Amid the oozing fatness and warm ferments of the Var Vale, at a season when the rush of juices could almost be heard below the hiss of fertilization, it was impossible that the most fanciful love should not grow passionate. —
在瓦尔谷汩汩溢出的肥沃和温暖的酵母中，几乎能听到浓郁的果汁涌动声，最禁不住让最怪诞的爱情变得炽烈。 —

The ready bosoms existing there were impregnated by their surroundings.
那里存在的敞开的胸怀被周围环境所孕育。

July passed over their beads, and the Thermidorean weather which came in its wake seemed an effort on the part of Nature to match the state of hearts at Talbothays Dairy. The air of the place, so fresh in the spring and early summer, was stagnant and enervating now. —
七月在他们头顶上飘过，随之而来的热带气候似乎是大自然与塔尔博撒奶牧场的心境相匹配。这地方的空气，春天和初夏时分那么清新，在这时变得沉闷而使人衰弱。 —

Its heavy scents weighed upon them, and at mid-day the landscape seemed lying in a swoon. —
它沉重的气息压迫着他们，正午时分，整个景象似乎也陷入了昏厥。 —

Ethiopic scorchings browned the upper slopes of the pastures, but there was still bright green herbage here where the watercourses purled. —
埃塞俄比亚的炎热晒黑了牧场上坡地的草地，但这里水流淙淙的地方仍然是翠绿的草地。 —

And as Clare was oppressed by the outward heats, so was he burdened inwardly by waxing fervour of passion for the soft and silent Tess.
正如克莱尔被外界的炎热所压抑一样，他内心中对柔美沉默的苔丝的热情也在增长。

The rains having passed the uplands were dry. —
雨季已过，高地变得干燥。 —

The wheels of the dairyman’s spring-cart, as he sped home from market, licked up the pulverized surface of the highway, and were followed by white ribands of dust, as if they had set a thin powder-train on fire. —
奶农从市场回家时，牛奶车的车轮轧动着碎石路面，如同引燃了一道薄薄的炮火。 —

The cows jumped wildly over the five-barred barton-gate, maddened by the gad-fly; —
牛因为牛蝇而发疯，蹦跳着越过五条边框的谷仓门。 —

Dairyman Crick kept his shirt-sleeves permanently rolled up from Monday to Saturday: —
奶农克里克一周七天都将衬衫袖子卷得高高的。 —

open windows had no effect in ventilation without open doors, and in the dairy-garden the blackbirds and thrushes crept about under the currant-bushes, rather in the manner of quadrupeds than of winged creatures. —
开着的窗户对通风没有作用，而在奶场的花园里，黑鸟和画眉鸟爬来爬去，更像是四足动物而不是有翅膀的生物。 —

The flies in the kitchen were lazy, teasing, and familiar, crawling about in unwonted places, on the floor, into drawers, and over the backs of the milkmaids’ hands. —
厨房里无精打采的苍蝇变得恼人，太过亲昵，爬来爬去的地方使人意想不到，地板上，抽屉里，甚至在挤牛奶的女工手背上。 —

Conversations were concerning sunstroke; —
对话中变成了关于中暑。 —

while butter-making, and still more butterkeeping, was a despair.
而制奶油，以及更有厨房的奶油保存，都变成了一种绝望。

They milked entirely in the meads for coolness and convenience, without driving in the cows. —
他们为了保持凉爽方便，在草地上全天挤奶，不把牛赶进来。 —

During the day the animals obsequiously followed the shadow of the smallest tree as it moved round the stem with the diurnal roll; —
在白天，动物们恭顺地跟随最小树的影子，随着日光的滚动而移动； —

and when the milkers came they could hardly stand still for the flies.
当挤奶工来的时候，它们几乎无法静止因为苍蝇；

On one of these afternoons four or five unmilked cows chanced to stand apart from the general herd, behind the corner of a hedge, among them being Dumpling and Old Pretty, who loved Tess’s hands above those of any other maid. —
在一个下午，大约有四五头未挤奶的牛碰巧站在一起，藏在篱笆角落后面，其中包括喜欢苔丝的手胜过其他女佣的Dumpling和Old Pretty； —

When she rose from her stool under a finished cow Angel Clare, who had been observing her for some time, asked her if she would take the aforesaid creatures next. —
当她从完成挤奶的母牛旁站起来时，一直在观察她的安吉尔·克莱尔问她是否愿意挤那几头牲畜； —

She silently assented, and with her stool at arm’s length, and the pall against her knee, went round to where they stood. —
她默默地同意了，手中拿着凳子，带着披巾靠在膝盖上，走到她们所站的地方； —

Soon the sound of Old Pretty’s milk fizzing into the pail came through the hedge, and then Angel felt inclined to go round the corner also, to finish off a hard-yielding milcher who had strayed there, he being now as capable of this as the dairyman himself.
很快，Old Pretty的牛奶从下边进入桶里的声音传来，然后安吉尔觉得想绕过角落，一同完成一头产奶困难的母牛的工作，他现在已经能够和挤奶工一样胜任这项工作了；

All the men, and some of the women, when milking, dug their foreheads into the cows and gazed into the pail. —
所有的男人，以及一些女人，在挤奶的时候，把额头埋进牛里，凝视着桶里的奶； —

But a few mainly the younger ones - rested their heads sideways. —
但是少数人，主要是年轻人，把头斜靠在一边； —

This was Tess Durbeyfield’s habit, her temple pressing the milcher’s flank, her eyes fixed on the far end of the meadow with the quiet of one lost in meditation. —
这是苔丝·德比菲尔德的习惯，她的太阳穴贴在产奶的牛的侧面，眼睛定定地看着牧场远处，就像一个陷入冥想的人那样平静； —

She was milking Old Pretty thus, and the sun chancing to be on the milking-side it shone flat upon her pink-gowned form and her white curtain-bonnet, and upon her profile, rendering it keen as a cameo cut from the dun background of the cow.
她就这样挤Old Pretty的奶，太阳恰好照在挤奶的这一面，照在她粉色裙子的身上、白色蔽面帽上，以及她的轮廓上，使其看起来锐利得像从牛的暗色背景上切下的象牙；

She did not know that Clare had followed her round, and that he sat under his cow watching her. —
她不知道克莱尔跟着她绕过来，坐在自己的牛旁观察着她； —

The stillness of her head and features was remarkable: —
她的头和脸的静止是引人注目的； —

she might have been in a trance, her eyes open, yet unseeing. —
她可能像在发呆，眼睛睁着，但是看不见； —

Nothing in the picture moved but Old Pretty’s tail and Tess’s pink hands, the latter so gently as to be a rhythmic pulsation only, as if they were obeying a reflex stimulus, like a beating heart.
画面中没有任何东西在移动，只有Old Pretty的尾巴和苔丝粉嫩的手在轻轻移动，轻得只像一个节律性的脉冲，仿佛它们在对抗一种反射刺激，就像跳动的心脏一样；

How very lovable her face was to him. Yet there was nothing ethereal about it; —
她的脸对他来说是多么可爱。然而，她的脸上没有任何飘渺的东西； —

all was real vitality, real warmth, real incarnation. And it was in her mouth that this culminated. —
一切都是真实的活力，真实的温暖，真实的化身。而这一切都凝聚在她的嘴唇上。 —

Eyes almost as deep and speaking he had seen before, and cheeks perhaps as fair; —
眼睛几乎和他以前见过的一样深邃而有表达力，脸颊也许同样美丽； —

brows as arched, a chin and throat almost as shapely; —
眉毛有如弯曲的弧线，下巴和脖子几乎同样优美； —

her mouth he had seen nothing to equal on the face of the earth. —
他从未看到过这个世界上有比她嘴唇更卓越的。 —

To a young man with the least fire in him that little upward lift in the middle of her red top lip was distracting, infatuating, maddening. —
对一个内心稍许有热情的年轻人来说，她那微微翘起的红唇中央简直让人分神、着迷、疯狂。 —

He had never before seen a woman’s lips and teeth which forced upon his mind with such persistent iteration the old Elizabethan simile of roses filled with snow. —
他之前从未见过一个女人的嘴唇和牙齿，它们让他的心灵中无数次地闪现出那个老式伊丽莎白比喻，玫瑰中盛满了雪。 —

Perfect, he, as a lover, might have called them off-hand. But no - they were not perfect. —
完美，他可能毫不费力地称呼它们为情人。但不，它们不完美。 —

And it was the touch of the imperfect upon the would-be perfect that gave the sweetness, because it was that which gave the humanity.
正是不完美触及了意图完美的地方，才赋予了甜美，因为正是这一点赋予了人性。

Clare had studied the curves of those lips so many times that he could reproduce them mentally with ease: —
克莱尔曾经研究过那双嘴唇的曲线，以至于他可以轻松地在脑海中描绘出来： —

and now, as they again confronted him, clothed with colour and life, they sent an aura over his flesh, a breeze through his nerves, which wellnigh produced a qualm; —
现在，当它们再次出现在他面前，涂着色彩和生命，它们在他的肌肤上洒下了一层光晕，穿透了他的神经，几乎引起了一种不适； —

and actually produced, by some mysterious physiological process, a prosaic sneeze.
并实际上通过某种神秘的生理过程，引发了一个枯燥的喷嚏。

She then became conscious that he was observing her; —
她随后意识到他在观察她； —

but she would not show it by any change of position, though the curious dream-like fixity disappeared, and a close eye might easily have discerned that the rosiness of her face deepened, and then faded till only a tinge of it was left.
但她不会通过任何姿势的改变来展现，虽然那种奇特的梦幻般的定格消失了，一个近距离的眼睛很容易就能察觉到她脸上的红晕加深然后褪去，只留下一点点。

The influence that had passed into Clare like an excitation from the sky did not die down. —
从天空传入克莱尔身上的影响并没有消散。 —

Resolutions, reticences, prudences, fears, fell back like a defeated battalion. —
决心、保留、慎重、恐惧像被挫败的军队一样退后了。 —

He lumped up from his seat, and, leaving his pail to be kicked over if the milcher had such a mind, went quickly towards the desire of his eyes, and, kneeling down beside her, clasped her in his arms.
他从座位上跃起，把提桶丢在那里，如果挤奶的人想踢倒它，那就随她去吧。他迅速走向他眼中的所爱之人，跪在她身边，抱住她。

Tess was taken completely by surprise, and she yielded to his embrace with unreflecting inevitableness. —
塞丝完全被惊讶住了，毫不考虑地顺从他的拥抱。 —

Having seen that it was really her lover who had advanced, and no one else, her lips parted, and she sank upon him in her momentary joy, with something very like an ecstatic cry.
她看清是真的是她的爱人走上前来，不是别人，她的嘴唇微微张开，瞬间的喜悦让她扑到他怀里，几乎发出一声狂喜的呼声。

He had been on the point of kissing that too tempting mouth, but he checked himself, for tender conscience’ sake.
他正要亲吻那张太诱人的嘴，但出于柔软的良心，他控制住了自己。

Forgive me, Tess dear!' he whispered.I ought to have asked. I - did not know what I was doing. —
“宝贝，原谅我！”他低声说道。“我应该问你的。我不知道自己在做什么。” —

I do not mean it as a liberty. I am devoted to you, Tessy, dearest, in all sincerity!’
“我不是有意放肆的。我对你忠心耿耿，亲爱的塞丝！”​

Old Pretty by this time had looked round, puzzled; —
看了一眼已经迷惑的老白母牛；​ —

and seeing two people crouching under her where, by immemorial custom, there should have been only one, lifted her hind leg crossly.
蹲在本该只有一个人的地方却看到两个人，她生气地举起后腿。

`She is angry - she doesn’t know what we mean - she’ll kick over the milk!’ —
“牛儿生气了，她不知道我们干什么，她会踢倒牛奶！” —

exclaimed Tess, gently striving to free herself, her eyes concerned with the quadruped’s actions, her heart more deeply concerned with herself and Clare.
塞丝轻轻挣脱，目光紧盯着四蹄动作，心却更深地关心着她和克莱的事情。

She slipped up from her seat, and they stood together, his arm still encircling her. —
她从座位上站起来，他们站在一起，他的手臂还搂着她。 —

Tess’s eyes, fixed on distance, began to fill.
塞丝注视着远方，眼中开始泛泪。

`Why do you cry, my darling?’ he said.
“亲爱的，为什么流泪？”他说。

`O - I don’t know!’ she murmured.
“哦 - 我不知道！”她低声说道。

As she saw and felt more clearly the position she was in she became agitated and tried to withdraw.
随着她对自己身处的境地越发清晰地认识，她变得激动起来，试图脱身。

`Well, I have betrayed my feeling, Tess, at last,’ said he, with a curious sigh of desperation, signifying unconsciously that his heart had outrun his judgment. —
“嗯，我终于向你坦白了我的感情，泰丝，”他说，带着一种奇怪的绝望叹息，无意间透露出他的心已经超越了他的判断。 —

`That I - love you dearly and truly I need not say. —
“我爱你真挚地，这点我无需多言。 —

But I - it shall go no further now - it distresses you - I am as surprised as you are. —
但我——现在不会再追究此事了——这让你感到困扰——我和你一样感到惊讶。 —

You will not think I have presumed upon your defencelessness - been too quick and unreflecting, will you?’
你不会认为我对你的无助冒昧地保护过头了，行动太过匆忙，欠缺深思熟虑，对吧？”

`N’ - I can’t tell.’
“我——无法说出来。”

He had allowed her to free herself; and in a minute or two the milking of each was resumed. —
他已经允许她挣脱了；几分钟后，他们各自又开始挤奶。 —

Nobody had beheld the gravitation of the two into one; —
没有人看到两人如何被不可避免地结合在一起； —

and when the dairyman came round by that screened nook a few minutes later there was not a sign to reveal that the markedly sundered pair were more to each other than mere acquaintance. —
当挤奶工来到那个屏蔽的角落前几分钟后，看不出他们这两个显然互不相干的人更多的联系。 —

Yet in the interval since Crick’s last view of them something had occurred which changed the pivot of the universe for their two natures; —
然而在自克里克最后一次看到他们之后，发生了一些改变了他们两人本性根基的事情； —

something which, had he known its quality, the dairyman would have despised, as a practical man; —
如果他知道它的特质，挤奶工会鄙视它，因为一个实际的人； —

yet which was based upon a more stubborn and resistless tendency than a whole heap of so-called practicalities. —
然而这是建立在比一堆所谓的实际性更加固执和无法抗拒的倾向上的。 —

A veil had been whisked aside; the tract of each one’s outlook was to have a new horizon thenceforward - for a short time or for a long.
一个面纱被掀开了；从那时起，每个人的视野范围都将有一个新的地平线——无论是短暂的还是长远的。