It seemed, at this point, as if the minister must leave the remainder of his secret undisclosed. But he fought back the bodily weakness- and, still more, the faintness of heart- that was striving for the mastery with him. He threw off all assistance, and stepped passionately forward a pace before the woman and the child."It was on him!" he continued, with a kind of fierceness; so determined was he to speak out the whole. "God's eye beheld it! The angels were forever pointing at it! The Devil knew it well, and fretted it continually with the touch of his burning finger! But he hid it cunningly from men, and walked among you with the mien of a spirit, mournful, because so pure in a sinful world!- and sad, because he missed his heavenly kindred! Now, at the death-hour, he stands up before you! He bids you look again at Hester's scarlet letter! He tells you, that, with all its mysterious horror, it is but the shadow of what he bears on his own breast, and that even this, his own red stigma, is no more than the type of what has seared his inmost heart! Stand any here that question God's judgment on a sinner? Behold! Behold a dreadful witness of it!"
牧師講到這里，仿佛要留下他的其余的秘密不再揭示了。但他擊退了身體的無力，尤其是妄圖控制他的內心的軟弱。他甩掉了一切支持，激昂地向前邁了一步，站到了那母女二人之前?！澳抢佑【驮谒砩?！”他激烈地繼續(xù)說著，他是下定了決心要把一切全盤托出了?！吧系鄣难劬υ谧⒁曋?！天使們一直都在指點著它！魔鬼也知道得一清二楚，不時用他那燃燒的手指的觸碰來折磨它！但是他卻在人們面前狡猾地遮掩著它，神采奕奕地定在你們中間；其實他很悲哀，因為在這個罪孽的世界上人們竟把他看得如此純潔！——他也很傷心，因為他思念他在天國里的親屬！如今，在他瀕死之際，他挺身站在你們面前！他要求你們再看一眼海絲特的紅字！他告訴你們，她的紅字雖然神秘而可怕，只不過是他胸前所戴的紅字的影像而已，而即使他本人的這個紅色的恥辱烙印，仍不過是他內心烙印的表象罷了！站在這里的人們，有誰要懷疑上帝對一個罪人的制裁嗎？看吧！看看這一個駭人的證據(jù)吧！”

With a convulsive motion, he tore away the ministerial band from before his breast. It was revealed! But it were irreverent to describe that revelation. For an instant, the gaze of the horror-stricken multitude was concentred on the ghastly miracle; while the minister stood, with a flush of triumph in his face, as one who, in the crisis of acutest pain, had won a victory. Then, down he sank upon the scaffold! Hester partly raised him, and supported his head against her bosom. Old Roger Chillingworth knelt down beside him, with a blank, dull countenance, out of which the life seemed to have departed.
他哆哆嗦嗦地猛地扯開法衣前襟的飾帶。露出來了！但是要描述這次揭示實在是大不敬。剎那間，驚慌失措的人們的凝視的目光一下子聚集到那可怖的奇跡之上；此時，牧師卻面帶勝利的紅光站在那里，就象一個人在備受煎熬的千鈞一發(fā)之際卻贏得了勝利。隨后，他就癱倒在刑臺上了！海絲特撐起他的上半身，讓他的頭靠在自己的胸前。老羅杰·齊靈渥斯跪在他身旁，表情呆滯，似乎已經(jīng)失去了生命。

"Thou hast escaped me!" he repeated more than once. "Thou hast escaped me!""May God forgive thee!" said the minister. "Thou, too, hast deeply sinned!"
“你總算逃過了我！”他一再地重復說?！澳憧偹闾舆^了我！”“愿上帝饒恕你吧！”牧師說。“你，同樣是罪孽深重的！”