【经典名著阅读】《德伯家的苔丝》第十七章（上）
The dairymaids and men had flocked down from their cottages and out of the dairy-house with the arrival of the cows from the meads; the maids walking in pattens, not on account of the weather, but to keep their shoes above the mulch of the barton. Each girl sat down on her three-legged stool, her face sideways, her right cheek resting against the cow; and looked musingly along the animal's flank at Tess as she approached. The male milkers, with hat-brims turned down, resting flat on their foreheads and gazing on the ground, did not observe her.奶牛从草场一回来，挤奶的男女工人们就成群结队地从他们的茅屋和奶房里涌出来；挤奶的女工都穿着木头套鞋，不是因为天气不好，而是免得她们的鞋子沾上了院子里的烂草烂泥。所有的女孩子都坐在三条腿的凳子上，侧着脸，右脸颊靠着牛肚子；苔丝走过来时，她们都沿着牛肚子不声不响地看着她。挤牛奶的男工们把帽檐弯下来，前额靠在牛的身上，眼睛盯着地面，没有注意到苔丝。
One of these was a sturdy middle-aged man - whose long white 'pinner' was somewhat finer and cleaner than the wraps of the others, and whose jacket underneath had a presentable marketing aspect - the master-dairyman, of whom she was in quest, his double character as a working milker and butter-maker here during six days, and on the seventh as a man in shining broadcloth in his family pew at church, being so marked as to have inspired a rhyme--男工中间有一个健壮的中年人，他的长长的白色围裙比别人的罩衫要漂亮些、干净些，里面穿的短上衣既体面又时兴，他就是奶牛场的场主，是苔丝要找的人。他具有双重的身分，一个星期有六天在这儿做挤牛奶和搅黄油的工人，第七天则穿着精致的细呢服装，坐在教堂里他自家的座位上。他的这个特点十分显著，因此有人给他编了一首歌谣——
Dairyman Dick挤牛奶的狄克，
All the week: - On Sundays Mister Richard Crick.整个星期里：—— 只有礼拜天，才是理查德·克里克。
Seeing Tess standing at gaze he went across to her.看见苔丝站在那儿东张西望，他就走了过去。
The majority of dairymen have a cross manner at milking-time, but it happened that Mr Crick was glad to get a new hand - for the days were busy ones now - and he received her warmly; inquiring for her mother and the rest of the family - (though this as a matter of form merely, for in reality he had not been aware of Mrs Durbeyfield's existence till apprised of the fact by a brief business letter about Tess).大多数男工挤奶的时候都脾气烦躁，但是碰巧克里克先生正想雇佣一个新手——因为这些日子正是缺少人手的时候——于是他就热情地接待了她；他问候她的母亲和家中其他的人——（其实这不过是客套而已，因为他在接到介绍苔丝的一封短信之前，根本就不知道德北菲尔德太太的存在）。
'Oh - ay, as a lad I knowed your part o' the country very well,' he said terminatively. 'Though I've never been there since. And a aged woman of ninety that used to live nigh here, but is dead and gone long ago, told me that a family of some such name as yours in Blackmoor Vale came originally from these parts, and that 'twere a old ancient race that had all but perished off the earth - though the new generations didn't know it. But, Lord, I took no notice of the old woman's ramblings, not I.'“啊——对，我还是孩子的时候，对乡村中你们那个地方就十分熟悉了，”他最后说。“不过后来我从没去过那儿。从前这儿有个九十岁的老太太住在附近，不过早已经死了，她告诉我布莱克原野谷有一户人家姓你们这个姓，最初是从这些地方搬走的，据说是一个古老的家族，现在差不多都死光了——新一辈人都不知道这些。不过，唉，我对那个老太太的唠叨没有太在意，我没有太在意。”
'Oh no - it is nothing,' said Tess.“啊不——那没有什么，”苔丝说。
Then the talk was of business only.于是他们只谈苔丝的事了。
'You can milk 'em clean, my maidy? I don't want my cows going azew at this time o' year.'“你能把奶挤干净吧，姑娘？在一年中这个时候，我不想我的奶牛回了奶。”
She reassured him on that point, and he surveyed her up and down. She had been staying indoors a good deal, and her complexion had grown delicate.对于这个问题，她再次请他放心，他就把她上上下下地打量了一阵。苔丝长时间呆在家里，因此她的皮肤已经变得娇嫩了。
'Quite sure you can stand it? 'Tis comfortable enough here for rough folk; but we don't live in a cowcumber frame.'“你敢肯定受得了吗？干粗活的人在这儿觉得够舒服；可是我们并不是住在种黄瓜的暖房里。”
She declared that she could stand it, and her zest and willingness seemed to win him over.她郑重地说自己受得了，她说得很热情、很乐意，似乎赢得了他的信任。
'Well, I suppose you'll want a dish o' tay, or victuals of some sort, hey? Not yet? Well, do as ye like about it. But faith, if 'twas I, I should be as dry as a kex wi' travelling so far.'“好吧，我想你先喝杯茶，吃点什么吧，嗯？现在不用？好吧，就随你便好了。不过说实话，要是换了我，走了这么远的路，就要干成芜荽菜杆了。”
'I'll begin milking now, to get my hand in,' said Tess.“现在我就开始挤牛奶吧，好让我熟练熟练，”苔丝说。
She drank a little milk as temporary refreshment - to the surprise - indeed, slight contempt - of Dairyman Crick, to whose mind it had apparently never occurred that milk was good as a beverage.她喝了一点儿牛奶，当作临时的点心——牛奶场的老板克里克大吃一惊，说实在的，还有点儿瞧不起——显然他从来没有想到牛奶还是一种上好的饮料。
'Oh, if ye can swaller that, be it so,' he said indifferently, while one held up the pall that she sipped from. ''Tis what I hain't touched for years - not I. Rot the stuff; it would lie in my innerds like lead. You can try your hand upon she,' he pursued, nodding to the nearest cow. 'Not but what she do milk rather hard. We've hard ones and we've easy ones, like other folks. However, you'll find out that soon enough.'“哦，你要是喝得下那种东西，你尽管喝吧，”他在有人阻止她从牛奶桶里喝牛奶时满不在乎地说。“这东西我多年没有碰过它了，我没有碰过它。鬼东西；喝在肚子里就像是一块铅躺在那儿。你拿那头奶牛试试身手吧，”他朝最近的那头奶牛点点头，又接着说下去。“不是说那头牛的奶不好挤。我们有些牛的奶不好挤，有些牛的奶好挤，就同人一样。不过，你很快就会弄清楚的。”
When Tess had changed her bonnet for a hood, and was really on her stool under the cow, and the milk was squirting from her fists into the pall, she appeared to feel that she really had laid a new foundation for her future. The conviction bred serenity, her pulse slowed, and she was able to look about her.苔丝换下女帽，戴上头巾，真的在奶牛身下的凳子上坐下来挤牛奶了，牛奶从她的手中喷射进牛奶桶里，她似乎真的感到已经为自己的未来建立了新的基础。她的这种信念孕育出平静，脉搏的跳动缓慢下来，能够打量打量四周了。
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