"Oh, not so!- not so!" continued Mr. Dimmesdale. "She recognises, believe me, the solemn miracle which God hath wrought, in the existence of that child. And may she feel, too- what, methinks, is the very truth- that this boon was meant, above all things else, to keep the mother's soul alive, and to preserve her from blacker depths of sin into which Satan might else have sought to plunge her! Therefore it is good for this poor, sinful woman that she hath an infant immortality, a being capable of eternal joy or sorrow, confided to her care- to be trained up by her to righteousness- to remind her, at every moment, of her fall- but yet to teach her, as it were by the Creator's sacred pledge, that, if she bring the child to heaven, the child also will bring its parent thither! Herein is the sinful mother happier than the sinful father. For Hester Prynne's sake, then, and no less for the poor child's sake, let us leave them as Providence hath seen fit to place them!"
“噢，并非如此！——并非如此！”丁梅斯代爾先生繼續(xù)說?！罢?qǐng)相信我，她已經(jīng)認(rèn)識(shí)到了上帝在這個(gè)孩子的存在上所創(chuàng)造的神圣的奇跡。而且她可能也感受到了——我想恰恰如此——上帝賜給她這個(gè)孩子，尤其意味著，要保持母親的靈魂的活力，防止她陷入罪惡的更黑暗的深淵，否則撒旦還會(huì)設(shè)法誘惑她的！因此，給這個(gè)可憐而有罪的女人留下一個(gè)不朽助嬰兒，一個(gè)可能帶來永恒的歡樂或悲傷的生命，對(duì)她會(huì)大有好處；讓她去撫養(yǎng)孩子，讓她培養(yǎng)孩子走上正路，這樣才能隨時(shí)提醒她記著自己的墮落；因?yàn)檫@也是對(duì)造物主的神圣誓言，同時(shí)教育她，如果她能把孩子送上天國，那么孩子也就能把她帶到天國！就此而論，有罪的母親可要比那有罪的父親有幸。因此，為了海絲特·白蘭，也同樣為這可憐的孩子的緣故，我們還是按照天意對(duì)她們的安排，不去管她們吧！

"You speak, my friend, with a strange earnestness," said old Roger Chillingworth, smiling at him.
“我的朋友，你講這番話，真是誠摯得出奇呢，”老羅杰·齊靈溫斯對(duì)他笑著說。

"And there is a weighty import in what my young brother hath spoken," added the Reverend Mr. Wilson. "What say you, worshipful Master Bellingham? Hath he not pleaded well for the poor woman?"
“而且，我這年輕兄弟的話里的重要意義還滿有分量呢，”威爾遜牧師先生補(bǔ)充說?！澳阍趺纯?，尊敬的貝靈漢老爺？他為這可憐的女人所作的請(qǐng)求滿好吧？

"Indeed hath he," answered the magistrate, "and hath adduced such arguments, that we will even leave the matter as it now stands; so long, at least, as there shall be no further scandal in the woman. Care must be had, nevertheless, to put the child to due and stated examination in the catechism, at thy hands or Master Dimmesdale's. Moreover, at a proper season, the tithing-men must take heed that she go both to school and to meeting."
“確實(shí)不錯(cuò)，”那長官回答，“并且還引證了這些論據(jù)，我們只好讓事情依舊如此嘍，至少，只要沒有人說這女人的閑話就行。不過，我們還是要認(rèn)真，對(duì)這孩子要按時(shí)進(jìn)行《教義問答手冊(cè)》的正式考核，這事就交給你和丁梅斯代爾先生吧。再有，到了適當(dāng)時(shí)候，耍讓十戶長注意送她上學(xué)校和做禮拜。

The young minister, on ceasing to speak, had withdrawn a few steps from the group, and stood with his face partially concealed in the heavy folds of the window-curtain; while the shadow of his figure, which the sunlight cast upon the floor, was tremulous with the vehemence of his appeal. Pearl, that wild and flighty little elf, stole softly towards him, and taking his hand in the grasp of both her own, laid her cheek against it; a caress so tender, and withal so unobtrusive, that her mother, who was looking on, asked herself, "Is that my Pearl?" Yet she knew that there was love in the child's heart, although it mostly revealed itself in passion, and hardly twice in her lifetime had been softened by such gentleness as now. The minister- for, save the long-sought regards of woman, nothing is sweeter than these marks of childish preference, accorded spontaneously by a spiritual instinct, and therefore seeming to imply in us something truly worthy to be loved- the minister looked round, laid his hand on the child's head, hesitated an instant, and then kissed her brow. Little Pearl's unwonted mood of sentiment lasted no longer; she laughed, and went capering down the hall, so airily, that old Mr. Wilson raised a question whether even her tiptoes touched the floor.
那年輕的牧師說完話之后，便離開人群，后退幾步，讓窗簾厚厚的褶襞住了他部分面孔；而陽光在地板上照出的他的身影，還在由于剛才激昂的呼吁面顫抖。珠兒那野性子的輕靈小鬼，輕手輕腳地偷偷溜到他身旁，用雙手握住他的手，還把小臉貼在上面；那撫愛是那么溫柔，而且還那么從容，使得在一旁看著的海絲特不禁自問：“那是我的珠兒嗎？”然而她明白，這孩子的心中是有著愛的，不過這種愛通常是以激情的形式來表達(dá)的；她生來恐怕還沒有第二次這樣溫文爾雅呢。而牧師呢——除去追尋已久的女性的關(guān)心之外，再?zèng)]有這種孩子氣的愛的表示更為甜蜜的了，由于這種愛發(fā)自精神本能，因此似乎是在暗示著，我們身上確實(shí)具有一些值得一愛的東西——此時(shí)他環(huán)顧四周，將一只手放在孩子的頭上，遲疑了一會(huì)兒，然后吻了她的額頭。小珠兒這種不尋常的溫情脈脈到此為止，她放聲笑著，朝大廳另一頭輕捷地蹦跳而去，威爾遜老先生甚至懷疑，她的腳尖是否觸到了地板。