Meanwhile many of the milkmaids had said to one another of the new-comer, 'How pretty she is!' with something of real generosity and admiration, though with a half hope that the auditors would qualify the assertion - which, strictly speaking, they might have done, prettiness being an inexact definition of what struck the eye in Tess. When the milking was finished for the evening they straggled indoors, where Mrs Crick, the dairyman's wife - who was too respectable to go out milking herself, and wore a hot stuff gown in warm weather because the dairymaids wore prints - was giving an eye to the leads and things.
就在此時(shí),許多擠牛奶的女工們已經(jīng)開始互相談?wù)撈鹚@個(gè)新來的人,“她多么漂亮呀!”這句話里帶有幾分真正的慷慨,幾分真心的羨慕,盡管也帶有一半希望,但愿聽話的人會(huì)對這句評價(jià)加以限制——嚴(yán)格說來,姑娘們也只能找到這句評價(jià)了,因?yàn)槠吝@個(gè)詞是不足以表現(xiàn)她們的眼睛所看到的苔絲的。大家擠完了當(dāng)晚的牛奶,陸陸續(xù)續(xù)地走進(jìn)屋內(nèi)。老板娘克里克太太因?yàn)樽允焉矸?,不肯到外面親自擠牛奶,就在屋里照料一些沉重的鍋盆和雜事;也因?yàn)榕兌即┯』ú迹栽谂吞鞖饫锼€穿著一件悶熱的毛料衣服。

Only two or three of the maids, Tess learnt, slept in the dairy-house besides herself; most of the helpers going to their homes. She saw nothing at supper-time of the superior milker who had commented on the story, and asked no questions about him, the remainder of the evening being occupied in arranging her place in the bed-chamber. It was a large room over the milk-house, some thirty feet long; the sleeping-cots of the other three indoor milkmaids being in the same apartment. They were blooming young women, and, except one, rather older than herself. By bedtime Tess was thoroughly tired, and fell asleep immediately.
苔絲已經(jīng)聽說,除她而外,只有兩三個(gè)擠牛奶的女工在奶牛場的屋子里睡覺;大多數(shù)雇工都是回他們自己家里睡。吃晚飯的時(shí)候,她沒有看見那個(gè)評論故事的擠牛奶的上等工人,也沒有問起過他,晚上剩余的時(shí)間她都在寢室里安排自己睡覺的地方。寢室是牛奶房上方的一個(gè)大房間,大約有三十英尺長;另外三個(gè)在奶牛場睡覺的女工的床鋪也在同一個(gè)寢室里。她們都是年輕美貌的女孩子,只有一個(gè)比她年紀(jì)小,其他的都比她的年紀(jì)大些。到睡覺的時(shí)候苔絲已經(jīng)筋疲力盡,一頭倒在床上立即睡著了。

But one of the girls who occupied an adjoining bed was more wakeful than Tess, and would insist upon relating to the latter various particulars of the homestead into which she had just entered. The girl's whispered words mingled with the shades, and, to Tess's drowsy mind, they seemed to be generated by the darkness in which they floated.
不過,在和她毗鄰的一張床上睡覺的女孩子,不像苔絲那樣很快就能入睡,堅(jiān)持要講講她剛剛加入進(jìn)來的這戶人家的一些瑣事。女孩子的喃喃細(xì)語混合著沉沉的夜色,在半睡半醒的苔絲聽來,它們似乎是從黑暗中產(chǎn)生的,而且漂游在黑暗里。

'Mr Angel Clare - he that is learning milking, and that plays the harp -never says much to us. He is a pa'son's son, and is too much taken up wi' his own thoughts to notice girls. He is the dairyman's pupil - learning farming in all its branches. He has learnt sheep-farming at another place, and he's now mastering dairy-work... Yes, he is quite the gentleman-born. His father is the Reverent Mr Clare at Emminster - a good many miles from here.'
“安琪爾·克萊爾先生——他是在這兒學(xué)擠牛奶的,會(huì)彈豎琴——從不對我們多說話。他是一個(gè)牧師的兒子,對自己的心思想得太多,因此不太注意女孩子們。他是奶牛場老板的學(xué)徒——他在學(xué)習(xí)辦農(nóng)場的各方面的技藝。他已在其它的地方學(xué)會(huì)了養(yǎng)羊,現(xiàn)在正學(xué)習(xí)養(yǎng)?!叮拇_是一個(gè)天生的紳士。他的父親是愛敏寺的牧師克萊爾先生——離這兒遠(yuǎn)得很?!?/div>

'Oh - I have heard of him,' said her companion, now awake. 'A very earnest clergyman, is he not?'
“哦——我也聽說過他,”現(xiàn)在她的伙伴醒過來說?!八且粋€(gè)十分熱心的牧師,是不是?”

'Yes - that he is - the earnestest man in all Wessex, they say the last of the old Low Church sort, they tell me - for all about here be what they call High. All his sons, except our Mr Clare, be made pa'sons too.'
“是的——他很熱心——他們說他是全威塞克斯最熱心的人——他們告訴我,他是低教派的最后一個(gè)了——因?yàn)檫@兒的牧師基本上都被稱作高教派。他所有的兒子,除了克萊爾先生外也都做了牧師?!?/div>

Tess had not at this hour the curiosity to ask why the present Mr Clare was not made a parson like his brethren, and gradually fell asleep again, the words of her informant coming to her along with the smell of the cheeses in the adjoining cheese-loft, and the measured dripping of the whey from the wrings downstairs.
苔絲此刻沒有好奇心去問為什么這個(gè)克萊爾先生沒有像他的哥哥一樣也去做牧師,就慢慢地睡著了,為她報(bào)告新聞的那個(gè)女孩子的說話向她傳過來,一同傳過來的還有隔壁奶酪房里的奶酪氣味,以及樓下榨房里奶清滴下來的韻律聲。