"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."
“確實；有這種人，”丁梅斯代爾先生回答說。“不過，不必去設(shè)想更加明顯的原因，我們就可以說，他們之所以緘口不言，正是出于他們的本性?；蛘摺覀兡懿荒苓@樣假設(shè)呢？——他們盡管有著負罪感，然而卻保持著對上帝的榮光和人類的福扯的熱情，他們畏畏縮縮，不肯把自己的陰暗和污穢展現(xiàn)在人們眼前；因為，如此這般一來，是做不出任何善舉的，而且，以往的邪惡也無法通過改過來贖罪。于是，他們默默忍受著難言曲折磨，在同伴中走來走去，表面象新落下的雪一般地純潔，而內(nèi)心卻沾滿了無法洗刷的斑痕?！?/div>

"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!"
“這些人在自欺，”羅杰·齊靈渥斯用異乎尋常的強調(diào)口吻說，還伸出食指輕輕比了一下。“他們不敢于接受理應(yīng)屬于他們自己的恥辱。他們對人類的愛，他們?yōu)樯系鄯?wù)的熱忱——這種種神圣的沖動在他們的內(nèi)心中，或者可以或者無法同邪惡的伙伴同處共存，然而這些邪惡的伙伴既是他們的罪孽開門放進來的，就必然會在他們心中繁衍起一個魔鬼的種籽。不過，要是他們追求為上帝增輝添光，那就不要把骯臟的雙手朝天舉起吧！要是他們想為同伴們服務(wù)，那就先強制自己仟悔他們的卑下，以表明良心的力量和存在吧！噢，明智和虔誠的朋友，你難道讓我相信，虛偽的表現(xiàn)比起上帝自己的真理能夠?qū)ι系鄣臉s光和人類的福扯更有好處嗎？相信我吧，這種人是在自欺！”

"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?"
“可能是這樣的，”年輕的牧師談淡地說，象是放棄了這個他認為不相干和沒道理的討論。的確，他總有一種本領(lǐng)，能夠隨時擺脫使他那過于敏感和神經(jīng)質(zhì)的氣質(zhì)激動起來的任何話題。“不過，目前嘛，我例要向我的技藝高超的醫(yī)生討教一下，他對我的贏弱的體格的好心關(guān)照，是否當(dāng)真叫我獲益了呢？”

①這是英國作家約翰·班揚(1628一1688)在其代表作《天路歷程》中所寫的作者夢中所見。