一个年轻美丽的女子,怀抱着三个月大的女婴,孤零零地站在刑台上,任凭台下黑压压一大片街坊邻居对她指指点点、骂骂咧咧……她叫海丝特·白兰,因为触犯了基督教“十戒”中的一戒,为加尔文教(即清教)的教义所不容,而被法庭判定有罪:令她在刑台上站立三个小时当众受辱,并终身佩戴一个红色的A字标记(英文通奸“Adultery”的第一个字母)作为惩戒——这是霍桑代表作《红字》开篇描述的一幕。 A young and beautiful woman, a three-month-old baby girl, stood alone on the detention table, despite the pressure of a large audience of neighbors massively pointing at her and cursing ... Her name is Hester Prynne Violated a precept in the Christian “ten commandments” and was convicted by the court for incapacity of Calvinist (ie Puritan) teachings: she was allowed to stand humiliated for three hours on the detention board and wear a red A The word mark (the first letter of the Adultery in English adultery) is used as a punishment - a scene described at the beginning of Hawthorne’s masterpiece Scarlet Letter.