Continually, and in a thousand other ways, did she feel the innumerable throbs of anguish that had been so cunningly contrived for her by the undying, the ever-active sentence of the Puritan tribunal. Clergymen paused in the street to address words of exhortation, that brought a crowd, with its mingled grin and frown, around the poor, sinful woman. If she entered a church, trusting to share the Sabbath smile of the Universal Father, it was often her mishap to find herself the text of the discourse. She grew to have a dread of children; for they had imbibed from their parents a vague idea of something horrible in this dreary woman, gliding silently through the town, with never any companion but one only child. Therefore, first allowing her to pass, they pursued her at a distance with shrill cries, and the utterance of a word that had no distinct purport to their own minds, but was none the less terrible to her, as proceeding from lips that babbled it unconsciously. It seemed to argue so wide a diffusion of her shame, that all nature knew of it; it could have caused her no deeper pang, had the leaves of the trees whispered the dark story among themselves- had the summer breeze murmured about it- had the wintry blast shrieked it aloud! Another peculiar torture was felt in the gaze of a new eye. When strangers looked curiously at the scarlet letter- and none ever failed to do so- they branded it afresh into Hester's soul; so that, oftentimes, she could scarcely refrain, yet always did refrain, from covering the symbol with her hand. But then, again, an accustomed eye had likewise its own anguish to inflict. Its cool stare of familiarity was intolerable. From first to last, in short, Hester Prynne had always this dreadful agony in feeling a human eye upon the token; the spot never grew callous; it seemed, on the contrary, to grow more sensitive with daily torture.
清教徒的法庭對她極其狡獪地安排下的懲罰，時(shí)刻不停地以種種方式使她感到永無休止的悸痛。牧師會在街心停住腳步，對她規(guī)勸一番，還會招來一群人圍任這可憐的有罪的女人，對她又是嘻笑，又是蹙額。當(dāng)?shù)刈哌M(jìn)教堂，一心以為自己會分享眾生之父在安息日的微笑時(shí)，往往不幸地發(fā)現(xiàn)，她正是講道的內(nèi)容。她對孩子們漸生畏懼之心，因?yàn)樗麄儚母改改抢飻z取到一種模模糊糊的概念；這個(gè)除去一個(gè)小孩之外從無伴侶、在鎮(zhèn)上蹈踴獨(dú)行的可怕的女人，身上有著某種駭人之處。于是，他們先放她過去，再遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)尾隨著她尖聲喊叫，那些出于無心腸口而出的語言，對他們本無明確的含義，可她聽來卻同樣可畏。她的恥辱似乎已廣為傳播，連整個(gè)自然界都無有不曉了；即使樹時(shí)在竊竊私語這一隱私；夏口的微風(fēng)在悄然四散，冬天的寒風(fēng)在高聲疾呼，她的痛楚也不過如此！此外，一雙陌生的眼睛的凝視也會讓她感到特別難過。當(dāng)不速之客毫無例外地好奇地盯著她那紅字時(shí)，就把那標(biāo)記又一次烙進(jìn)海絲特的靈魂；以致她常常禁不住，但終歸還是控制使自己，不去用手捂住那象征。其實(shí)，熟人的目光又何嘗不給地帶來苦惱！那種習(xí)以為常的冷冷的一瞥真叫她受不了。簡而言之，海絲特·白蘭始終感到被人們注視那標(biāo)記的可怕的痛苦；那地方不但眾遠(yuǎn)不會結(jié)痂，相反；看來還會隨著逐日的折磨而變得益發(fā)敏感。

But sometimes, once in many days, or perchance in many months, she felt an eye- a human eye- upon the ignominious brand, that seemed to give a momentary relief, as if half of her agony were shared. The next instant, back it all rushed again, with still a deeper throb of pain; for, in that brief interval, she had sinned anew. Had Hester sinned alone?
但也有時(shí)候——好多天有這么一次，或者要好幾個(gè)月才有這么一次，她會感到一雙眼睛——一雙人類的眼睛望著她那恥辱的印記，似乎能給她片刻的寬慰，象是分擔(dān)了她的一半痛苦。但那瞬向一過，更深的刺病便疾速返回；因?yàn)樵谶@短暫的邂逅中，她又重新犯了罪。難道海絲特是獨(dú)自犯下這罪過的嗎？