"Heaven would show mercy," rejoined Hester, "hadst thou but the strength to take advantage of it."
“上帝會顯示仁慈的，”海絲特接口說，“只要你有力氣來接受就成。”

"Be thou strong for me!" answered he. "Advise me what to do."
“你幫我振作振作吧！”他回答說。“給我出個主意該怎么辦?！?/div>

"Is the world, then, so narrow?" exclaimed Hester Prynne, fixing her deep eyes on the minister's, and instinctively exercising a magnetic power over a spirit so shattered and subdued that it could hardly hold itself erect. "Doth the universe lie within the compass of yonder town, which only a little time ago was but a leaf-strewn desert, as lonely as this around us? Whither leads yonder forest-track? Backward to the settlement, thou sayest! Yes; but onward, too! Deeper it goes, and deeper, into the wilderness, less plainly to be seen at every step; until, some few miles hence, the yellow leaves will show no vestige of the white man's tread. There thou art free! So brief a journey would bring thee from a world where thou hast been most wretched, to one where thou mayest still be happy! Is there not shade enough in all this boundless forest to hide thy heart from the gaze of Roger Chillingworth?"
“你說，這世界是這么狹小嗎？”海絲特·白蘭一邊高聲說著，一邊用她那深沉的目光注視著牧師的眼睛，她的目光本能地有一種磁石般的效力，作用在那渙散消沉得簡直無法撐持自己的精神之上?！半y道整個天地就只在那邊那小鎮(zhèn)的范圍之內(nèi)嗎？只在不久之前，那里還是一片撒滿落時的荒野，和我們現(xiàn)在呆的這地方差不多凄涼。那林中小徑是通往何處的呢？你會說，是返回居民區(qū)的！不錯；但是還可以再往前走啊。它越往深處去，就更源源地通向蠻荒野地，每走一步，人們就會越看不清它，直到再走不多久，枯黃的落葉上便不見白人的足跡了。到那里，你就自由了！只消走這短短的一程路，就可以把你從使你萬分苦惱的世界帶到你仍可享受到幸福的地方！在這無邊無際的大森林里難道還沒有一處樹蔭足以將你的心隱藏起來，不讓羅杰·齊靈渥斯監(jiān)視嗎？”

"Yes, Hester; but only under the fallen leaves!" replied the minister, with a sad smile.
“是有的，海絲特；不過只是在這些落葉之下！”牧師苦笑著回答說。

"Then there is the broad pathway of the sea!" continued Hester. "It brought thee hither. If thou so choose, it will bear thee back again. In our native land, whether in some remote rural village or in vast London- or, surely, in Germany, in France, in pleasant Italy- thou wouldst be beyond his power and knowledge! And what hast thou to do with all these iron men, and their opinions? They have kept thy better part in bondage too long already!"
“何況還有海上的寬闊航道！”海絲特繼續(xù)說。“是它把你帶到了這里。只要你愿意，它還可以把你再送回去。在我們的祖國，不管是在偏僻的農(nóng)村，還是在大城市倫敦——或者，當然還有德國、法國、以及令人愉快的意大利，——你都會超出他努力所及并且不為他所知曉！到那時，你與這些鐵石心腸的人們，還有他們的看法，又有什么關系呢？他們已經(jīng)盡其所能把你禁錮這么久了！”

"It cannot be!" answered the minister, listening as if he were called upon to realise a dream. "I am powerless to go! Wretched and sinful as I am, I have had no other thought than to drag on my earthly existence in the sphere where Providence hath placed me. Lost as my own soul is, I would still do what I may for other human souls! I dare not quit my post, though an unfaithful sentinel, whose sure reward is death and dishonour, when his dreary watch shall come to an end!"
“那可不成！”牧師回答，聽他那口氣，就象是要他去實現(xiàn)一場夢?！拔腋緵]力氣去。象我這樣一個悲慘的罪人，只有—個念頭，就是在上天已經(jīng)安排給我的地域里了此殘生。既然我已經(jīng)失去了自己的靈魂，我只有繼續(xù)盡我所能來拯救別的靈魂！雖說我是個不忠于職守的哨兵，等到這種沉網(wǎng)的守望終了的時候，我所能得到的報酬只能是不光彩的死亡，但我仍不敢擅離崗位！”