Every village has its idiosyncrasy, its constitution, often its own code of morality. The levity of some of the younger women in and about Trantridge was marked, and was perhaps symptomatic of the choice spirit who ruled The Slopes in that vicinity. The place had also a more abiding defect; it drank hard. The staple conversation on the farms around was on the uselessness of saving money; and smock-frocked arithmeticians, leaning on their ploughs or hoes, would enter into calculations of great nicety to prove that parish relief was a fuller provision for a man in his old age than any which could result from savings out of their wages during a whole lifetime.
所有的村莊都有自己的特點(diǎn)、結(jié)構(gòu)，甚至也有自己的道德準(zhǔn)則。在特蘭里奇及其附近，有一些年輕婦女的輕佻惹人注意，這種輕佻也許就是控制附近那塊坡地上人們精神的征兆。這個(gè)地方還有一個(gè)根深蒂固的毛病，就是酗酒很厲害。附近農(nóng)莊上常談的主要話題是攢錢沒(méi)有用處；身穿粗布罩衫的數(shù)學(xué)家們，倚著鋤頭或者犁歇息時(shí)，就會(huì)開(kāi)始精確地計(jì)算，來(lái)證明人老后教區(qū)提供的全額救濟(jì)金，比一個(gè)人從一生中掙的工資中積攢起來(lái)的錢還要更充足。

The chief pleasure of these philosophers lay in going every Saturday night, when work was done, to Chaseborough, a decayed market town two or three miles distant; and, returning in the small hours of the next morning, to spend Sunday in sleeping off the dyspeptic effects of the curious compounds sold to them as beer by the monopolizers of the once independent inns.
這些哲學(xué)家們的主要快樂(lè)，就是在每個(gè)星期六的晚上收工后到兩三英里以外的已經(jīng)衰敗了的市鎮(zhèn)獵苑堡去；一直到深夜過(guò)后的第二天凌晨，他們才回到家里，在星期天睡上一整天，把他們喝的那種有礙消化的混合飲料消化掉，這種飲料是從前獨(dú)立經(jīng)營(yíng)的酒店的壟斷者們作為啤酒賣給他們的。

For a long time Tess did not join in the weekly pilgrimages. But under pressure from matrons not much older than herself - for a fieldman's wages being as high at twenty one as at forty, marriage was early here - Tess at length consented to go. Her first experience of the journey afforded her more enjoyment than she had expected, the hilariousness of the others being quite contagious after her monotonous attention to the poultry-farm all the week. She went again and again. Being graceful and interesting, standing moreover on the momentary threshold of womanhood, her appearance drew down upon her some shy regards from loungers in the streets of Chaseborough; hence, though sometimes her journey to the town was made independently, she always searched for her fellows at nightfall, to have the protection of their companionship homeward.
長(zhǎng)期以來(lái)，苔絲都沒(méi)有參加這些每星期一次的豪飲活動(dòng)。但是她迫于年紀(jì)比她大不了多少的婦女的壓力——因?yàn)橐粋€(gè)種地的工人，在二十歲時(shí)掙的工錢同四十歲的工人掙的工錢一樣多——苔絲最終還是同意去了。她第一次到那兒去的經(jīng)歷使她得到了她沒(méi)有想到的快樂(lè)，整整一個(gè)星期她都在雞場(chǎng)過(guò)著照顧雞的單調(diào)生活，因此別人的快樂(lè)都是很能感染她的。她去了又去。她容貌美麗，逗人喜愛(ài)，而且又正處在即將發(fā)育成熟的年齡，所以她一在獵苑堡的大街上出現(xiàn)，就引來(lái)街上游手好閑的人偷偷瞟過(guò)來(lái)的目光。因此，有時(shí)候她雖然是獨(dú)自一人到那個(gè)鎮(zhèn)上去，但是在黃昏的時(shí)候她總要找她的同伴一起走，以便回家的時(shí)候能得到同伴們的照應(yīng)。

This had gone on for a month or two when there came a Saturday in September, on which a fair and a market coincided; and the pilgrims from Trantridge sought double delights at the inns on that account. Tess's occupations made her late in setting out, so that her comrades reached the town long before her. It was a fine September evening, just before sunset, when yellow lights struggle with blue shades in hair-like lines, and the atmosphere itself forms a prospect without aid from more solid objects, except the innumerable winged insects that dance in it. Through this low-lit mistiness Tess walked leisurely along.
這種情況持續(xù)了一兩個(gè)月，到了九月的一個(gè)星期六，這一天定期集市和集市剛好碰到了一起；因此特蘭里奇的人就都到獵苑堡的酒店里去尋找雙重的快樂(lè)。苔絲工作沒(méi)有干完，出發(fā)得晚了，因此她的伙伴們到達(dá)鎮(zhèn)上時(shí)比她早了許多。這是九月里一個(gè)美好的傍晚，正是太陽(yáng)落山的時(shí)候，黃色的亮光同藍(lán)色的暮靄相互爭(zhēng)斗，變成了一縷縷發(fā)絲一樣的光線，大氣本身就構(gòu)成了一種景色，除了在大氣中展翅亂舞的無(wú)數(shù)飛蟲(chóng)而外，它根本就不需要更多的實(shí)體的幫助。苔絲就在這種暗淡的暮靄中，不慌不忙地向前走去。