英语翻译It was an obscure night of early May.An unvaried pall of

英语翻译
It was an obscure night of early May.An unvaried pall of cloud muffled the whole expanse of sky from zenith to horizon.If the same multitude which had stood as eyewitnesses while Hester Prynne sustained her punishment could now have been summoned forth,they would have discerned no face above the platform,nor hardly the outline of a human shape,in the dark gray of the midnight.But the town was all asleep.There was no peril of discovery.The minister might stand there,if it so pleased him,until morning should redden in the east,without other risk than that the dank and chill night-air would creep into his frame,and stiffen his joints with rheumatism,and clog his throat with catarrh and cough; thereby defrauding the expectant audience of to-morrow’s prayer and sermon.No eye could see him,save that ever-wakeful one which had seen him in his closet,wielding the bloody scourge.Why,then,had he come hither?Was it but the mockery of penitence?A mockery,indeed,but in which his soul trifled with itself!A mockery at which angels blushed and wept,while fiends rejoiced,with jeering laughter!He had been driven hither by the impulse of that Remorse which dogged him everywhere,and whose own sister and closely linked companion was that Cowardice which invariably drew him back,with her tremulous gripe,just when the other impulse had hurried him to the verge of a disclosure.Poor,miserable man!what right had infirmity like his to burden itself with crime?Crime is for the iron-nerved,who have their choice either to endure it,or,if it press too hard,to exert their fierce and savage strength for a good purpose,and fling it off at once!This feeble and most sensitive of spirits could do neither,yet continually did one thing or another,which intertwined,in the same inextricable knot,the agony of heaven-defying guilt and vain repentance.2
And thus,while standing on the scaffold,in this vain show of expiation,Mr.Dimmesdale was overcome with a great horror of mind,as if the universe were gazing at a scarlet token on his naked breast,right over his heart.On that spot,in very truth,there was,and there had long been,the gnawing and poisonous tooth of bodily pain.Without any effort of his will,or power to restrain himself,he shrieked aloud; an outcry that went pealing through the night,and was beaten back from one house to another,and reverberated from the hills in the background; as if a company of devils,detecting so much misery and terror in it,had made a plaything of the sound,and were bandying it to and fro.3

来自专业的翻译：
北京大学小说网站
那是五月初的一个朦胧的夜晚.一望无际的云幕蒙住了从天顶到地乎线的整个夜空.假如当年海丝特．白兰忍辱受罚时站在那里围观的人群能够重新召集起来的话,他们在这昏黑的午夜依然无法分辨台上人的面孔,甚至也难以看清那人的轮廓.不过,整个城镇都在睡梦之中,不会有被人发观的危险.只要牧师愿意,他可以在那儿一直站到东方泛红.除去阴冷的空气会钻进他的肌体,风湿症会弄僵他的关节,粘膜炎和咳嗽会妨碍他的喉咙之外,绝无其它风险可担；果真染上这些症状,也无非是让翌日参加祈祷和布道的听众的殷殷期望落空而已.没有谁的眼睛会看到他,尽是要除掉那一双始终警觉的眼睛——那人已经看到过他在内室中用血淋淋的鞭子捆打自己了.既然如此,他为什么还要到这里来呢?难道只是对仟悔加以嘲弄吗?这确实是一种嘲弄,但是在这种嘲弄之中,他的灵魂却在自嘲!这种嘲弄,天使会为之胀红着脸哭泣,而恶魔则会嬉笑着称庆!他是被那追逐得他无地自容的“自责”的冲动驱赶到这里来的,而这“自责”的胞妹和密友则是“怯懦”.每当“自责”的冲动催促他到达坦白的边缘时,“怯懦”就一定会用颤抖的双手拖他回去.可怜的不幸的人啊!象他这样一个柔弱的人如何承受得起罪恶的重负呢?罪恶是那种神经如钢铁的人干的,他们自己可以选择：要么甘心忍受；要么在受压过甚时便运用自己凶猛的蛮力,振臂一甩,以达目的!这个身体赢弱而精神敏感的人两者都不能做到,却又不停地彷徨于二者之间,时而这,时而那,终将滔天之罪的痛苦与徒劳无益的悔恨纠缠在一起,形成死结.
就这样,丁梅斯代尔先生站立到刑台之上,进行这场无济于事的赎罪表演,这时,一种巨大的恐怖感攫佐了他,仿佛整个宇宙都在盯视他裸露的胸膛上正在心口处的红色标记.就在那块地方,肉体痛苦的毒牙确确实实在咬啮着他,而且已经为时很久了.他没有了任何意志力或控制力,便大吼一声,这一声嘶叫直插夜空,在一家家住宅间震响,并回荡在背后的丛山之中,象是有一伙魔鬼发现这声音中有如许多的不幸和恐怖,便将它当作玩物,来来回回地摆弄起来.