Still, it was strange that they should have come to her while yet so young; more than strange; it was impressive, interesting, pathetic. Not guessing the cause, there was nothing to remind him that experience is as to intensity, and not as to duration. Tess's passing corporeal blight had been her mental harvest.
但是，仍然叫人感到奇怪的是，她這樣年輕就產(chǎn)生了這樣的思想；不僅僅只是奇怪；還叫人感動，叫人關(guān)心，叫人悲傷。用不著去猜想其中的緣由，他也想不出來，經(jīng)驗在于閱歷的深淺，而不在于時間的長短。從前苔絲在肉體上遭受到痛苦，而現(xiàn)在卻是她精神上的收獲。

Tess, on her part, could not understand why a man of clerical family and good education, and above physical want, should look upon it as a mishap to be alive. For the unhappy pilgrim herself there was very good reason. But how could this admirable and poetic man ever have descended into the Valley of Humiliation, have felt with the man of Uz - as she herself had felt two or three years ago -?'My soul chooseth strangling and death rather than my life. I loathe it; I would not live alway.'
在苔絲這一方面，她弄不明白，一個人生在牧師的家庭，受過良好的教育，又沒有什么物質(zhì)上的缺乏，為什么還要把生活看成足一種不幸。對她這樣一個苦命的朝圣者來說，這樣想自有充足的理由，可是他那樣一個讓人羨慕和富有詩意的人，怎么會掉進(jìn)恥屏谷①中呢，怎么也會有烏茲老人②一樣的感情呢——他的感覺就同她兩三年前的感覺一樣——“我寧愿上吊，寧愿死去，也不愿活著。我厭惡生命，我不愿意永遠(yuǎn)活著?！?/div>

It was true that he was at present out of his class. But she knew that was only because, like Peter the Great in a shipwright's yard, he was studying what he wanted to know. He did not milk cows because he was obliged to milk cows, but because he was learning how to be a rich and prosperous dairyman, landowner, agriculturist, and breeder of cattle. He would become an American or Australian Abraham, commanding like a monarch his flocks and his herds, his spotted and his ring-stroked, his men-servants and his maids. At times, nevertheless, it did seem unaccountable to her that a decidedly bookish, musical, thinking young man should have chosen deliberately to be a farmer, and not a clergyman, like his father and brothers.
的確，他現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)離開學(xué)校了。但是苔絲知道，那只是因為他要學(xué)習(xí)他想學(xué)習(xí)的東西，就像彼得大帝到造船廠里去學(xué)習(xí)一樣。他要擠牛奶并不是因為他非要擠牛奶不可，而是因為他要學(xué)會怎樣做一個富有的、興旺發(fā)達(dá)的奶牛場老板、地主、農(nóng)業(yè)家和畜牧家。他要做一個美同或澳大利亞的亞伯拉罕③，就像一個國王一樣統(tǒng)管著他的羊群和牛群，或是長有斑點或斑紋的羊群和牛群，還有大量的男女仆人。不過有的時候，似乎她也難以理解，他這樣一個書生氣十足、愛好音樂和善于思索的年輕人，為自己選擇的竟是做一個農(nóng)民，而不是像他的父親和哥哥一樣去當(dāng)牧師。

Thus, neither having the clue to the other's secret, they were respectively puzzled at what each revealed, and awaited new knowledge of each other's character and moods without attempting to pry into each other's history.
因此，他們對于各自的秘密誰也沒有線索，誰也不想打聽對方的歷史，各自都為對方的表現(xiàn)感到糊涂，都等著對各自的性格和脾性有新的了解。

①恥辱谷（Valley of Humiliation），英國作家班揚（John Bunyan，1628-1688）在其所著小說《天路歷程》中所提的一個地方。

②烏茲老人（the man of Uz），《舊約·約伯記》第一章說，烏茲這個地方有一個老人名叫約伯，敬畏上帝，遠(yuǎn)離罪惡。上帝要試其心，便把災(zāi)禍降給他，于是約伯詛咒自己的生日，悅不如死了的好。

③亞伯拉罕（Abraham），《圣經(jīng)》中的人物一希伯萊人的始祖，養(yǎng)有大量牛群。