There was both truth and error in the impression; the child and mother were estranged, but through Hester's fault, not Pearl's. Since the latter rambled from her side, another inmate had been admitted within the circle of the mother's feelings, and so modified the aspect of them all, that Pearl, the returning wanderer, could not find her wonted place, and hardly knew where she was.
这种印象有正确的一面,也有错误的一面;孩子和母亲是变得生疏了,但那要归咎于海丝特,而不是珠儿。自从孩子从她身边走开,另外一个亲人来到了母亲的感情圈内,从而改变了他们三人的地位,以致珠儿这个归来的流浪儿,找不到她一向的位置,几乎不知自己身在何方了。

"I have a strange fancy," observed the sensitive minister, "that this brook is the boundary between two worlds, and that thou canst never meet thy Pearl again. Or is she an elfish spirit, who, as the legends of our childhood taught us, is forbidden to cross a running stream? Pray hasten her; for this delay has already imparted a tremor to my nerves."
“我有一种奇怪的幻想,”敏感的牧师说,“这条小溪是两个世界之间的分界线,你永远不会再和珠儿相会了。要不,说不定她是个小精灵,象我们儿时的童话所教的,她是不准渡过流淌的溪流的吧?请你赶快催催她;这么耽搁着,已经把我的神经弄得颤抖起来了。”

"Come, dearest child!" said Hester encouragingly, and stretching out both her arms. "How slow thou art! When hast thou been so sluggish before now? Here is a friend of mine, who must be thy friend also. Thou wilt have twice as much love, henceforward, as thy mother alone could give thee! Leap across the brook, and come to us. Thou canst leap like a young deer!"
“过来,乖宝贝儿!”海丝特给孩子鼓劲说,同时伸出了双臂。“你走得太慢慢腾腾了!你什么时候象现在这样懒洋洋过?这儿有我的一个朋友,他也该是你的朋友。从今以后,你就不只有你妈妈一个人的爱了,你要得到双倍的爱的!跳过小溪,到我们这儿来。你不是可以象一头小鹿一样地跳嘛!”

Pearl, without responding in any manner to these honey-sweet expressions, remained on the other side of the brook. Now she fixed her bright, wild eyes on her mother, now on the minister, and now included them both in the same glance; as if to detect and explain to herself the relation which they bore to one another. For some unaccountable reason, as Arthur Dimmesdale felt the child's eyes upon himself, his hand- with that gesture so habitual as to have become involuntary- stole over his heart. At length, assuming a singular air of authority, Pearl stretched out her hand, with the small forefinger extended, and pointing evidently towards her mother's breast. And beneath, in the mirror of the brook, there was the flower-girdled and sunny image of little Pearl, pointing her small forefinger too.
珠儿对这些甜蜜的话语不理不睬,仍然呆在小溪的对岸。此时她那一对明亮而狂野的脖子,时而盯着她母亲,时而盯着牧师,时而同时盯住他们两个;仿佛耍想弄清并给自己解释他们两人之间的关系。出于某种难以名状的原因,阿瑟·丁梅斯代尔感到孩子助目光落在他身上时,他的手以习惯成自然的姿势,悄悄捂到了心口上。最后,珠儿作出一副独特的不容置辩的神情,伸出她小小的食指,显然是指着她母亲的胸部。在她脚下,映在镜面般的溪水中的那个戴着花环、浴满阳光的小珠儿的影象,也指点着她的小小的食指。

"Thou strange child, why dost thou not come to me?" exclaimed Hester.
“你这个怪孩子,为什么不到我身边来呢?”海丝特叫道。

Pearl still pointed with her forefinger; and a frown gathered on her brow; the more impressive from the childish, the almost baby-like aspect of the features that conveyed it. As her mother still kept beckoning to her, and arraying her face in a holiday suit of unaccustomed smiles, the child stamped her foot with a yet more imperious look and gesture. In the brook, again, was the fantastic beauty of the image, with its reflected frown, its pointed finger, and imperious gesture, giving emphasis to the aspect of little Pearl.
珠儿依旧用她的食指指点着;眉间渐渐皱起;由于这姿态表情来自一个满脸稚气、甚至象婴儿般面孔的孩子,就给人印象尤深。而由于她母亲仍在不断呼唤她,而且脸上堆满非比寻常的笑容,那孩子便以更加专横的神情和姿态使劲跺着两脚。同样,在小溪中那个美得出奇的形象,也映出了皱着的眉头、伸出的手指和专横的姿态,为小珠儿的模样平添了效果。