Full of concern, therefore- but so conscious of her own right that it seemed scarcely an unequal match between the public, on the one side, and a lonely woman, backed by the sympathies of nature, on the other- Hester Prynne set forth from her solitary cottage. Little Pearl, of course, was her companion. She was now of an age to run lightly along by her mother's side, and, constantly in motion, from morn till sunset, could have accomplished a much longer journey than that before her. Often, nevertheless, more from caprice than necessity, she demanded to be taken up in arms; but was soon as imperious to be set down again, and frisked onward before Hester on the grassy pathway, with many a harmless trip and tumble. We have spoken of Pearl's rich and luxuriant beauty; a beauty that shone with deep and vivid tints; a bright complexion, eyes possessing intensity both of depth and glow, and hair already of a deep, glossy brown, and which, in after years, would be nearly akin to black. There was fire in her and throughout her; she seemed the unpremeditated offshoot of a passionate moment. Her mother, in contriving the child's garb, had allowed the gorgeous tendencies of her imagination their full play; arraying her in a crimson velvet tunic, of a peculiar cut, abundantly embroidered with fantasies and flourishes of gold thread. So much strength of colouring, which must have given a wan and pallid aspect to cheeks of a fainter bloom, was admirably adapted to Pearl's beauty, and made her the very brightest little jet of flame that ever danced upon the earth.
眼前涉及海絲特·白蘭自身權利的這件事，雖然一方面是廣大公眾，另一方面是只以自然的同情為后盾的弧身女人，雙方眾寡懸殊，難以對壘，但她還是憂心仲仲地從她那孤零零的小茅屋中出發(fā)去力爭了。不消說，小珠兒仍然陪伴著她。珠兒如今已經長到能夠在母親身邊輕快跑動的年齡，一天到晚不肯閑著，就是比這再遠的路也能走到了。不過，她經常還要母親抱著走，其實并不是因為走不動，而是想撒嬌；可是沒抱幾步就又迫不及待地要下來，蹦蹦跳跳地在海絲特前面走著，跑著，不時還在長草的小路上磕磕絆絆，不過絕不會摔出傷來。我們曾經談到珠兒洋溢著光彩照人的美麗，是個濃墨重彩、生動活潑的小姑娘：她有晶瑩的皮膚，一雙大眼睛既專注深沉又炯炯有神，頭發(fā)此時已是潤澤的深棕色，再過幾年就幾乎是漆黑色的了。她渾身上下有一團火，向四下發(fā)散著，象是在激情時刻不期而孕的一個子嗣。她母親在給孩子設計服裝時嘔心瀝血，充分發(fā)揮了華麗的傾向，用鮮紅的天鵝絨為她裁剪了一件式樣獨特的束腰裙衫，還用金絲線在上面繡滿新奇多采的花樣。這種強烈的色調，如果用來襯托一個不夠紅潤的面頰，會使容貌顯得蒼白黯淡，但卻與珠兒的美貌相得益彰，使她成了世上前所未有的活跳跳的一小團焰目的火焰。

But it was a remarkable attribute of this garb, and, indeed, of the child's whole appearance, that it irresistibly and inevitably reminded the beholder of the token which Hester Prynne was doomed to wear upon her bosom. It was the scarlet letter in another form; the scarlet letter endowed with life! The mother herself- as if the red ignominy were so deeply scorched into her brain that all her conceptions assumed its form- had carefully wrought out the similitude; lavishing many hours of morbid ingenuity, to create an analogy between the object of her affection and the emblem of her guilt and torture. But, in truth, Pearl was the one, as well as the other; and only in consequence of that identity had Hester contrived so perfectly to represent the scarlet letter in her appearance.
然而，這身衣裙，老實講，還有這孩子的整個外貌，實在引人注目，使目睹者不可遏止也難以避免地想到海絲特·白蘭胸前注定要佩戴的那個標記。孩子是另一種形式的紅字，是被賦予了生命的紅字！做母親的頭腦中似乎給這紅色的恥辱所深深印烙，她的一切觀念都采取了它的形式，才精心制作出來了這個相仿的對應物；她不借花費許多時間，用病態(tài)的才智創(chuàng)造出這個既象她的慈愛的對象又象她的罪孽和折磨的標志的作品。然而，事實上，恰恰是珠兒集二者于一身；而且，也正因為有了這個同一性，海絲特才能如此完美地用孩子的外表率象征她的紅字。

As the two wayfarers came within the precincts of the town, the children of the Puritans looked up from their play- or what passed for play with those sombre little urchins- and spake gravely one to another-
當這兩個行路人來到鎮(zhèn)區(qū)之時，那些清教徒的孩子們停下了游戲——那些悶悶不樂的小家伙們其實也沒什么可玩的，抬起眼來，一本正經地互相議論著：

"Behold, verily, there is the woman of the scarlet letter; and, of a truth, moreover, there is the likeness of the scarlet letter running along by her side! Come, therefore, and let us fling mud at them!"
“瞧，還真有個戴紅字的女人；還且，一點不假，還有個象紅字似的小東西在她身邊跑著呢！這下可好啦，咱們朝她們扔泥巴吧！”