The community of fowls to which Tess had been appointed as supervisor, purveyor, nurse, surgeon, and friend, made its head quarters in an old thatched cottage standing in an enclosure that had once been a garden, but was now a trampled and sanded square. The house was overrun with ivy, its chimney being enlarged by the boughs of the parasite to the aspect of a ruined tower. The lower rooms were entirely given over to the birds, who walked about them with a proprietary air, as though the place had been built by themselves, and not by certain dusty copy holders who now lay east and west in the churchyard. The descendants of these bygone owners felt it almost as a slight to their family when the house which had so much of their affection, had cost so much of their forefathers' money, and had been in their possession for several generations before the d'Urbervilles came and built here, was indifferently turned into a fowl house by Mrs Stoke-d'Urberville as soon as the property fell into hand according to law. ''Twas good enough for Christians in grandfather's time,' they said.
苔絲擔(dān)負(fù)的工作就是當(dāng)一大群雞的監(jiān)護(hù)人、食物供應(yīng)商、護(hù)上、外科醫(yī)生和朋友，這群雞的大本營是矗立在一個(gè)場院中的一所舊茅屋，那個(gè)場院從前是一個(gè)花園，但是現(xiàn)在卻被踩成了一塊滿是沙土的方形場地。茅屋上爬滿了長春藤，屋頂上的煙囪也布滿了這種寄生植物的枝蔓，因此變得粗大了，它的外形看上去就好像是一個(gè)廢棄了的塔樓。下面的房間全都作了雞舍，這一群雞帶著主人的神氣在房間里走來走去，仿佛這些房子都是它們自己建造的，而不是由那些埋葬在教堂墓地中現(xiàn)在已化為塵土的地產(chǎn)保有人建造的。當(dāng)這份產(chǎn)業(yè)根據(jù)法律一落到斯托克·德貝維爾夫人手里，她就滿不在乎地把這所房子變成了雞舍，這在往日房主的子孫們看來，簡直就是對他們家的侮辱，因?yàn)樵诘仑惥S爾家來到這兒住下以前，他們對這所房子都懷有深厚的感情，花費(fèi)了他們祖先大量的金錢，房子也一直是他們好幾代人的財(cái)產(chǎn)。他們說：“在我們祖父的時(shí)候，有身分的人住這所房子也是夠好的?！?/div>

The rooms wherein dozens of infants had wailed at their nursing now resounded with the tapping of nascent chicks. Distracted hens in coops occupied spots where formerly stood chairs supporting sedate agriculturists. The chimney-corner and once blazing hearth was now filled with inverted beehives, in which the hens laid their eggs; while out of doors the plots that each succeeding householder had carefully shaped with his spade were torn by the cocks in wildest fashion.
在這所房子的房間里，曾經(jīng)有幾十個(gè)還在吃奶的嬰兒大聲哭叫過，而現(xiàn)在里面卻回響著小雞啄食的噗噗聲。在從前擺放椅子的地方，現(xiàn)在卻擺放著雞籠，從前椅子上坐著安詳?shù)霓r(nóng)夫，而現(xiàn)在雞籠里卻養(yǎng)著心神不寧的母雞。在壁爐煙囪的墻角和曾經(jīng)火光熊熊的壁爐旁邊，現(xiàn)在堆滿了倒扣過來的蜂窩，變成了母雞下蛋的雞窩；門外的一塊塊園畦，從前每一塊都叫房主拿著鐵鍬拾掇得整整齊齊，現(xiàn)在都讓公雞用最野蠻的方式刨得亂七八糟。

The garden in which the cottage stood was surrounded by a wall, and could only be entered through a door.
修建這所房子的花園四周有一道圍墻，只有通過一道門才能進(jìn)入園內(nèi)。

When Tess had occupied herself about an hour the next morning in altering and improving the arrangements, according to her skilled ideas as the daughter of a professed poulterer, the door in the wall opened and a servant in white cap and apron entered. She had come from the manor-house.
第二天早上，苔絲整整忙了一個(gè)小時(shí)來收拾雞舍，她本來就是以販賣家禽為業(yè)的人家的女兒，所以就憑著自己的巧思對雞場作了改動(dòng)，重新布置了一番。就在這個(gè)時(shí)候，墻上的門被打開了，一個(gè)戴著白帽子系著白圍裙的女仆走了進(jìn)來。她是從莊園里來的。

'Mrs d'Urberville wants the fowls as usual,' she said; but perceiving that Tess did not quite understand, she explained, 'Mis'ess is a old lady, and blind.'
“德貝維爾夫人又要雞啦，”她說：不過她看見苔絲沒有完全明白，就解釋說，“夫人是一個(gè)老太太，眼睛瞎了?！?/div>

'Blind!' said Tess.
“眼睛瞎啦！”苔絲說。