纳撒尼尔·霍桑(Nathaniel Hawthorne)
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 her 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 gray 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.
- stigma [ˈstɪɡmə] n. 耻辱，羞辱
- anguish [ˈæŋɡwɪʃ] n. 剧痛，苦恼
- irrevocable [ɪˈrevəkəbl] a. 不可挽回的，不可更改的
- effluence [ˈeflʊəns] n. 流出物
- transmute [trænsˈmjuːt] v. 把……变成，使变化
- hitherto [hɪðəˈtuː] ad. 迄今，至今
耻辱远离了她。赫斯特长长地、深深地叹了口气。此时，耻辱的重负，心灵的痛苦，一扫而光，只有如释重负才知当初压力之巨！冲动之下，她摘掉了拢住头发的帽子，头发一下子落在她的双肩上，黝黑而富有光泽，乌黑透亮，使她的面容越发柔美，富有魅力。她的嘴角露出了洋溢着幸福的温柔微笑，那微笑就好像是从女性内心深处迸发出的。她长久以来一直苍白的脸有了红晕，她的性感，她的青春，她全部的美貌，奇迹般地从人们称之为无法挽回的过去返回了！伴随着少女时的希望和幸福返回了！这些又和她少女时的希望与以前没体验到的幸福感，融汇在一起，都在此时此刻的魔圈里，而且，天地间的阴晦，仿佛是从这两颗心中流出的那样，随着两人忧伤的离去，消失得无影无踪了。突然间天空绽开了微笑，洒下金色阳光，洒向阴森的森林，使每一片绿叶快乐起来，把每一片橘黄落叶变为黄金，闪着微光落在灰色而肃穆的大树的树干上。这些构成阴影的东西都呈献出一片光明灿烂，小溪一路欢歌，奔腾而来，水花闪闪，其源头可追溯至那遥远而神秘的森林深处，那里已经成了神秘的欢乐之源。
纳撒尼尔·霍桑(1804—1864)，美国小说家，出身于马萨诸塞州清教徒家庭。1850年发表其最著名的小说《红字》(The Scarlet Letter )。接着出版了《七角楼》(The House of the Seven Gables ，1851)，《福谷传奇》(The Blithedale Romance ，1852)，短篇故事集《雪影》(The Snow Image ，1851)，儿童读物《奇异的书》(A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys ,1852)等。其大部分作品取材于清教徒历史事件与人物。创作上深入探索人物内心活动，想象力丰富，大量使用象征手法与比喻，不拘泥于写真，有浪漫主义色彩，许多作品已成美国文学经典。