苔絲 Chapter8

A New Life 8

新生活 8

And so it was that on a beautiful morning in May，two to three years after her return from Trantridge，Tess Durbeyfield left home for the second time.She was going in the opposite direction this time.When she reached the first hill，she looked back at Marlott and her father's house with sadness in her heart.

因此，從純?nèi)鸺够貋韮扇旰?，苔絲·德北在5月的一個美麗的清晨，第二次離開了家。這一次她是朝相反的方向走去。當(dāng)她爬上第一座小山時，她滿懷憂傷地回頭看了看馬勒特村和她父親的房子。

She travelled partly by carriage and partly on foot，carrying her basket.Not far to her left she could see the trees which surrounded Kingsbere，with its church where her ancestors lay in their tombs.She could no longer admire or respect them. She almost hated them for ruining her life.Nothing of theirs was left except the old seal and spoon.

她挎著籃子坐了一段馬車，又走了一段路。在她左邊不遠(yuǎn)的地方，她可以看到環(huán)繞王陴的樹木，她的祖先就被安放在那兒的教堂墓地里。她不再傾慕，也不再尊敬他們了。她甚至有些恨他們，因?yàn)樗麄儦У袅怂纳?。除了印章和銀匙，他們什么也沒留下。

‘Huh!I have as much of mother as father in me!’she said.‘All my prettiness comes from her，and she was only a dairymaid.’

“嘿!媽媽給予我的同爸爸給予我的一樣多!”她說道，“我的美貌都是從她身上繼承下來的，而她只不過是個擠奶女工。”

Her walk took two hours，until she reached the hill overlooking the Valley of the Great Dairies. This valley was watered by the river Froom，and produced huge amounts of milk and butter，more even than Tess's Vale of Blackmoor， which was known as the Vale of Little Dairies.

她步行了兩個小時，才來到了可以俯視大牛奶場的山頭。福魯姆河灌溉著這個山谷，這兒生產(chǎn)著大量的牛奶和黃油，甚至比苔絲家那邊的黑荒野山谷還多，黑荒野山谷以小牛奶場谷而聞名。

As she stood and looked，she realized the valleys were quite different.Here the fields and farms were much larger. She saw more cows at a glance than she had ever seen before.The evening sun shone on their red，white and brown bodies.She thought that this view was perhaps not as beautiful as a view of Blackmoor Vale，which she knew so well.There the sky was deep blue，the smell of the earth was heavy in the air，the streams ran slowly and silently.But this view was more cheerful. Here the air was clear and light， and the river Froom rushed as fast as the shadow of a cloud.

她站定遠(yuǎn)眺，發(fā)現(xiàn)這兒的山谷截然不同。這里的田地和農(nóng)場更廣闊，而且她以前從來沒有一眼望見過這么多的奶牛。夕陽85照在它們紅色、白色還有棕色的皮毛上。她覺得這兒的風(fēng)景也許并沒有黑荒野山谷美麗，她對那個山谷太熟悉了。那兒的天空湛藍(lán)無比，空氣中充滿了泥土的氣息，溪水總是寂靜緩慢地流淌著。但是這兒的景致更讓人歡欣鼓舞。這兒的空氣清新怡人，福魯姆河水流湍急，就像一片白云的影子匆匆掠過。

Either the change in the quality of the air，or the feeling that she was going to start a new life here， made her feel much happier.She ran along， her hopes and the sunshine warming her.

不管是空氣質(zhì)量的改變，還是她即將在此開始一種全新生活的感覺，都使她感到更加歡欣愉悅。她朝前跑去，她的希望和這兒的陽光溫暖著她。

She looked at her best as she ran laughing into the warm wind.The desire for pleasure， which is in every living thing， had finally won over Tess. She was，after all，only a young woman of twenty， who had not finished growing up. No event，however unpleasant，could have marked her for ever. She was young and strong and beautiful， and could not remain sad for long.

當(dāng)她大笑著跑進(jìn)柔和的微風(fēng)時，她的樣子呈現(xiàn)出前所未有的神采。那種對幸福的渴望，那種存在于每一個有生命的物體中的渴望，終于重新贏得了苔絲。畢竟，她還只是一個20歲的年輕女子，還沒有完全長大成人。任何事情，不管它有多么不幸，都不會永遠(yuǎn)在她身上留下傷痕。她年輕健康、精力充沛而且美麗動人，她可以不再長久地悲傷了。

Her hopes rose higher than ever. She wanted to show how grateful she was for this second chance.She started singing love songs，but found they were not enough to express her feelings.She remembered the Sunday mornings of her girlhood，and sang：‘Oh sun and moon… Oh stars… Oh children of men… Praise the Lord! Praise Him for ever!’ until she stopped suddenly and murmured， ‘But perhaps I don't quite know the Lord yet.’

她從來沒有像現(xiàn)在這樣滿懷希望。她想表達(dá)出自己對第二次機(jī)會的到來是如何地充滿感激之情。她放聲唱起了愛情歌曲，但覺得它們不足以表達(dá)她的感情。她回想起了少女時代禮拜日上午的情景，于是唱道：“哦，太陽和月亮……哦星星……哦，人類的孩子們……贊美上帝吧!永遠(yuǎn)地贊美他!”唱著唱著，她突然停下并自言自語道：“但也許我對上帝了解得還不夠。”

This was probably a pagan feeling in a religious form. People who live in the country and are close to nature， like Tess，keep many of the pagan ideas of their ancestors in their souls.Religion learned in church comes much later， and does not touch them deeply.

這也許只是用宗教形式表現(xiàn)的非基督教的感情。像苔絲這樣生活在鄉(xiāng)村、貼近自然的人，在心靈里保留了許多源于他們的祖先的非基督教思想。而從教堂得來的宗教信仰要遲得多，并沒有多么深刻地影響他們。

Tess was happy to be making her way independently in life. She really wanted to live honestly and work hard，unlike her father.Tess had her mother's energy and the energy of her youth to help her recover from her experience. Women do usually live through such experiences.‘Where there's life there's hope’ is still true for most‘betrayed’women.

可以按自己的方式獨(dú)立地生活讓苔絲感到高興。她真心愿意實(shí)實(shí)在在地生活并勤勤懇懇地工作，而不是像她父親那樣。苔絲有從母親那兒獲得的力量和自己年輕生命的力量來幫助她從過去的經(jīng)歷中恢復(fù)過來。女人們通常要經(jīng)歷這種生活。對多數(shù)被生活玩弄過的女人們來說，“哪兒有生活，哪兒就有希望”仍是一條不變的真理。

As Tess，full of enthusiasm，came downhill towards the dairy，she suddenly heard the milking call，again and again， from all parts of the valley.It was half-past four， when the dairy people brought in the cows. Tess followed the red and white animals，with their great bags of milk under them，into the farmyard. She saw the long sheds， and the wooden posts， shining and smooth where the cows had rubbed against them over the years. She saw the cows between the posts，the sun throwing their shadows on the wall as carefully as a painter paints a beautiful king or queen.As the cows waited for their turn，the milk fell in drops on the ground.

當(dāng)苔絲熱情洋溢地朝著牛奶場跑下山時，她突然聽到了擠奶的號令，一遍又一遍地在山谷各個角落響起。現(xiàn)在是四點(diǎn)半，到了牛奶場的人們把牛趕回來的時候了。苔絲跟著這些紅色或白色、身下垂著碩大乳房的動物，跑進(jìn)了場院。她看見了一排長長的屋棚和一根根木樁，由于奶牛長年的摩擦，它們被蹭得油光發(fā)亮。她看見了木樁之間的一頭頭奶牛，陽光把它們的陰影投射到墻上，就像畫家精心繪制的一幅美麗的國王或王后的畫像。還沒有輪到它們呢，有幾滴牛奶已滴到了地上。

The dairymaids and men had come from their cottages as they saw the cows arriving from the fields. Each girl sat on her three-legged stool as she milked，her right cheek resting on the cow's body，watching Tess arrive.The men milked with their hats low over their eyes and did not see her.One of them was a middle-aged man，the head-dairyman she was looking for.He worked six days a week in his white milking clothes， milking and butter-making， and on the seventh he wore his best suit to take his family proudly to church. Because of this people nearby used to say：

擠奶女工和男人們看到奶牛從地里回來了，就都從屋子里走了出來。擠奶時，每個女工都坐在一張三條腿的矮凳上，她們把右臉頰靠在牛的身子上，看到苔絲進(jìn)來了。男人擠奶時壓低帽子遮住了眼晴，沒有注意到她。其中有一位中年男子，就是苔絲正在尋找的牛奶場主。他一禮拜六天穿著白色的擠奶服工作，擠奶，做黃油，到了第七天，他就穿上最好的衣服，帶著全家人，體體面面地到教堂去做禮拜。由于這個緣故，附近的人們常說：

Dairyman Dick All the week，On Sundays Mister Richard Crick.

整個星期都是奶場工狄克，星期日是理查德·克里克先生。

Most dairymen are usually bad-tempered at milking time， but Mr Crick was glad to get a new dairymaid at this busy time of the year.So he received Tess warmly and asked her how her family were.

大多數(shù)擠奶工在擠奶時都脾氣暴躁，但克里克先生很高興在一年中的繁忙季節(jié)里迎來了一個新的擠奶女工。他熱情地接待苔絲，還問了她家人的情況。

‘When I was a boy I knew your part of the country very well，’be said.‘An old woman of ninety—she's dead now but she used to live near here—she once told me there was an ancient noble family of a name like yours，who came from here originally.But I didn't take any notice of an old woman like that.’

“當(dāng)我還是一個孩子時，我對你們那個地方就非常熟悉。”他說道，“一位九十歲的老太太——她現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)死了，但她過去住在這兒附近——曾經(jīng)告訴過我，有一個同你的姓氏相像的古老高貴的家族，很早以前是這兒的人?？晌覜]理會老太太說的話。”

‘Oh no， that's just a story，’said Tess.

“哦，不，那不過是一個故事罷了。”苔絲說。

Then Mr Crick turned to business.‘You can milk well，my girl?I don't want my cows drying up，especially just now.’

然后克里克先生轉(zhuǎn)到正事上：“你擠奶擠得好嗎，我的孩子?我可不想看到我的牛不出奶，特別是在這個時候。”

‘Oh yes，I can，’answered Tess.

“哦，是的，我能行，”苔絲回答。

He looked at her delicate hands and pale face.

他看了看她那雙細(xì)嫩的手和有些蒼白的臉。

‘Quite sure you're strong enough for this sort of life? It's comfortable enough here for rough country people but it's hard work.’

“你確信你有足夠的體力過這種生活嗎?這兒的生活對強(qiáng)壯的鄉(xiāng)下人來說夠舒服的了，但活兒很累。”

‘Oh yes，I'm strong enough. I'm used to hard work，’Tess insisted.

“哦，是的，我有足夠的體力。我已經(jīng)習(xí)慣干重活兒了。”苔絲堅持說。

‘Well，have some tea and something to eat.You've had a long journey，’he said kindly.

“那好，去喝杯茶，吃點(diǎn)東西。你剛剛走了這么長的路。”他和善地說。

‘No，I'd rather begin milking straight away，’said Tess. ‘I'll just drink a little milk first.’

“不，我寧愿立即開始擠奶，”苔絲說，“我先喝點(diǎn)兒牛奶就可以了。”

This surprised Dairyman Crick，who appeared never to have thought of milk as a drink.

這讓奶場工克里克感到驚訝，他仿佛從來沒想過牛奶也能這么喝似的。

‘Oh，if you can swallow it，have some，’he said，holding the bucket for her to drink from.‘I haven't touched any for years. It would lie in my stomach like a stone，so it would. Now，try that one and see how you get on.’And he pointed to the nearest cow.

“哦，如果你喝得下，就喝吧，”他說，拿起了一個小桶讓她喝。“我好幾年沒碰過它了。喝了它就像胃里放了塊石頭似的，是這樣的。那么現(xiàn)在，你去擠那頭牛，看看你干得怎樣。”他指著最近的一頭牛說道。

As soon as Tess was on her stool under the cow， and the milk was pouring between her fingers into the bucket，she really felt that her new life was beginning. As she relaxed，she looked around her.

苔絲坐到了奶牛下面的凳子上，牛奶從她的指間流泄到桶里，她真地感覺到她的新生活開始了。在她歇息的空隙，她環(huán)顧了一下四周。

It was a large dairy.There were nearly a hundred milking cows.Dairyman Crick milked six or eight of the difficult ones with his own hands. He could not trust them to the dairymaids， because if the cows were badly milked their milk would simply dry up.

這是一個很大的牛奶常有近一百頭待擠的奶牛。奶場主克里克親自擠六到八頭不好擠的牛。他不放心把它們交給擠奶女工去擠，因?yàn)槿绻膛]被擠好，它們就會不出奶的。

For a while there was no more talk among the milkers. Suddenly Mr Crick got up from his stool.

有一陣子，擠奶工們沒有聲響?？死锟讼壬蝗粡牡首由险玖似饋?。

We're not getting as much milk from them as usual，’he said.‘We'd better sing them a song， friends， that's the only thing to do.’So the group of milkers started singing，to encourage the cows to give more.

“我們今天擠的奶沒有平常的多。”他說道，“我們最好還是給他們唱支歌吧，朋友們，只有這樣啦。”于是這群擠奶工開始唱起歌來，想促使奶牛們出更多的奶。

Mr Crick went on，‘But I think bulls like music better than cows.Did I tell you all about William Dewy? On his way home after a wedding he found himself in a field with an angry bull. He took his violin and played some Christmas church music and down went the bull on his knees! Just like the animals around baby Jesus! And so William was able to escape.’

克里克先生繼續(xù)說道：“但我認(rèn)為公牛比母牛更喜歡音樂。我跟你們講過威廉·杜威的事嗎?一次婚禮結(jié)束后，在回家路上的一塊田地上，他遇上了一頭憤怒的公牛。他拿出了小提琴，拉起一些圣誕節(jié)的教堂音樂，那頭公牛居然跪下來了：就像圍繞著小耶穌的動物那樣!然后威廉就得以逃脫了。”

‘It's a curious story.It takes us back to the past，when belief in God was a living thing.’This unusual remark came from under a cow.

“這是一個奇特的故事。它把我們帶回到過去的年代，那時對上帝的信仰是生動真實(shí)的。”有人從一頭奶牛身下做出了這個不平常的論斷。

‘Well， it's quite true， sir， believe it or not.I knew the man well，’said Mr Crick.

“哦，這是完全真實(shí)的，先生，信不信由你。我跟那個人相當(dāng)熟。”克里克先生說。

‘Oh yes， I'm sure it's true，’said the man behind the brown cow.Tess could not see his face，and could not understand why the head-dairyman himself should call him sir.The man stayed under the cow long enough to milk three，at times saying something angrily to himself.Then he stood up， stretching his arms.Tess could now see him clearly. He wore the clothes of a dairyman but underneath he was quite different.He looked educated and gentlemanly.

“哦，是的，我相信它是真實(shí)的，”那頭棕色奶牛后面的人說道。苔絲無法看見他的臉，也不明白為什么牛奶場場主本人還要稱呼他為先生。這人待在一頭奶牛下面的時間足夠讓別人擠三頭牛了，他還不時生氣地自言自語。然后他站了起來，伸展了一下胳膊。這時苔絲可以清楚地看到他的臉了。他穿著擠奶工的衣服，但他本人顯得與眾不同。他看起來受過教育，很有教養(yǎng)。

But now she realized that she had seen him before. He was one of the three walking brothers who had stopped their walk to admire the May-Day dance in Marlott a few years before. He had danced with some of the other girls but not with her. He had not noticed her and had gone on his way. For a moment she was worried that if he recognized her he might discover her story. But she soon saw he did not remember her at all. Since she had seen him in Marlott，his face had grown more thoughtful. He now had a young man's moustache and beard. From the time he had spent milking one cow，he was clearly a beginner at dairy work.

但是她現(xiàn)在想起來，她以前曾見過這張臉龐。幾年以前，在馬勒特村的五月節(jié)舞會上，有三個徒步旅行的兄弟曾駐足觀看過，他就是三兄弟之一，那個和其他一些女孩跳過舞但沒同她跳的人。他沒注意到她，又繼續(xù)上路了。她一時忐忑不安起來，怕他認(rèn)出她來后會得知她的經(jīng)歷。但很快，她發(fā)現(xiàn)他根本想不起她來了。自從她在馬勒特見過他之后，他顯得更深沉了。他現(xiàn)在蓄起了青年人的唇髭和絡(luò)腮胡。從他擠一頭?；ㄙM(fèi)的時間來看，對牛奶場的活兒，他顯然是一個新手。

Tess discovered that only two or three of the dairymaids slept in the house，besides herself.They all shared a big bedroom near the cheese room. That night one of the girls insisted on telling Tess about all the people at the dairy. To Tess，half asleep， the whispers seemed to be floating in the air.

苔絲發(fā)現(xiàn)除了她之外，還有兩三個擠奶女工和她睡在一間房子里。她們共有的這間大臥室挨著奶酪室。那天晚上，她們中有個姑娘堅持要給苔絲講牛奶場里所有人的情況。苔絲半睡半醒地聽著，這些耳語就像漂浮在空中一樣。

‘Mr Angel Clare—he's the one who's learning milking— he's a parson's son and thinks a lot and doesn't notice girls. His father is parson at Emminster，some way from here.His sons，except Mr Clare，are going to be parsons too.’

“安吉爾·克萊爾先生——就是那個學(xué)擠牛奶的人——是一位牧師的兒子，愛思考問題，但對女孩子從不留意。她父親是愛敏斯特的牧師，離這兒有些距離。他的兒子們，除了克萊爾先生，也都打算當(dāng)牧師。”

Tess gradually fell asleep.

苔絲漸漸地睡著了。