"Tell me, mother!" said the child seriously, coming up to Hester, and pressing herself close to her knees. "Do thou tell me!"
“告訴我吧，媽媽！”孩子走到海絲特跟前，緊緊靠著她膝頭，一本正經(jīng)地說?！耙欢ǜ艺f說吧！”

"Thy Heavenly Father sent thee!" answered Hester Prynne.
“是你的天父把你送來的！”海絲特·白蘭回答說。

But she said it with a hesitation that did not escape the acuteness of the child. Whether moved only by her ordinary freakishness, or because an evil spirit prompted her, she put up her small forefinger, and touched the scarlet letter.
但她說話時(shí)有點(diǎn)猶豫，這沒有逃過孩子犀利的目光。不知孩于和往常一樣想要調(diào)皮，還是受到一個(gè)邪惡的精靈的指使，她舉起她小小的食指，去摸那紅字。

"He did not send me!" cried she positively. "I have no Heavenly Father!"
“不是他把我送來的！”她明確地說?！拔覜]有天父！

"Hush, Pearl, hush! Thou must not talk so!" answered the mother, suppressing a groan. "He sent us all into this world. He sent even me, thy mother. Then, much more, thee! Or, if not, thou strange and elfish child, whence didst thou come?"
“噓，珠兒，噓！你不許這么說！”母親咽下一聲哀嘆，回答說?！拔覀兯械娜硕际撬偷竭@世上來的。連我——你媽媽，都是他送來的。就更不用說你了！要不是這樣，你這個(gè)怪里怪氣的小妖精似的孩子是從哪兒來的？”

"Tell me! Tell me!" repeated Pearl, no longer seriously, but laughing, and capering about the floor. "It is thou that must tell me!"
“告訴我！告訴我！”珠兒一再喊著，這次不再板著面孔，而是笑出了聲，還在地上跳著腳?！澳惴歉嬖V我不可！

But Hester could not resolve the query, being herself in a dismal labyrinth of doubt. She remembered- betwixt a smile and a shudder- the talk of the neighbouring townspeople; who, seeking vainly elsewhere for the child's paternity, and observing some of her old attributes, had given out that poor little Pearl was a demon offspring; such as, ever since old Catholic times, had occasionally been seer, on earth, through the agency of their mother's sin, and to promote some foul and wicked purpose. Luther, according to the scandal of his monkish enemies, was a brat of that hellish breed; nor was Pearl the only child to whom this inauspicious origin was assigned among the New England Puritans.
對這一逼問，海絲特可沒法作答了，因?yàn)檫B她自己也尚在陰暗的迷宮中徘徊呢。她面帶微笑、周身戰(zhàn)栗地想起了鎮(zhèn)上鄰居的說法，他們遍尋這孩子的父親沒有結(jié)果，又觀察到珠兒的古怪作為，就聲稱可憐的小珠兒是一個(gè)妖魔助產(chǎn)物。自從古天主教時(shí)代以來，世上常見這種孩子，都是由于做母親的有罪孽，才生下來以助長骯臟惡毒的目的。按照路德②在教會(huì)中那些敵人的謠言，他本人就是那種惡魔的孽種；而在新英格蘭的請教徒中闖，有這種可疑血緣的，可不僅僅珠兒一個(gè)孩子。

①希臘種話中說，腓尼基王子卡德馬斯殺一龍后種其齒，遂長出一支軍隊(duì)，相互征戰(zhàn)，最后余下五人，與卡德馬斯建立底比斯國。

②馬?。返?1482一1546)，德國神學(xué)家，家教改革的領(lǐng)袖。