In this way Clare persistently wooed her in undertones like that of the purling milk - at the cow's side, at skimmings, at butter-makings, at cheese-makings, among broody poultry, and among farrowing pigs - as no milkmaid was ever wooed before by such a man.
克萊爾仍然堅持不懈地向她求婚，他低聲求婚的聲音就像是牛奶汩汩流動的聲音——在奶牛旁邊，在撇奶油的時候，在制作黃油的時候，在制作奶酪的時候，在孵蛋的母雞中間，在生產(chǎn)的母豬中間——過去從來沒有一個擠奶姑娘被這樣一個男子求過婚。

Tess knew that she must break down. Neither a religious sense of a certain moral validity in the previous union nor a conscientious wish for candour could hold out against it much longer. She loved him so passionately, and he was so godlike in her eyes; and being, though untrained, instinctively refined, her nature cried for his tutelary guidance. And thus, though Tess kept repeating to herself, 'I can never be his wife,' the words were vain. A proof of her weakness lay in the very utterance of what calm strength would not have taken the trouble to formulate. Every sound of his voice beginning on the old subject stirred her with a terrifying bliss, and she coveted the recantation she feared.
苔絲也知道她必定要抵抗不住了。無論是認(rèn)為她從前那次結(jié)合具有某種道德的效力的宗教觀點，還是她想坦白過去的誠心愿望，都再也抵擋不住了。她愛他愛得這樣熱烈，在她的眼里，他就像天上的神一樣；她雖然沒有經(jīng)過教育培養(yǎng)，但是她卻天性敏慧，從本能上渴望得到他的呵護(hù)和指導(dǎo)。雖然她心里不斷重復(fù)著說，“我決不能做他的妻子，”但是這也都成了毫無用處的話。她這種內(nèi)心的說話，正好證明她冷靜的決心已經(jīng)遇到了問題，不能繼續(xù)堅持了。每當(dāng)她聽到克萊爾開始提到從前提到的話題，心里頭不免又驚又喜，渴望自己改口答應(yīng)，又害怕自己改口答應(yīng)。

His manner was - what man's is not? - so much that of one who would love and cherish and defend her under any conditions, changes, charges, or revelations, that her gloom lessened as she basked in it. The season meanwhile was drawing onward to the equinox, and though it was still fine, the days were much shorter. The dairy had again worked by morning candle-light for a long time; and a fresh renewal of Clare's pleading occurred one morning between three and four.
他的態(tài)度——只要是男人，誰的態(tài)度不是那樣呢？——那完全是一種無論在任何情況下，無論發(fā)生了什么變化，無論遭受到什么指責(zé)，無論在她身上發(fā)現(xiàn)了什么，他都要愛她、疼她、呵護(hù)她的態(tài)度，于是她的憂郁減少了。時令正在接近秋分，盡管天氣依然晴朗，但是白天的時間變得更短了。在奶牛場里，早晨點上蠟燭工作已經(jīng)有了好些日子；有一天早晨三四點鐘的時候，克萊爾又一次向她求婚。

She had run up in her bedgown to his door to call him as usual; then had gone back to dress and call the others; and in ten minutes was walking to the head of the stairs with the candle in her hand. At the same moment he came down his steps from above in his shirt-sleeves and put his arm across the stairway.
那天早晨，她穿著睡衣，像往常一樣來到他的門口把他叫醒了；然后再回去穿好衣服，把其他的人也叫醒了；過了十分鐘，她就拿著蠟燭向樓梯口走去。同時，克萊爾也穿著短袖襯衫從樓上下來，在樓梯口伸著胳膊把她攔住了。