【经典名著阅读】《德伯家的苔丝》第七章（上）
On the morning appointed for her departure Tess was awake before dawn at the marginal minute of the dark when the grove is still mute, save for one prophetic bird who sings with a clear voiced conviction that he at least knows the correct time of day, the rest preserving silence as if equally convinced that he is mistaken. She remained upstairs packing till breakfast-time, and then came down in her ordinary weekday clothes, her Sunday apparel being carefully folded in her box.在约好动身的那天早上，天还没亮苔丝就醒了——那时候正是黑夜即将天亮的时刻，树林里静悄悄的，只有一只先知先觉的鸟儿在用清脆嘹亮的声音歌唱着，坚信至少自己知道一天的正确时辰，但是其它的鸟儿却保持着沉默，仿佛也同样坚信那只唱歌的鸟儿把时辰叫错了。苔丝一直在楼上收拾行李，到了吃早饭的时候，她才穿着日常穿的衣服走下楼，而她那套最好的服装却仔仔细细地叠好了放在箱子里。
Her mother expostulated. 'You will never set out to see your folks without dressing up more the dand than that?'她的母亲劝她说：“你出门去走亲戚，从来都不会比你身上那套衣服穿得漂亮些吗？”
'But I am going to work!' said Tess.“可我是去工作的呀！”苔丝说。
'Well, yes,' said Mrs Durbeyfield, and in a private tone, 'at first there mid be a little pretence o't... But I think it will be wiser of lee to put your best side outward,' she added.“不错，是去工作，”德北菲尔德太太说；她用说悄悄话的口气补充说，“开头也许要假装点儿去工作……不过我觉得你还是把最好的衣服穿在外面好些。”
'Very well; I suppose you know best,' replied Tess with calm abandonment.“好啦，好啦；我想你知道得最清楚，”苔丝不再反对了，冷淡地回答说。
And to please her parent the girl put herself quite in Joan's hands, saying serenely 'Do what you like with me, mother.'为了让母亲高兴，姑娘只好把自己完全交到琼的手里，平静地说——“你爱怎样就怎样吧，妈妈。”
Mrs Durbeyfield was only too delighted at this tractability. First she fetched a great basin, and washed Tess's hair with such thoroughness that when dried and brushed it looked twice as much as at other times. She tied it with a broader pink ribbon than usual. Then she put upon her the white frock that Tess had worn at the clubwalking, the airy fullness of which, supplementing her enlarged coiffure, imparted to her developing figure an amplitude which belied her age, and might cause her to be estimated as woman when she was not much more than a child.看见苔丝这样听话，德北菲尔德太太不由得心中大喜。她先去拿来一个大脸盆，彻底地把苔丝的头发洗了一遍，等到头发干了，梳理好了，看起来头发好像比平时多了一倍。她用一根比通常宽得多的粉红色带子把头发扎起来，然后再给苔丝穿上那件在会社游行时穿的白色袍子。苔丝一头蓬松的头发，配上身上穿的宽大袍子，使她正在发育的身体透露出一种成熟来，让人看不出她的实际年龄，也许会错误地把她当成一个成熟的妇人，而其实她比一个孩子大不了多少。
'I declare there's a holes in your stockings-heel!' said Tess.“我告诉你，我的袜子后跟上有一个洞，”苔丝说。
'Never mind holes in your stockings - they don't speak! When I was a maid, so long as I had a pretty bonnet the devil might ha' found me in heels.'“袜子上有洞不要紧——它们又不会说话！我当姑娘的时候，只要有一顶漂亮的帽子戴，鬼才知道袜子上有洞呢。”
Her mother's pride in the girl's appearance led her to step back, like a painter from his easel, and survey her work as a whole.看见女儿漂亮的形体，母亲心里感到骄傲，往后退了几步，就像一个画家从画架前面走开，从整体上仔细打量自己的杰作。
'You must see yourself!' she cried. 'It is much better than you was t'other day.'“你一定要看一看你自己！”她嚷着说。“你比平时漂亮多了。”
As the looking-glass was only large enough to reflect a very small portion of Tess's person at one time, Mrs Durbeyfield hung a black cloak outside the casement, and so made a large reflector of the panes, as it is the wont of bedecking cottagers to do. After this she went downstairs to her husband, who was sitting in the lower room.由于镜子太小，一次只能照出苔丝身体的很小一部分，德北菲尔德太太就在窗玻璃的外面挂上一件黑色的外套，用这种办法把窗玻璃变成了一面大镜子，这也是乡下村民梳妆时常用的办法。然后，她就下楼找她的丈夫去了，那时候她丈夫坐在楼下的房间里。
'I'll tell 'ee what 'tis, Durbeyfield,' said she exultingly; 'he'll never have the heart not to love her. But whatever you do, don't zay too much to Tess of his fancy for her, and this chance she has got. She is such an odd maid that it mid zet her against him, or against going there, even now. If all goes well, I shall certainly be for making some return to that pa'son at Stagfoot Lane for telling us - dear, good man!'“我要告诉你，德北菲尔德，”她兴高采烈地说：“他决不会不爱上她的。不过无论你说什么话，都不要对苔丝多说他喜欢苔丝的话，也不要提她得到的这个机会。她是一个脾气古怪的姑娘，说多了也许她就讨厌他了，甚至于她马上就不愿到那儿去了。如果一切顺利，我一定要对鹿脚巷的那个牧师有所报答，感谢他告诉我们那些事——他真是个好人。”
However, as the moment for the girl's setting out drew nigh, when the first excitement of the dressing had passed off, a slight misgiving found place in Joan Durbeyfield's mind. It prompted the matron to say that she would walk a little way - as far as to the point where the acclivity from the valley began its first steep ascent to the outer world. At the top Tess was going to be met with the spring-cart sent by the Stoke-d'Urbervilles, and her box had already been wheeled ahead towards this summit by a lad with trucks, to be in readiness.不过，姑娘动身的时刻越来越近了，当初梳妆打扮的兴奋一消失，琼·德北菲尔德太太的心里就出现了一阵担忧。因此这位家庭主妇说，她要送姑娘一程——要把姑娘送到山谷斜坡上的那个地点，那个斜坡是通向外部世界的第一个制高点。苔丝就在坡顶上等候斯托克·德贝维尔家派来的轻便马车，而她的行李已经由一个小伙子运到了坡顶上，做好了准备。
Seeing their mother put on her bonnet the younger children clamoured to go with her.看见妈妈戴上了帽子，小孩子们就一起叫嚷起来，要跟她一起去。
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