"Let her see nothing strange- no passion nor eagerness- in thy way of accosting her," whispered Hester. "Our Pearl is a fitful and fantastic little elf, sometimes. Especially, she is seldom tolerant of emotion, when she does not fully comprehend the why and wherefore. But the child hath strong affections! She loves me, and will love thee!"
“你跟她搭话的时候，别让她看出什么不同寻常的地方，既不要太热情，也不要太急切，”海丝特轻声说。“我们的珠儿有时候是个一阵阵让人捉摸不定的小精灵。尤其是在她不大明白缘由的时候，很难接受别人的激情。不过，这孩子有着强烈的爱！她爱我，而且也会爱你的！”

"Thou canst not think," said the minister, glancing aside at Hester Prynne, "how my heart dreads this interview, and yearns for it! But, in truth, as I already told thee, children are not readily won to be familiar with me. They will not climb my knee, nor prattle in my ear, nor answer to my smile; but stand apart, and eye me strangely. Even little babes, when I take them in my arms, weep bitterly. Yet Pearl, twice in her little lifetime, hath been kind to me! The first time- thou knowest it well! The last was when thou ledst her with thee to the house of yonder stern old Governor."
“你难以想象，”牧师说着，偏过头来瞥了一眼海丝特·白兰，“我又害怕这次见面，又盼着这次见面的那种心理！不过，说实话，就象我刚才跟你说的，孩子们是不大乐于同我亲近的。他们不会爬上我的膝头，不肯和我说悄悄话，也不愿回报我的微笑，而只是远远地站着，奇怪地打量着我。连小小的婴儿都一样；我把他们抱在怀里时，他们就使劲哭。可珠儿长这么大，竟有两次对我特别好！头一次，——你知道得很清楚！第二次就是你领她到板着面孔的老总督的那所房子里去的时候。”

"And thou didst plead so bravely in her behalf and mine!" answered the mother. "I remember it; and so shall little Pearl. Fear nothing! She may be strange and shy at first, but will soon learn to love thee!"
“那次你大胆地为了她和我进行了申辩！”做母亲的回答。“我记得清清楚楚，小珠儿也会记得的。别怕！她开头也许会认生、害躁，但很快就会爱起你来的！”

By this time Pearl had reached the margin of the brook, and stood on the farther side, gazing silently at Hester and the clergyman, who still sat together on the mossy tree-trunk, waiting to receive her. Just where she had paused, the brook chanced to form a pool, so smooth and quiet that it reflected a perfect image of her little figure, with all the brilliant picturesqueness of her beauty, in its adornment of flowers and wreathed foliage, but more refined and spiritualised than the reality. This image, so nearly identical with the living Pearl, seemed to communicate somewhat of its own shadowy and intangible quality to the child herself. It was strange, the way in which Pearl stood, looking so steadfastly at them through the dim medium of the forest-gloom; herself, meanwhile, all glorified with a ray of sunshine, that was attracted thitherward as by a certain sympathy. In the brook beneath stood another child- another and the same- with likewise its ray of golden light. Hester felt herself, in some indistinct and tantalising manner, estranged from Pearl; as if the child, in her lonely, ramble through the forest, had strayed out of the sphere in which she and her mother dwelt together, and was now vainly seeking to return to it.
这时，珠儿已经来到小溪对岸，站在那儿不出声地瞅着海丝特和牧师，他俩依旧并肩坐在长满青苔的树干上，等着见她。就在她停下脚步的地方，小溪恰好聚成一个池塘，水面平静而光滑，把珠儿那小小的身影完满地映砚出来：她腰缠嫩枝编的花带，使她的美貌绚丽如画，比本人还要精美，更象仙女。那映象几乎与真的珠儿分毫不爽，似乎将其自身的某种阴影般莫测的品性传递给孩子本人了。奇妙的是，珠儿站在那里，不错眼珠地透过林中的幽暗盯视着他们；与此同时，她全身都沐浴在仿佛是被某种感应吸引到她身上的一道阳光中。在她脚下的小溪中站着另一个孩子——是另外一个，但又一模一样——身上同样洒满阳光。海丝特模糊而痛心地感到，她自己好象同珠儿变得陌生起来；好象那孩子独自在森林中游荡时，走出了她和她母亲同居的范围，如今正在徒劳地想回来。