It was in the economy of this régime that Tess Durbeyfield had undertaken to fill a place. Her first day's experiences were fairly typical of those which followed through many succeeding days. A familiarity with Alec d'Urberville's presence - which that young man carefully cultivated in her by playful dialogue, and by lastingly calling her his cousin when they were alone - removed much of her original shyness of him, without, however, implanting any feeling which could engender shyness of a new and tenderer kind. But she was more pliable under his hands than a mere companionship would have made her, owing to her unavoidable dependence upon his mother, and, through that lady's comparative helplessness, upon him.
苔絲就是在這種組織里答應(yīng)去填補一個位置。她頭一天的生活體驗相當(dāng)?shù)湫偷卮碇诤髞碓S多日子里她所經(jīng)歷的生活。對于阿歷克·德貝維爾同她見面，她也習(xí)以為常了——這是這個青年小心翼翼地在她身上培養(yǎng)起來的感情，是他通過說一些俏皮話、通過當(dāng)他們單獨在一起開玩笑時叫他堂妹培養(yǎng)起來的——苔絲同他熟悉起來，當(dāng)初她對他的羞怯也消除了不少，不過，她也沒有被注入某種新的感情，以至于產(chǎn)生一種新的和更加溫柔的羞怯。但是，她做什么事都順從著他，已經(jīng)超出了一個伙伴的程度，這是因為她不得不依靠他的母親，而他的母親又對她沒有什么幫助，所以她只好依靠他了。

She soon found that whistling to the bullfinches in Mrs d'Urberville's room was no such onerous business when she had regained the art, for she had caught from her musical mother numerous airs that suited those songsters admirably. A far more satisfactory time than when she practised in the garden was this whistling by the cages each morning. Unrestrained by the young man's presence she threw up her mouth, put her lips near the bars, and piped away in easeful grace to the attentive listeners.
當(dāng)她恢復(fù)了吹口哨的技藝的時候，不久她就發(fā)現(xiàn)，在德貝維爾夫人的屋子里，對著紅腹灰雀吹口哨并不是十分繁重的事，因為她從她的善于唱歌的母親那兒學(xué)會的大量曲調(diào)，對那些歌喉婉轉(zhuǎn)的鳥兒非常合適。同當(dāng)初在院子里練習(xí)吹口哨相比，現(xiàn)在每天早晨站在鳥籠子旁邊吹這種口哨，的確是叫人滿意快樂的了。那個青年不在身邊，她感到無拘無束，就撅起嘴巴，靠近鳥籠子，對著那些留神細(xì)聽的小鳥兒輕松優(yōu)美地吹起來。

Mrs d'Urberville slept in a large four-post bedstead hung with heavy damask curtains, and the bullfinches occupied the same apartment, where they flitted about freely at certain hours, and made little white spots on the furniture and upholstery. Once while Tess was at the window where the cages were ranged, giving her lesson as usual, she thought she heard a rustling behind the bed. The old lady was not present, and turning round the girl had an impression that the toes of a pair of boots were visible below the fringe of the curtains. Thereupon her whistling became so disjointed that the listener, if such there were, must have discovered her suspicion of his presence. She searched the curtains every morning after that, but never found anybody within them. Alec d'Urberville had evidently thought better of his freak to terrify her by an ambush of that kind.
德貝維爾夫人睡在一張大四柱床上，床上掛著厚實的錦緞帳子，紅腹灰雀也養(yǎng)在同一間房里，在一定的時間里它們可以在房里自由自在地飛來飛去，把家具和墊子上弄得到處都是白色的小點。有一次，苔絲站在掛著一排鳥籠子的窗戶像往常一樣教小鳥兒唱歌時，她覺得她聽見床后有一種細(xì)小的摩擦聲。那個老太太當(dāng)時不在，姑娘轉(zhuǎn)過身去，在她的印象中好像看見帳沿下有一雙靴子的尖頭。因此，她吹的口哨立刻就亂了調(diào)子，如果真的有人的話，那么那個人也肯定發(fā)現(xiàn)苔絲懷疑到他的存在了。自此以后，她每天早晨都要搜查一遍帳子，但是從來沒有發(fā)現(xiàn)有人在那兒。顯然阿歷克·德貝維爾已經(jīng)完全想到了他的怪誕行為，如果他用那種埋伏的把戲，肯定要把苔絲嚇壞的。

①石碑上雕刻的急躁女神（like Impatience on a monument），可參考莎士比亞《第十二夜》第二幕第四場第113頁“她坐在那兒，就像石碑上雕刻的忍耐女神”（She sat like a Patience on a monument）一句。