In the afternoon of a certain summer's day, after Pearl grew big enough to run about, she amused herself with gathering handfuls of wild-flowers, and flinging them, one by one, at her mother's bosom; dancing up and down, like a little elf, whenever she hit the scarlet letter. Hester's first motion had been to cover her bosom with her clasped hands. But, whether from pride or resignation, or a feeling that her penance might best be wrought out by this unutterable pain, she resisted the impulse, and sat erect, pale as death, looking sadly into little Pearl's wild eyes. Still came the battery of flowers, almost invariably hitting the mark, and covering the mother's breast with hurts for which she could find no balm in this world, nor knew how to seek it in another. At last, her shot being all expended, the child stood still and gazed at Hester, with that little laughing image of a fiend peeping out- or, whether it peeped or no, her mother so imagined it- from the unsearchable abyss of her black eyes.
一個(gè)夏日的午后，那時(shí)珠兒已經(jīng)長大，能夠到處跑了。孩子采集了一把野花自己玩著，她把野花一朵接一朵地?cái)S到母親胸口上；每當(dāng)花朵打中紅字，她就象個(gè)小精靈似的蹦蹦跳跳。海絲特的第一個(gè)動(dòng)作就是想用合著的雙手來捂住胸膛。可是，不知是出于自尊自豪還是出于容忍順從，抑或是感到她只有靠這種難言的痛苦才能最好地完成自己贖罪的苦行，她壓抑下了這一沖動(dòng)，坐得挺挺的，臉色變得死一般地蒼白，只是傷心地盯著珠兒的狂野的眼睛。此時(shí)，花朵仍接二連三地拋來，幾乎每一下都未中那標(biāo)記，使母親曲胸口布滿傷痛，不但在這個(gè)世界上她找不到止痛藥膏，就是在另一個(gè)世界上，她也不知道如何去找這種靈丹妙藥。終于，孩子的彈藥全都耗盡了，她一動(dòng)不動(dòng)地站在那里瞪著海絲特，從她那深不可測的黑眼睛中，那小小的笑瞇瞇的魔鬼形象又在探出頭來望著她了——或者，根本沒那么國事，只是她母親這么想象罷了。

"Child, what art thou?" cried the mother.
“孩子，你到底是個(gè)什么呀？”母親叫著。

"Oh, I am your little Pearl!" answered the child.
“噢，我是你的小珠兒！”孩子回答。

But, while she said it, Pearl laughed, and began to dance up and down, with the humorsome gesticulation of a little imp, whose next freak might be to fly up the chimney.
珠兒邊說邊放聲笑著，并且用小妖精的那種調(diào)皮樣子蹦蹦跳跳著，她的下一步想入非非的行動(dòng)可能是從煙囪中飛出去。

"Art thou my child, in very truth?" asked Hester.
“你真一點(diǎn)不假是我的孩子嗎？”海絲特問。

Nor did she put the question altogether idly, but, for the moment, with a portion of genuine earnestness; for, such was Pearl's wonderful intelligence, that her mother half doubted whether she were not acquainted with the secret spell of her existence, and might not now reveal herself.
她提出這樣一個(gè)問題絕不是漫不經(jīng)心的，就當(dāng)時(shí)而論，她確實(shí)帶著幾分誠心誠意；因?yàn)橹閮哼@么鬼精鬼靈的，她母親吃不大準(zhǔn)，她未必還不清楚自己的身世之謎，現(xiàn)在只不過還不打算親口說出來。

"Yes; I am little Pearl!" repeated the child, continuing her antics.
“是?。∥沂切≈閮?！”孩子又說了一遍，同時(shí)繼續(xù)著她的調(diào)皮動(dòng)作。

"Thou art not my child! Thou art no Pearl of mine!" said the mother, half playfully; for it was often the case that a sportive impulse came over her, in the midst of her deepest suffering. "Tell me, then, what thou art, and who sent thee hither?"
“你不是我的孩子！你不是我的珠兒！”母親半開玩笑地說；因?yàn)榫驮谒顬橥纯嗟臅r(shí)候，往往會(huì)涌來一陣尋開心的沖動(dòng)?！澳蔷透嬖V我吧，你是什么？是推把你打發(fā)到這兒來的？”