'No - no; nonsense!' said the first. 'Dancing in public with a troop of country hoydens - suppose we should be seen! Come along, or it will be dark before we get to Stourcastle, and there's no place we can sleep at nearer than that; besides, we must get through another chapter of A Counterblast to Agnosticism before we turn in, now I have taken the trouble to bring the book.'
“不行——不行；胡說(shuō)八道！”大哥說(shuō)，“在公開(kāi)場(chǎng)合同一群鄉(xiāng)下野姑娘跳舞——假如讓人看見(jiàn)了怎么辦！快走吧，不然我們走不到斯圖爾堡天就黑了，走不到那兒我們可找不到地方睡覺(jué)。另外，在我們睡覺(jué)之前，我們還要把《駁不可知論》①的另一章讀完，你看，我還不怕麻煩地帶著這本書呢?！?/div>

'All right - I'll overtake you and Cuthbert in five minutes; don't stop; I give my word that I will, Felix.'
“好吧——我在五分鐘之內(nèi)趕上你和卡斯貝特；不用等我；你放心，菲力克斯，我會(huì)在五分鐘內(nèi)趕上你?！?/div>

The two elder reluctantly left him and walked on taking their brother's knapsack to relieve him in following, and the youngest entered the field.
兩個(gè)哥哥不情愿地走了。他們帶走了背包，好讓弟弟趕路時(shí)輕松些，而最年輕的弟弟則走進(jìn)了跳舞的場(chǎng)地。?

'This is a thousand pities,' he said gallantly, to two or three of the girls nearest him, as soon as there was a pause in the dance.
“真是萬(wàn)分的遺憾，”跳舞劇一停頓，他就對(duì)離他最近的兩三個(gè)姑娘大獻(xiàn)殷勤說(shuō)。?

'Where are your partners, my dears?'
“親愛(ài)的，你們的舞伴呢？”

'They've not left off work yet,' answered one of the boldest.'They'll be here by and by. Till then, will you be one, sir?'
“現(xiàn)在他們還沒(méi)有收工呢，”有一個(gè)最大膽的姑娘回答說(shuō)?！八麄凂R上就都來(lái)了。趁他們還沒(méi)來(lái)，你來(lái)跳好嗎，先生？”?

'Certainly. But what's one among so many!'
“當(dāng)然好。可是我一個(gè)人怎么同這許多女孩子跳??！”

'Better than none. 'Tis melancholy work facing and footing it to one of your own sort, and no clipsing and colling at all. Now, pick and choose.'
“總比沒(méi)有好呀。同你自己的同類面對(duì)面地跳舞，真是一件掃興的事，根本就不能摟摟抱抱親一個(gè)嘴。現(xiàn)在，由你自己從中挑選一個(gè)吧。”?

''Ssh - don't be so for'ard!' said a shyer girl.
“噓——?jiǎng)e厚臉皮吧！”一個(gè)害羞的姑娘說(shuō)。

The young man, thus invited, glanced them over, and attempted some discrimination; but, as the group were all so new to him, he could not very well exercise it. He took almost the first that came to hand, which was not the speaker, as she had expected; nor did it happen to be Tess Durbeyfield. Pedigree, ancestral skeletons, monumental record, the d'Urberville lineaments, did not help Tess in her life's battle as yet, even to the extent of attracting to her a dancing-partner over the heads of the commonest peasantry. So much for Norman blood unaided by Victorian lucre.
年青人這樣受到邀請(qǐng)，就把她們打量了一陣，想作一番鑒別；但是，他見(jiàn)這一群姑娘全是新面孔，就感到不能很好地應(yīng)用他的鑒別力了。他挑選的幾乎就是第一個(gè)走到他跟前的女孩子，而不是希望被他挑中的那個(gè)說(shuō)話的姑娘。苔絲·德北菲爾德碰巧也沒(méi)有被挑中。高貴的門第，祖先的枯骨，紀(jì)功的銘文，德北菲爾家族的容貌，在苔絲人生的搏斗中到目前為止還沒(méi)有為她幫上忙，就是在一群最普通的鄉(xiāng)村女孩子中間，也沒(méi)有幫她吸引到一個(gè)陪她跳舞的舞伴。沒(méi)有維多利亞財(cái)富支持的諾曼人的血統(tǒng)，原來(lái)也不過(guò)如此。