【经典名著阅读】《德伯家的苔丝》第二十八章（上）
Her refusal, though unexpected, did not permanently daunt Clare. His experience of women was great enough for him to be aware that the negative often meant nothing more than the preface to the affirmative; and it was little enough for him not to know that in the manner of the present negative there lay a great exception to the dallyings of coyness. That she had already permitted him to make love to her he read as an additional assurance, not fully trowing that in the fields and pastures to 'sigh gratis' is by no means deemed waste; love-making being here more often accepted inconsiderately and for its own sweet sake than in the carking anxious homes of the ambitious, where a girl's craving for an establishment paralyzes her healthy thought of a passion as an end.苔丝的拒绝虽然出乎意外，但是这也不会长期让克莱尔气馁。他对女人已经有了经验，这已经足以使他懂得，否定常常只是肯定的开端；但是他的经验毕竟有限，还不足以知道目前这种否定完全是一个例外，和那种忸怩作态的调情不同。既然苔丝已经允许他向她求爱了，他认为这就是一种额外的保证，但是他并没有完全认识到，发生在田野里和牧场上的那些“免费的叹息”①，也决不是浪费了；在这种地方，恋爱常常是没有多加考虑就被接受了，这种恋爱只是为了恋爱自身的甜蜜，它和充满野心的忧虑焦躁的家庭不一样，在那种家庭里，女孩子渴望的只是为了建立家业，这样就损害了以感情为目的的健康思想。
'Tess, why did you say "no" in such a positive way?' he asked her in the course of a few days.“苔丝，为什么你用这种坚决的态度说‘不’呢？”过了几天他问苔丝。
She startled.她吃了一惊。
'Don't ask me. I told you why - partly. I am not good enough not worthy enough.'“不要问我。我已经告诉过你了——部分地告诉过你了。我配不上你——我不值得你爱。”
'How? Not fine lady enough?'“怎么配不上？因为你不是一位千金小姐吗？”
'Yes - something like that,' murmured she. 'Your friends would scorn me.'“不错——和那差不多，”她低声说。“你家里的人会瞧不起我的。”
'Indeed, you mistake them - my father and mother. As for my brothers, I don't care--' He clasped his fingers behind her back to keep her from slipping away. 'Now - you did not mean it, sweet? - I am sure you did not! You have made me so restless that I cannot read, or play, or do anything. I am in no hurry, Tess, but I want to know - to hear from your own warm lips - that you will some day be mine - any time you may choose; but some day?'“你实在是把他们看错了——把我的父亲和母亲看错了。至于说到我的哥哥，我并不在乎——”他从后面用双手抱住苔丝，害怕她逃走了。“喂——你说的不是真话吧，亲爱的？——我敢肯定你不是说的真话！你已经弄得我坐立不安了，不能读书、无心玩耍，什么事也没法做。我不着急，苔丝，但是我想知道——想从你温暖的嘴里亲自听到——有一天你会是我的人——什么时间你可以选择；但是总有一天吧？”
①免费的叹息（sigh gratis），引自莎士比亚的悲剧《哈姆雷特》，见该剧第二幕第二场。
She could only shake her head and look away from him.她只是摇了摇头，扭转了脸不去看他。
Clare regarded her attentively, conned the characters of her face as if they had been hieroglyphics. The denial seemed real.克莱尔仔细地打量着她，把目光集中在她的脸上，仿佛上面刻有象形文字似的。看上去她的拒绝好像是真的。
'Then I ought not to hold you in this way - ought I? I have no right to you - no right to seek out where you are, or to walk with you! Honestly, Tess, do you love any other man?'“要是这样的话，我就不应该这样搂着你了——是不是？我没有权利搂着你——没有权利约你出去，没有权利一块儿和你散步了！老实说，苔丝，你是不是爱上了别的人？”
'How can you ask?' she said, with continued self-suppression.“你怎能这样问我呢？”她继续自我克制着说。
'I almost know that you do not. But then, why do you repulse me?'“我一直知道你没有爱上其他别的人。但是为什么你又要拒绝我呢？”
'I don't repulse you. I like you to - tell me you love me; and you may always tell me so as you go about with me - and never offend me.'“我不是拒绝你呀。我喜欢听——听你说你爱我；当你和我在一起的时候，你都可以这样说——这不会惹我生气的。”
'But you will not accept me as a husband?'“可是你没有接受我做你的丈夫啊？”
'Ah - hat's different - it is for your good, indeed my dearest! O, believe me, it is only for your sake! I don't like to give myself the great happiness o' promising to be yours in that way - because - because I am sure I ought not to do it.'“啊——那又不同了——那是为你好呀，的确是为你好啊，最亲爱的！啊，相信我吧，这只是为了你的缘故！我不愿意把自己这样交给你，享受无限的幸福——因为——因为我肯定不应该这样做。”
'But you will make me happy!'“但是你会使我幸福的！”
'Ah - you think so, but you don't know!'“啊——你以为是这样，其实你不明白！”
At such times as this, apprehending the grounds of her refusal to be her modest sense of incompetence in matters social and polite, he was wonderfully well-informed and versatile - which was certainly true, her natural quickness, and her admiration for him, having led her to pick up his vocabulary, his accent, and fragments of his knowledge, to a surprising extent. After these tender contests and her victory she would go away by herself under the remotest cow, if at milking-time, or into the sedge, or into her room, if at a leisure interval, and mourn silently, not a minute after an apparently phlegmatic negative.每次到了这种时候，他总是把她的拒绝理解成是她的卑谦，理解成是她认为自己在交际和教养方面缺乏能力，因此他就称赞她知识多么地丰富，多么地多才多艺——其实这一点儿不假，她天性聪颖，加上又崇拜他，这就促使她学习他使用的词汇，学习他说话的音调，她零零碎碎向他学到的知识，达到了令人惊奇的程度。他们每次都是这样多情地争论，最后又总是她取得胜利，然后再独自离开，如果是挤牛奶的时候，她就会跑到最远的一头奶牛那儿去挤奶，如果是闲暇的时候，她就会跑到苇塘里去，或者跑回自己的房间，独自在那儿悲伤，而在不到一分钟前，她还在假装冷淡地表示拒绝。
页:
[1]