"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."
“過來，我的孩子！”海絲特一邊說著，士邊從珠兒剛剛在陽光中站著不動的地方向四下望著?！拔覀円诹肿永镒聛?，休息一下?！?/div>

"I am not aweary, mother," replied the little girl. "But you may sit down, if you will tell me a story meanwhile."
“我還不累呢，媽媽，”那小姑娘回答說?！安贿^，你要是愿意借這個機會給我講個故事的話，倒是可以坐下來?！?/div>

"A story, child!" said Hester. "And about what?"
“講個故事，孩子！”海絲特說?！瓣P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，講個關于黑男人的故事吧，”珠兒回答著，一邊攥住她母親的袍子，一邊又真誠又調(diào)皮地抬頭盯著母親的面孔?！爸v講他怎么在這座林子里走動，還隨身帶著一本書——一本又大又重的冊子，上面還有鐵箍；講講這個長得挺丑的黑男人怎么向在這林子里遇到的每一個人拿出他的冊子和一支鐵筆；讓他們用自己的血寫下他們的名字。然后他就在他們的胸前打上他的記號！你以前遇到過這個黑男人嗎，媽媽？”

"And who told you this story, Pearl?" asked her mother, recognising a common superstition of the period.
“誰給你講的這個故事，珠兒？”她母親這樣問著，心里明白這是當時的一種普遍的迷信。

"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，她在屋角的爐灶那兒講的，”那孩子說?！安贿^她講的時候，還以為我睡著了呢。她說，有成千成千的人在這兒遇見過他，在他的冊子上寫下了名字，身上也讓他打了記號。那個脾氣挺壞的西賓斯老太太就是一個。還有，媽媽，那個老太婆說，這個紅字就是黑男人打在你身上的記號，夜里在這黑林子里遇見他時，紅字就會家紅色火苗一樣閃閃發(fā)光。這是真的嗎，媽媽？你是在夜里去見他的嗎？”