At this wild and singular appeal, which indicated that Hester Prynne's situation had provoked her to little less than madness, the young minister at once came forward, pale, and holding his hand over his heart, as was his custom whenever his peculiarly nervous temperament was thrown into agitation. He looked now more careworn and emaciated than as we described him at the scene of Hester's public ignominy; and whether it were his failing health, or whatever the cause might be, his large dark eyes had a world of pain in their troubled and melancholy depth.
這種狂野獨(dú)特獨(dú)特的吁請(qǐng)，意味著海絲特·白蘭的處境已經(jīng)把她快逼瘋了。于是，那年輕的牧師馬上走上前來(lái)，他面色蒼氏一只手捂住心口——只要他那古怪的神經(jīng)質(zhì)一發(fā)作，他就會(huì)做出這個(gè)習(xí)慣的動(dòng)作。他此時(shí)的樣子，比起上次海絲特示眾時(shí)我們所描繪的，還要疲憊和憔悴；不管是由于他那每況愈下的健康狀況，抑或其它什么原因，他那雙又大又黑的眼睛的深處，在煩惱和憂郁之中還有一個(gè)痛苦的天地。

"There is truth in what she says," began the minister, with a voice sweet, tremulous, but powerful, insomuch that the hall re-echoed, and the hollow armour rang with it- "truth in what Hester says, and in the feeling which inspires her! God gave her the child, and gave her, too, an instinctive knowledge of its nature and requirements- both seemingly so peculiar- which no other mortal being can possess. And, moreover, is there not a quality of awful sacredness in the relation between this mother and this child?"
“她所說(shuō)的確有道理，”年輕的牧師開(kāi)口說(shuō)，他那甜蜜柔和的嗓音雖然微微發(fā)顫，卻強(qiáng)勁有力地在大廳中回蕩著，直震得那空殼鎧中部隨之轟鳴，“她的話確有道理，鼓舞她的感情也沒(méi)有錯(cuò)！上帝賜給了她這個(gè)孩子，也就賦予了她了解孩子天性和需求的本能——而這孩子的天性和需求看來(lái)又是如此與眾不同——她作母親的這種本能別人是不可能具備的。何況，在她們的母女關(guān)系之中難道沒(méi)有一種令人敬畏的神圣之處嗎？”

"Ay!- how is that, good Master Dimmesdale?" interrupted the Governor. "Make that plain, I pray you!"
“喂！——這是怎么講，善良的丁梅斯代爾先生？”總督接口說(shuō)。“我請(qǐng)你把話說(shuō)得明白些！”

"It must be even so," resumed the minister. "For, if we deem it otherwise, do we not thereby say that the Heavenly Father, the Creator of all flesh, hath lightly recognised a deed of sin, and made of no account the distinction between unhallowed lust and holy love? This child of its father's guilt and its mother's shame hath come from the hand of God, to work in many ways upon her heart, who pleads so earnestly, and with such bitterness of spirit, the right to keep her. It was meant for a blessing; for the one blessing of her life! It was meant, doubtless, as the mother herself hath told us, for a retribution too; a torture to be felt at many an unthought-of moment; a pang, a sting, an ever-recurring agony, in the midst of a troubled joy! Hath she not expressed this thought in the garb of the poor child, so forcibly reminding us of that red symbol which sears her bosom?"
“尤其是，”年輕牧師接著說(shuō)，“如果我們換一個(gè)角度來(lái)看待這件事，我們豈不是說(shuō)，那創(chuàng)造了一切肉體的天父，只是隨便地承認(rèn)了一次罪行，而對(duì)褻瀆的淫穢和神圣的愛(ài)情之間毫不加以區(qū)別嗎？這孩子是她父親的罪孽和她母親的恥辱的產(chǎn)物，但卻來(lái)自上帝之手，面上帝要通過(guò)許多方式來(lái)感化做母親的心靈，因此她才這么誠(chéng)摯地、懷著這么痛苦的精神來(lái)祈求養(yǎng)育孩子的極利。她是在祈求祝福，向賜于孩子生命的上帝祈求祝福！毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)，誠(chéng)如這母親自己對(duì)我們所說(shuō)，她也是在祈求一種報(bào)應(yīng)；她在祈求一種折磨，讓她在意想不到的許多時(shí)刻體會(huì)到這種折磨；她在祈求一陣劇痛，一下刺扎，一種時(shí)時(shí)復(fù)發(fā)的、糾纏著她的快樂(lè)的痛楚！在這可憐的孩子的衣服上，她不是表達(dá)了她的這種想法嗎？這身衣服不是有力地提醒我們那烙進(jìn)她胸口的紅色象征嗎？”

"Well said again!" cried good Mr. Wilson. "I feared the woman had no better thought than to make a mountebank of her child!"
“還是你說(shuō)得高明！”好心腸的威爾遜先生叫道?！拔冶緛?lái)?yè)?dān)心這女人除去拿她的孩子裝幌子再也沒(méi)有更好的想法呢！