Chapter 10 THE LEECH AND HIS PATIENT
第十章　医生和病人

Before Roger Chillingworth could answer, they heard the clear, wild laughter of a young child's voice, proceeding from the adjacent burial-ground. Looking instinctively from the open window- for it was summer-time- the minister beheld Hester Prynne and little Pearl passing along the footpath that traversed the enclosure. Pearl looked as beautiful as the day, but was in one of those moods of perverse merriment which, whenever they occurred, seemed to remove her entirely out of the sphere of sympathy or human contact. She now skipped irreverently from one grave to another; until, coming to the broad, flat, armorial tombstone of a departed worthy- perhaps of Isaac Johnson himself- she began to dance upon it. In reply to her mother's command and entreaty that she would behave more decorously, little Pearl paused to gather the prickly burrs from a tall burdock which grew beside the tomb. Taking a handful of these, she arranged them along the lines of the scarlet letter that decorated the maternal bosom, to which the burrs, as their nature was, tenaciously adhered. Hester did not pluck them off.
罗杰·齐灵渥斯还没有来得及回答，就听到从邻近的墓地里传来了一个小孩子的清澈而狂野的笑声。当时正是夏天，牧师不自主地从打开的窗子向外面望去，看到海丝特·白兰和小珠儿在穿越围栏的小径上走着。珠儿的模样如白昼一般美丽，但处于那种调皮任性的兴致之中，每当此刻，她便象完全脱离了人性的共鸣与交往的范围。此时她正大不敬地从一个坟墓跳到另一个坟墓；终于来到一位逝去的大人物——说不定正是艾萨克，约翰逊本人——的宽大、平整、带纹章的墓石跟前，在那上面跳起舞来。听到她母亲又是命令又是恳求地要她放规矩些，小珠儿才不再跳舞，从长在墓旁的一株高大的牛蒡上采集多刺的果实。她摘了满满一把之后，便在缀在母亲胸前的红字周围，沿着笔画一一插满，这些带刺的牛蒡便牢牢地扎在上面了。海丝特并没有把它们取下。

Roger Chillingworth had by this time approached the window, and smiled grimly down. "There is no law, nor reverence for authority, no regard for human ordinances or opinions, right or wrong, mixed up with that child's composition," remarked her, as much to himself as to his companion. "I saw her, the other day, bespatter the Governor himself with water, at the cattle-trough in Spring Lane. What, in Heaven's name, is she? Is the imp altogether evil? Hath she affections? Hath she any discoverable principle of being?"
罗杰·齐灵渥斯这时已走到窗前，面带狞笑地向下望着。“在那孩子的气质中，根本没有法律，没有对权威的敬重，对于人类的法令或意向，不管正确与否，也不屑一顾，”他这样讲着，与其说是在同他的同伴谈话，倒更象是自言自语。“有一天，我看到她在春巷的畜槽边，竟然往总督身上泼水。我的天，她究竟是个什么东西呢？这小鬼是不是彻头彻尾地邪恶了？她有感情吗？在她身上能看到什么人性原则吗？

"None- save the freedom of a broken law," answered Mr. Dimmesdale, in a quiet way, as if he had been discussing the point within himself. "Whether capable of good I know not."
“完全没有——只有把法律破坏得支离破碎的自由，”丁梅斯代尔先生回答说，其态度之安详，简直象是对此自问自答。“至于能否为善，我可就不得而知了。

The child probably overheard their voices; for, looking up to the window, with a bright, but naughty smile of mirth and intelligence, she threw one of the prickly burrs at the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale. The sensitive clergyman shrunk, with nervous dread, from the light missile. Detecting his emotion, Pearl clapped her little hands, in the most extravagant ecstasy. Hester Prynne, likewise, had involuntarily looked up; and all these four persons, old and young, regarded one another in silence, till the child laughed aloud, and shouted, "Come away, mother! Come away, or yonder old Black Man will catch you! He hath got hold of the minister already. Come away, mother, or he will catch you! But he cannot catch little Pearl!"
那孩子可能是远远听到了他俩的声音；因为她抬头看着窗户，面带欢快而聪明的顽皮笑容，朝丁梅斯代尔牧师先生扔上一颗带刺的牛蒡。那敏感的牧师怀着神经质的恐惧，将身子一缩，躲开了那轻飘的飞弹。珠儿发现了他的激动，在极度狂喜之中，拍起了小手。海丝特·白兰也同样禁不住始眼来看；于是这老老少少四个人便默默地互相瞅着；后来，孩子出声笑了，还大叫着——“走吧，妈妈！走吧，要不，那老黑人就抓住你了！他已经抓住了牧师。走吧，妈妈，要不他就抓住你了！可他抓不住小珠儿！