The Scarlet Letter Chinese Ver.

II. THE MARKET-PLACE.

THE grass-plot before the jail, in Prison Lane, on a certain summer morning, not less than two centuries ago, was occupied by a pretty large number of the inhabitants of Boston; all with their eyes intently fastened on the iron-clamped oaken door.

二百多年前一个夏日的上午，狱前街上牢房门前的草地上，满满地站着好大一群波士顿的居民，他们一个个都紧盯着布满铁钉的橡木牢门。

Amongst any other population, or at a later period in the history of New England, the grim rigidity that petrified the bearded physiognomies of these good people would have augured some awful business in hand.

如若换成其他百姓，或是推迟到新英格兰后来的历史阶段，这些蓄着胡须的好心肠的居民们板着的冷冰冰的面孔，可能是面临凶险的征兆，

It could have betokened nothing short of the anticipated execution of some noted culprit, on whom the sentence of a legal tribunal had but confirmed the verdict of public sentiment.

 至少也预示着某个臭名昭著的罪犯即将受到人们期待已久的制裁，因为在那时，法庭的判决无非是认可公众舆论的裁处。

But, in that early severity of the Puritan character, an inference of this kind could not so indubitably be drawn.

但是，由于早年清教徒性格严峻，这种推测未免过于武断。

It might be that a sluggish bond-servant, or an undutiful child, whom his parents had given over to the civil authority, was to be corrected at the whipping-post.

也许，是一个慷倾的奴隶或是被家长送交给当局的一名逆子要在这笞刑柱上受到管教。

 It might be, that an Antinomian, a Quaker, or other heterodox religionist was to be scourged out of the town, or an idle and vagrant Indian, whom[55] the white man's fire-water had made riotous about the streets, was to be driven with stripes into the shadow of the forest.

 也许，是一位唯信仰论者、一位教友派的教友或信仰其它异端的教徒被鞭挞出城，或是一个闲散的印第安游民，因为喝了白人的烈酒满街胡闹，要挨着鞭子给赶进树林。

It might be, too, that a witch, like old Mistress Hibbins, the bitter-tempered widow of the magistrate, was to die upon the gallows. 

也许，那是地方宫的遗愿西宾斯老夫人那样生性恶毒的巫婆，将要给吊死在绞架上。

 In either case, there was very much the same solemnity of demeanor on the part of the spectators; as befitted a people amongst whom religion and law were almost identical, and in whose character both were so thoroughly interfused, that the mildest and the severest acts of public discipline were alike made venerable and awful. Meagre, indeed, and cold was the sympathy that a transgressor might look for, from such bystanders, at the scaffold. On the other hand, a penalty, which, in our days, would infer a degree of mocking infamy and ridicule, might then be invested with almost as stern a dignity as the punishment of death itself.

无论属于哪种情况，围观者总是摆出分毫不爽的庄严姿态；这倒十分符合早期移民的身分，因为他们将宗教和法律视同一体，二者在他们的品性中融溶为一，凡涉及公共纪律的条款，不管是最轻微的还是最严重的都同样今他们肃然起敬和望而生畏，确实，一个站在刑台上的罪人能够从这样一些旁观看身上谋得的同情是少而又少、冷而又冷的。另外，如今只意味着某种令人冷嘲热讽的惩罚，在当时却可能被赋予同死刑一样严厉的色彩。

It was a circumstance to be noted, on the summer morning when our story begins its course, that the women, of whom there were several in the crowd, appeared to take a peculiar interest in whatever penal infliction might be expected to ensue.