Chapter 18 A FLOOD OF SUNSHINE
第十八章 一片阳光

The stigma gone, Hester heaved a long, deep sigh, in which the burden of shame and anguish departed from her spirit. Oh, exquisite relief! She had not known the weight, until she felt the freedom! By another impulse, she took off the formal cap that confined her hair; and down it fell upon her shoulders, dark and rich, with at once a shadow and a light in its abundance, and imparting the charm of softness to her features. There played around her mouth, and beamed out of her eyes, a radiant and tender smile, that seemed gushing from the very heart of womanhood. A crimson flush was glowing on her cheek, that had been long so pale. Her sex, her youth, and the whole richness of the beauty, came back from what men call the irrevocable past, and clustered themselves, with her maiden hope, and a happiness before unknown, within the magic circle of this hour. And, as if the gloom of the earth and sky had been but the effluence of these two mortal hearts, it vanished with their sorrow. All at once, as with a sudden smile of heaven, forth burst the sunshine, pouring a very flood into the obscure forest, gladdening each green leaf, transmuting the yellow fallen ones to gold, and gleaming adown the grey trunks of the solemn trees. The objects that had made a shadow hitherto, embodied the brightness now. The course of the little brook might be traced by its merry gleam afar into the wood's heart of mystery, which had become a mystery of joy.
海丝特除掉那耻辱的标志之后,深深长叹一声,她的精神就此解脱了耻辱和苦闷的重荷,轻松得简直飘然欲仙了!她如今感到了自由,才明白那重荷的份量!随着另一次冲动,她摘下了那顶束发的正正经经的帽子;满头乌黑浓密的秀发立刻飘洒在肩头,厚实之中显出光影婆婆,为她的容貌乎添了柔和之美。她的嘴角和眼波中散发出温柔的嫣然笑意,似是涌自她女性的心头。长期以来十分苍白的面颊也泛起红潮。她的女性,她的青春,和她各方面的美,都从所谓的无可挽回的过去中恢复了,伴随而来的是她少女时期的希望和一种前所不知的幸福,都在此时此刻的魔圈中荟萃一堂。而且,那种天昏地暗似乎是这两个人心中流泄出来的,此时也随着他们忧伤的消逝而消散了。突然之间,天空似乎一下子绽出微笑,立时阳光四射,将灿烂的光芒洒向膝腕的树林,使每一片绿叶都兴高采烈,把所有枯黄的落时染成金黄,连肃穆的树木的灰色树干也闪出亮光。原先造成阴影的东西,如今也成了发光体。小溪的河道也愉快地粼粼闪光,溯源而上可以直抵树林的那神秘心脏。此时也已成为一种欢乐的神秘。

Such was the sympathy of Nature- that wild, heathen Nature of the forest, never subjugated by human law, nor illumined by higher truth- with the bliss of these two spirits! Love, whether newly born, or aroused from a death-like slumber, must always create a sunshine, filling the heart so full of radiance, that it overflows upon the outward world. Had the forest still kept its gloom, it would have been bright in Hester's eyes, and bright in Arthur Dimmesdale's!
这就是大自然——从未被人类法律管制过的、也从未被更高的真理照射过的蛮荒的、异端的、森林中的大自然——对这两个人精神的祝福所表示的同情!无论是新诞生的、抑或是从昏死般沉睡中醒来的爱情,总要产生一种阳光,将内心充满,并洋溢而出,喷薄到外界。此时即使林中仍然幽暗如故,在海丝特的眼中,在阿瑟。丁梅斯代尔的眼中,也仍然会是光芒四射的!