"I must reveal the secret," answered Hester firmly. "He must discern thee in thy true character. What may be the result, I know not. But this long debt of confidence, due from me to him, whose bane and ruin I have been, shall at length be paid. So far as concerns the overthrow or preservation of his fair fame and his earthly state, and perchance his life, he is in thy hands. Nor do I- whom the scarlet letter has disciplined to truth, though it be the truth of red-hot iron, entering into the soul- nor do I perceive such advantage in his living any longer a life of ghastly emptiness, that I shall stoop to implore thy mercy. Do with him as thou wilt! There is no good for him- no good for me- no good for thee! There is no good for little Pearl! There is no path to guide us out of this dismal maze."
“我要揭露这一秘密,”海丝特坚定地回答说。“他应该辨清你的真实面目。其结果会如何,我并不知道。但我长期以来向他隐瞒真相的这笔债,现在总该偿还了——正是因为我才毁掉他的啊。至于他的良好的名声和他在世间的地位,或许还有他的生命,予取予夺都在你的掌握之中。我的情况就不一样了——红字已经使我皈依了真理,尽管那真理如熨铁一般火热,深源地烙进了我的灵魂,——而他那鬼一般空虚的生活再延迟下去,我也看不出还有什么好处,因此我也不会卑躬屈膝地乞求你的慈悲。你对他尽管随心所欲好了!对他不会有什么好处,一一对我不会有什么好处,——对你也没什么好处!对小珠儿不会有什么好处!没有任何指引我们跳出这阴惨的迷津的道路!”

"Woman, I could well-nigh pity thee!" said Roger Chillingworth, unable to restrain a thrill of admiration too; for there was a quality almost majestic in the despair which she expressed. "Thou hadst great elements. Peradventure, hadst thou met earlier with a better love than mine, this evil had not been. I pity thee, for the good that has been wasted in thy nature!"
“女人,我满可以可怜你的!”罗杰·齐灵渥斯说,由于她表现出的绝望中有一种近乎庄严的气质,连他也不由得不肃然起敬了。“你具有了不起的天赋。如果你早些得到强过于我的爱,这件邪恶就不会发生了。我可怜你,因为你美好的天性横遭荒废!”

"And I thee," answered Hester Prynne, "for the hatred that has transformed a wise and just man to a fiend! Wilt thou yet purge it out of thee, and be once more human? If not for his sake, then doubly for thine own! Forgive, and leave his further retribution to the Power that claims it! I said, but now, that there could be no good event for him, or thee, or me, who are here wandering together in this gloomy maze of evil, and stumbling, at every step, over the guilt wherewith we have strewn our path. It is not so! There might be good for thee, and thee alone, since thou hast been deeply wronged, and hast it at thy will to pardon. Wilt thou give up that only privilege? Wilt thou reject that priceless benefit?"
“我也同样地可怜你,”海丝特·白兰回答说,“因为仇恨已经把一个聪明而正直的人变成了恶魔!你还愿意把仇恨从心中排挤出去,再恢复成人吗?即使不是为了他的缘故,那么总是加倍地为了你自己嘛!你放宽容些,把对他来世的报应交给有极处理此事的神灵吧!我刚才说过了,象目前这样,无论对他,对你,或者对我,都不会有任何好处,我们是在这片阴惨的邪恶迷律中一起徘徊,在我们铺撤在路上的罪孽上每走一步都要跌跌撞撞。事情本不该这样的!由于你一直深深受到委屈,你就拥有一切极力来宽怨,你可以因此从中获益,而且只有你一人单独获益。你难道要放弃那唯一的特权吗?你难道要反对这没本钱的利益吗?”

"Peace, Hester, peace!" replied the old man, with gloomy sternness. "It is not granted me to pardon. I have no such power as thou tellest me of. My old faith, long forgotten, comes back to me, and explains all that we do, and all we suffer. By thy first step awry, thou didst plant the germ of evil; but since that moment, it has all been a dark necessity. Ye that have wronged me are not sinful, save in a kind of typical illusion; neither am I fiend-like, who have snatched a fiend's office from his hands. It is our fate. Let the black flower blossom as it may! Now go thy ways, and deal as thou wilt with yonder man."He waved his hand and betook himself again to his employment of gathering herbs.
“上天没有赐给我宽恕的品德,我也没有你所说的那种权力。我那早已忘掉的老信仰,如今又回到了我身上,要对我们所做出和所遭受的一切给予解释。由于第一步走歪了,你就种下了邪恶的胚胎;但自从那时起,它也就成了一种阴暗的必然。不过,使我受到伤害的,除非处于一种典型的错觉之中,倒不是罪过;而我呢,虽然从魔鬼的手中夺得了他的职责,但我跟恶魔毕竟不一样。这是我们的命运。让那黑色之花随它去开吧!如今,你去走你的路,随你自己的意愿去处理同那人的关系吧。”他挥了挥手,又继续采集药草了。