"True; there are such men," answered Mr. Dimmesdale. "But, not to suggest more obvious reasons, it may be that they are kept silent by the very constitution of their nature. Or- can we not suppose it?- guilty as they may be, retaining, nevertheless, a zeal for God's glory and man's welfare, they shrink from displaying themselves black and filthy in the view of men; because, thenceforward, no good can be achieved by them; no evil of the past be redeemed by better service. So, to their own unutterable torment, they go about among their fellow-creatures, looking pure as new-fallen snow; while their hearts are all speckled and spotted with iniquity of which they cannot rid themselves."
“确实；有这种人，”丁梅斯代尔先生回答说。“不过，不必去设想更加明显的原因，我们就可以说，他们之所以缄口不言，正是出于他们的本性。或者——我们能不能这样假设呢？——他们尽管有着负罪感，然而却保持着对上帝的荣光和人类的福扯的热情，他们畏畏缩缩，不肯把自己的阴暗和污秽展现在人们眼前；因为，如此这般一来，是做不出任何善举的，而且，以往的邪恶也无法通过改过来赎罪。于是，他们默默忍受着难言曲折磨，在同伴中走来走去，表面象新落下的雪一般地纯洁，而内心却沾满了无法洗刷的斑痕。”

"These men deceive themselves," said Roger Chillingworth, with somewhat more emphasis than usual, and making a slight gesture with his forefinger. "They fear to take up the shame that rightfully belongs to them. Their love for man, their zeal for God's service- these holy impulses may or may not coexist in their hearts with the evil inmates to which their guilt has unbarred the door, and which must needs propagate a hellish breed within them. But, if they seek to glorify God, let them not lift heavenward their unclean hands! If they would serve their fellow-men, let them do it by making manifest the power and reality of conscience, in constraining them to penitential self-abasement! Wouldst thou have me to believe, O wise and pious friend, that a false show can be better- can be more for God's glory, or man's welfare- than God's own truth? Trust me, such men deceive themselves!"
“这些人在自欺，”罗杰·齐灵渥斯用异乎寻常的强调口吻说，还伸出食指轻轻比了一下。“他们不敢于接受理应属于他们自己的耻辱。他们对人类的爱，他们为上帝服务的热忱——这种种神圣的冲动在他们的内心中，或者可以或者无法同邪恶的伙伴同处共存，然而这些邪恶的伙伴既是他们的罪孽开门放进来的，就必然会在他们心中繁衍起一个魔鬼的种籽。不过，要是他们追求为上帝增辉添光，那就不要把肮脏的双手朝天举起吧！要是他们想为同伴们服务，那就先强制自己仟悔他们的卑下，以表明良心的力量和存在吧！噢，明智和虔诚的朋友，你难道让我相信，虚伪的表现比起上帝自己的真理能够对上帝的荣光和人类的福扯更有好处吗？相信我吧，这种人是在自欺！”

"It may be so," said the young clergyman, indifferently, as waiving a discussion that he considered irrelevant or unseasonable. He had a ready faculty, indeed, of escaping from any topic that agitated his too sensitive and nervous temperament. "But, now, I would ask of my well-skilled physician, whether, in good sooth, he deems me to have profited by his kindly care of this weak frame of mine?"
“可能是这样的，”年轻的牧师谈淡地说，象是放弃了这个他认为不相干和没道理的讨论。的确，他总有一种本领，能够随时摆脱使他那过于敏感和神经质的气质激动起来的任何话题。“不过，目前嘛，我例要向我的技艺高超的医生讨教一下，他对我的赢弱的体格的好心关照，是否当真叫我获益了呢？”

①这是英国作家约翰·班扬(1628一1688)在其代表作《天路历程》中所写的作者梦中所见。