It was the observation of those who beheld him now, that never, since Mr. Dimmesdale first set his foot on the New England shore, had he exhibited such energy as was seen in the gait and air with which he kept his pace in the procession. There was no feebleness of step, as at other times; his frame was not bent; nor did his hand rest ominously upon his heart. Yet, if the clergyman were rightly viewed, his strength seemed not of the body. It might be spiritual, and imparted to him by angelic ministrations. It might be the exhilaration of that potent cordial, which is distilled only in the furnace-glow of earnest and long-continued thought. Or, perchance, his sensitive temperament was invigorated by the loud and piercing music, that swelled heavenward, and uplifted him on its ascending wave.Nevertheless, so abstracted was his look, it might be questioned whether Mr. Dimmesdale even heard the music. There was his body, moving onward, and with an unaccustomed force. But where was his mind? Far and deep in its own region, busying itself, with preternatural activity, to marshal a procession of stately thoughts that were soon to issue thence; and so he saw nothing, heard nothing, knew nothing, of what was around him; but the spiritual element took up the feeble frame, and carried it along, unconscious of the burden, and converting it to spirit like himself. Men of uncommon intellect, who have grown morbid, possess this occasional power of mighty effort, into which they throw the life of many days, and then are lifeless for as many more.
此時，那些殷殷里看著他的人注意到，自從丁梅斯代爾先生初次踏上新英格蘭海岸以來，他還從來沒有顯示過這樣允沛的精力，人們看到他精神抖擻地健步走在隊伍之中。他的步履不象平時那樣虛弱，他的軀干不再彎曲，他的手也沒有病態(tài)地捂在心口。然而，如果沒有看錯的話，牧師的力量似乎并不在身體上，倒是在精神上，而且是由天使通過宗教儀式賦予他的。那力量可能是潛在熱情的興奮表現(xiàn)，是從長期不斷的誠摯思想的熔爐中蒸餾出來的?；蛘撸苍S是，他的敏感的氣質(zhì)受到了那向天升騰并把他托著飛升的響亮而尖利的音樂的鼓舞。然而，他的目光是那么茫然，人們不禁納悶，丁梅斯代爾先生到底聽沒聽見那音樂。只見他的軀體正在以一種不同尋常的力量向前移動，但他的心靈何在呢？他的心靈正深深地蘊藏在自己的領(lǐng)域，忙不迭地進行著超自然的活動，以便安排那不久就要源源講出的一系列莊嚴(yán)的思想，因此，他對于周圍的一切全都視而不見，聽而不聞，也毫不知曉；但這精神的因素正提攜著那虛弱的軀體向前行進，不但毫不感到它的重量，而且將它生成象自身一樣的精神。擁有非凡的智力而且已經(jīng)病體纏身的人，通過巨大努力而獲得的這種偶然的能力，能夠把許多天凝聚于一時，而隨后的那么多天卻變得沒有生命力了。

Hester Prynne, gazing steadfastly at the clergyman, felt a dreary influence come over her, but wherefore or whence she knew not; unless that he seemed so remote from her own sphere, and utterly beyond her reach. One glance of recognition, she had imagined, must needs pass between them. She thought of the dim forest, with its little dell of solitude, and love, and anguish, and the mossy tree-trunk, where, sitting hand in hand, they had mingled their sad and passionate talk with the melancholy murmur of the brook. How deeply had they known each other then! And was this the man? She hardly knew him now! He, moving proudly past, enveloped, as it were, in the rich music, with the procession of majestic and venerable fathers; he, so unattainable in his worldly position, and still more so in that far vista of his unsympathising thoughts, through which she now beheld him! Her spirit sank with the idea that all must have been a delusion, and that, vividly as she had dreamed it, there could be no real bond betwixt the clergyman and herself. And thus much of woman was there in Hester, that she could scarcely forgive him- least of all now, when the heavy footstep of their approaching Fate might be heard, nearer, nearer, nearer!- for being able so completely to withdraw himself from their mutual world; while she groped darkly, and stretched forth her cold hands, and found him not.
不錯眼神地緊盯著牧師的海絲特·白蘭，感到一種陰沉的勢力滲透她的全身，至于這種勢力出于什么原因和從何而來，她卻無從知曉：她只覺得他離她自己的天地十分遙遠(yuǎn)，已經(jīng)全然不可及了。她曾經(jīng)想象過。他倆之問需要交換一次彼此心照的眼色。她回憶起那陰暗的樹林，那孤寂的山谷，那愛情，那極度的悲痛，那長滿青苔的樹干，他們攜手并坐，將他們哀傷而熱情的談活交溶在小溪的憂郁的低語之中。當(dāng)時，他倆是多么息息相通?。⊙矍暗倪@個人就是他嗎？她此時簡直難以辨認(rèn)他了！他在低沉的樂聲中，隨著那些威嚴(yán)而可敬的神父們，高傲地走了過去，他在塵世的地位已經(jīng)如此高不可攀，而她此時所看到的他．正陷入超凡脫俗的高深莫測的思緒之中，益發(fā)可望而不可及了！她認(rèn)為一切全都是一場夢幻，她雖然夢得如此真切，但在牧師和她本人之間不可能有任何真實的聯(lián)系，她的精神隨著這種念頭而消沉了。而由于海絲特身上存在著那么多女性的東西，她簡直難以原諒他——尤其是此時此刻，當(dāng)他們面臨的命運之神的沉重的腳步已經(jīng)可以聽得見是越走越近的時候！——因為他居然能夠從他倆的共同世界中一千二凈地抽身出去，卻把她留在黑暗中摸索，雖伸出她冰冷的雙手，卻遍尋他而不得見。