"Mother," said little Pearl, "the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom. Now, see! There it is, playing, a good way off. Stand you here, and let me run and catch it. I am but a child. It will not flee from me; for I wear nothing on my bosom yet!"
“媽媽，”小珠兒說，“陽光并不愛你。它跑開躲起來了，因為它害怕你胸口的什么東西。你瞧嘛！它在那兒跳呢，遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)地。你站在這兒，讓我跑過去抓住它。我只不過是個孩子。它不會逃避我的，因為我胸前還什么都沒戴呢！”

"Nor ever will, my child, I hope," said Hester.
“我的孩子，我但愿你一輩子也別戴吧，”海絲特說。

"And why not, mother?" asked Pearl, stopping short just at the beginning of her race. "Will not it come of its own accord, when I am a woman grown?"
“干嘛不戴呢，媽媽？”珠兒問道，她剛要拔腿朝前跑，忽地停下了腳步?！暗任议L成大人，難道它不會自然就來了嗎？”

"Run away, child," answered her mother, "and catch the sunshine!It will soon be gone."
“快跑吧，孩子，”她母親回答，“去抓住陽光！它會轉(zhuǎn)眼就跑掉的?！?/div>

Pearl set forth, at a great pace, and, as Hester smiled to perceive, did actually catch the sunshine, and stood laughing in the midst of it, all brightened by its splendour, and scintillating with the vivacity excited by rapid motion. The light lingered about the lonely child, as if glad of such a playmate, until her mother had drawn almost nigh enough to step into the magic circle too.
珠兒拔腿飛快地跑去，海絲特微笑著看到，她還真的抓住了陽光，并且站在陽光中放聲大笑，全身披著的燦爛的彩暉，還隨著她快速移動的活躍激蕩著而閃閃發(fā)亮。那光亮依傍在孤獨(dú)的孩子身邊，似是因為有了這樣一個玩伴而興高采烈，一直到她母親差不多也要邁步進(jìn)入那充滿魔力的光圈為止。

"It will go now," said Pearl, shaking her head.
“這下它要走了，”珠兒搖著頭說。

"See!" answered Hester, smiling. "Now I can stretch out my hand, and grasp some of it."
“瞧！”海絲特微笑著回答?！艾F(xiàn)在我可以伸出手來，抓住一些陽光了?！?/div>

As she attempted to do so, the sunshine vanished; or, to judge from the bright expression that was dancing on Pearl's features, her mother could have fancied that the child had absorbed it into herself, and would give it forth again, with a gleam about her path, as they should plunge into some gloomier shade. There was no other attribute that so much impressed her with a sense of new and untransmitted vigour in Pearl's nature, as this never-failing vivacity of spirits; she had not the disease of sadness, which almost all children, in these latter days, inherit, with the scrofula, from the troubles of their ancestors. Perhaps this too was a disease, and but the reflex of the wild energy with which Hester had fought against her sorrows, before Pearl's birth. It was certainly a doubtful charm, imparting a hard, metallic lustre to the child's character. She wanted- what some people want throughout life- a grief that should deeply touch her, and thus humanise and make her capable of sympathy. But there was time enough yet for little Pearl.
就在她打算這么做時，陽光又消失了；或者，從珠兒臉上閃躍著的煥發(fā)的容光來判斷，她母親也可能想象是孩子把陽光吞了進(jìn)去，單等她們步入更幽暗的地方時，再放出來照亮她們的小徑。在珠兒的秉性中，這種永不衰竭的精神活力帶有一種蘊(yùn)含著的嶄新精力的感覺，給她的印象最為深刻；珠兒沒有憂郁癥——如今幾乎所有的孩子都從他們先輩的煩惱中，把這種癥狀同瘟病一起繼承了下來。也許這種活潑同樣是一種疾病，不過是珠兒降生之前海絲特用來遏制自己的憂傷的那種野性的反映。這種活力在孩子的性格上增加了一種堅硬的金屬般的光澤，其魅力甚屬可疑。她需要——一些人終生都需要一些東西——一種陰郁來源源地觸動她，以便增加她的人性，并使她能夠同情。好在對小珠兒來說，還有的是時間呢。