"Come, my child!" said Hester, looking about her from the spot where Pearl had stood still in the sunshine. "We will sit down a little way within the wood, and rest ourselves."
“过来,我的孩子!”海丝特一边说着,士边从珠儿刚刚在阳光中站着不动的地方向四下望着。“我们要在林子里坐下来,休息一下。”

"I am not aweary, mother," replied the little girl. "But you may sit down, if you will tell me a story meanwhile."
“我还不累呢,妈妈,”那小姑娘回答说。“不过,你要是愿意借这个机会给我讲个故事的话,倒是可以坐下来。”

"A story, child!" said Hester. "And about what?"
“讲个故事,孩子!”海丝特说。“关于什么的故事呢?”

"Oh, a story about the Black Man," answered Pearl, taking hold of her mother's gown, and looking up, half earnestly, half mischievously, into her face. "How he haunts this forest, and carries a book with him- a big, heavy book, with iron clasps; and how this ugly Black Man offers his book and an iron pen to everybody that meets him here among the trees; and they are to write their names with their own blood. And then he sets his mark on their bosoms! Didst thou ever meet the Black Man, mother?"
“噢,讲个关于黑男人的故事吧,”珠儿回答着,一边攥住她母亲的袍子,一边又真诚又调皮地抬头盯着母亲的面孔。“讲讲他怎么在这座林子里走动,还随身带着一本书——一本又大又重的册子,上面还有铁箍;讲讲这个长得挺丑的黑男人怎么向在这林子里遇到的每一个人拿出他的册子和一支铁笔;让他们用自己的血写下他们的名字。然后他就在他们的胸前打上他的记号!你以前遇到过这个黑男人吗,妈妈?”

"And who told you this story, Pearl?" asked her mother, recognising a common superstition of the period.
“谁给你讲的这个故事,珠儿?”她母亲这样问着,心里明白这是当时的一种普遍的迷信。

"It was the old dame in the chimney-corner, at the house where you watched last night," said the child. "But she fancied me asleep while she was talking of it. She said that a thousand and a thousand people had met him here, and had written in his book, and have his mark on them. And that ugly-tempered lady, old Mistress Hibbins, was one. And, mother, the old dame said that this scarlet letter was the Black Man's mark on thee, and that it glows like a red flame when thou meetest him at midnight, here in the dark wood. Is it true, mother? And dost thou go to meet him in the night-time?"
“就是昨天夜里你照看的那家的老太婆,她在屋角的炉灶那儿讲的,”那孩子说。“不过她讲的时候,还以为我睡着了呢。她说,有成千成千的人在这儿遇见过他,在他的册子上写下了名字,身上也让他打了记号。那个脾气挺坏的西宾斯老太太就是一个。还有,妈妈,那个老太婆说,这个红字就是黑男人打在你身上的记号,夜里在这黑林子里遇见他时,红字就会家红色火苗一样闪闪发光。这是真的吗,妈妈?你是在夜里去见他的吗?”