐潤而深沉，實(shí)在撼人心肺。那明顯表達(dá)出來的感情，要比言詞的直接涵義更能撥動(dòng)每個(gè)人的心弦，因此博得了聽眾一致的同情。甚至海絲特懷中那可憐的嬰兒都受到了同樣的感染：因?yàn)樗藭r(shí)正轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)始終還是空泛的視線，盯向丁梅斯代爾先生，還舉起兩條小胳膊，發(fā)出一陣似憂似喜的聲音。牧師的規(guī)勸實(shí)在具有說服力，以致在場的所有的人都相信，海絲特·白蘭就要說出那罪人的姓名了；否則，那個(gè)犯罪的男人自己，不知此時(shí)站在高處或低位，也會在內(nèi)心必然的推動(dòng)之下，走上前來，被迫登上刑臺。

Hester shook her head.
海絲特?fù)u了搖頭。

"Woman, transgress not beyond the limits of Heaven's mercy!" cried the Reverend Mr. Wilson, more harshly than before. "That little babe hath been gifted with a voice, to second and confirm the counsel which thou hast heard. Speak out the name! That, and thy repentance, may avail to take the scarlet letter off thy breast."
“女人，你違背上天的仁慈，可不要超過限度！”威爾遜牧師先生更加嚴(yán)厲地嚷道?！澳隳切⌒〉膵雰憾加盟翘熨n的聲音，來附和并肯定你所聽到的規(guī)勸了。把那人的姓名說出來吧！那樣，再加上你的悔改，將有助于從你胸前取下那紅字?！?/div>

"Never!" replied Hester Prynne, looking, not at Mr. Wilson, but into the deep and troubled eyes of the younger clergyman. "It is too deeply branded. Ye cannot take it off. And would that I might endure his agony, as well as mine!"
“我永遠(yuǎn)不會說的！”海絲特·白蘭回答說，她的眼睛沒有去看威爾遜先生，而是凝視著那年輕牧師的深沉而憂郁的眼睛?！斑@紅字烙得太深了。你是取不下來的。但愿我能在忍受我的痛苦的同時(shí)，也忍受住他的痛苦！”

"Speak, woman!" said another voice, coldly and sternly, proceeding from the crowd about the scaffold. "Speak; and give your child a father!"
“說吧，女人！”從刑臺附近的人群中發(fā)出的另一個(gè)冷酪的聲音說?！罢f出來吧：讓你的孩子有一個(gè)父親！”

"I will not speak!" answered Hester, turning pale as death, but responding to this voice, which she too surely recognized. "And my child must seek a heavenly Father; she shall never know an earthly one!"
“我不說！”海絲特回答著，她的臉色雖然變得象死人一樣慘白，但還是對那個(gè)她確認(rèn)無疑的聲音作出了答復(fù)。“我的孩子應(yīng)該尋求一個(gè)上天的父親！她將永遠(yuǎn)不會知道有一個(gè)世俗的父親的！”
?

"She will not speak!" murmured Mr. Dimmesdale, who, leaning over the balcony, with his hand upon his heart, had awaited the result of his appeal. He now drew back, with a long respiration. "Wondrous strength and generosity of a woman's heart! She will not speak!"
“她不肯說！”丁梅斯代爾先生囁噓著。他一直俯身探出陽臺，一只手捂住心口，特候著聽他呼吁的結(jié)果，這時(shí)他長長吐了一口氣，縮回了身體?！耙粋€(gè)女人的心胸是多么堅(jiān)強(qiáng)和寬闊??！她不肯說！”

Discerning the impractible state of the poor culprit's mind, the elder clergyman, who had carefully prepared himself for the occasion, addressed to the multitude a discourse on sin, in all its branches, but with continual reference to the ignominious letter. So forcibly did he dwell upon this symbol, for the hour or more during which his periods were rolling over the people's heads, that it assumed new terrors in their imagination, and seemed to derive its scarlet hue from the flames of the infernal pit. Hester Prynne, meanwhile, kept her place upon the pedestal of shame, with glazed eyes, and an air of weary indifference. She had borne, that morning, all that nature could endure; and as her temperament was not of the order that escapes from too intense suffering by a swoon, her spirit could only shelter itself beneath a stony crust of insensibility, while the faculties of animal life remained entire. In this state, the voice of the preacher thundered remorselessly, but unavailingly, upon her ears. The infant, during the latter portion of her ordeal, pierced the air with its wailings and screams; she strove to hush it, mechanically, but seemed scarcely to sympathise with its trouble. With the same hard demeanour, she was led back to prison, and vanished from the public gaze within its iron-clamped portal. It was whispered, by those who peered after her, that the scarlet letter threw a lurid gleam along the dark passage-way of the interior.
那年長的牧師看出來這可憐的罪人一意孤行，他對此早已成竹在胸，便對人群發(fā)表了一通論述罪惡的演講，他列舉了形形色色的罪過，并且時(shí)時(shí)涉及那不光彩的字母。他在長達(dá)一個(gè)多小時(shí)的演講中，詳盡地?cái)⑹鲋@個(gè)標(biāo)記，他那強(qiáng)有力的言辭在人們的耳際反復(fù)轟鳴，在他們的心頭引起了新的恐懼，似乎把這個(gè)標(biāo)記用煉獄之火染得通紅。與此同時(shí)，海絲特·白蘭始終帶著一種疲憊的淡然神情，在她的恥辱臺上凝眸端立。那天早晨，她忍受了人性所能承擔(dān)的一切；由于她的氣質(zhì)決定了她不會以昏厥來逃避過于強(qiáng)烈的苦難，她的精神只能躲藏在麻木的石質(zhì)硬殼下，而令動(dòng)物生命助機(jī)能依然無損。因此，那位布道者的聲音雖在她耳畔殘酷無情地響如雷鳴，但卻無濟(jì)于事。在她備受折磨的這后一段時(shí)間，那嬰兒的尖聲哭號直貫云霄；她雖下意識地想哄著孩子安靜下來，但似乎對嬰兒的不安無動(dòng)于衷。她就這樣木雕泥塑般地又給帶回監(jiān)獄，從眾人眼前捎失在釘滿鐵釘?shù)睦伍T后面。那些目光隨著她身影窺視的人耳語著說，她胸前的紅字在中內(nèi)黑漆漆的通路上投下了一道血紅的閃光。