The community of fowls to which Tess had been appointed as supervisor, purveyor, nurse, surgeon, and friend, made its head quarters in an old thatched cottage standing in an enclosure that had once been a garden, but was now a trampled and sanded square. The house was overrun with ivy, its chimney being enlarged by the boughs of the parasite to the aspect of a ruined tower. The lower rooms were entirely given over to the birds, who walked about them with a proprietary air, as though the place had been built by themselves, and not by certain dusty copy holders who now lay east and west in the churchyard. The descendants of these bygone owners felt it almost as a slight to their family when the house which had so much of their affection, had cost so much of their forefathers' money, and had been in their possession for several generations before the d'Urbervilles came and built here, was indifferently turned into a fowl house by Mrs Stoke-d'Urberville as soon as the property fell into hand according to law. ''Twas good enough for Christians in grandfather's time,' they said.
苔丝担负的工作就是当一大群鸡的监护人、食物供应商、护上、外科医生和朋友,这群鸡的大本营是矗立在一个场院中的一所旧茅屋,那个场院从前是一个花园,但是现在却被踩成了一块满是沙土的方形场地。茅屋上爬满了长春藤,屋顶上的烟囱也布满了这种寄生植物的枝蔓,因此变得粗大了,它的外形看上去就好像是一个废弃了的塔楼。下面的房间全都作了鸡舍,这一群鸡带着主人的神气在房间里走来走去,仿佛这些房子都是它们自己建造的,而不是由那些埋葬在教堂墓地中现在已化为尘土的地产保有人建造的。当这份产业根据法律一落到斯托克·德贝维尔夫人手里,她就满不在乎地把这所房子变成了鸡舍,这在往日房主的子孙们看来,简直就是对他们家的侮辱,因为在德贝维尔家来到这儿住下以前,他们对这所房子都怀有深厚的感情,花费了他们祖先大量的金钱,房子也一直是他们好几代人的财产。他们说:“在我们祖父的时候,有身分的人住这所房子也是够好的。”

The rooms wherein dozens of infants had wailed at their nursing now resounded with the tapping of nascent chicks. Distracted hens in coops occupied spots where formerly stood chairs supporting sedate agriculturists. The chimney-corner and once blazing hearth was now filled with inverted beehives, in which the hens laid their eggs; while out of doors the plots that each succeeding householder had carefully shaped with his spade were torn by the cocks in wildest fashion.
在这所房子的房间里,曾经有几十个还在吃奶的婴儿大声哭叫过,而现在里面却回响着小鸡啄食的噗噗声。在从前摆放椅子的地方,现在却摆放着鸡笼,从前椅子上坐着安详的农夫,而现在鸡笼里却养着心神不宁的母鸡。在壁炉烟囱的墙角和曾经火光熊熊的壁炉旁边,现在堆满了倒扣过来的蜂窝,变成了母鸡下蛋的鸡窝;门外的一块块园畦,从前每一块都叫房主拿着铁鍬拾掇得整整齐齐,现在都让公鸡用最野蛮的方式刨得乱七八糟。

The garden in which the cottage stood was surrounded by a wall, and could only be entered through a door.
修建这所房子的花园四周有一道围墙,只有通过一道门才能进入园内。

When Tess had occupied herself about an hour the next morning in altering and improving the arrangements, according to her skilled ideas as the daughter of a professed poulterer, the door in the wall opened and a servant in white cap and apron entered. She had come from the manor-house.
第二天早上,苔丝整整忙了一个小时来收拾鸡舍,她本来就是以贩卖家禽为业的人家的女儿,所以就凭着自己的巧思对鸡场作了改动,重新布置了一番。就在这个时候,墙上的门被打开了,一个戴着白帽子系着白围裙的女仆走了进来。她是从庄园里来的。

'Mrs d'Urberville wants the fowls as usual,' she said; but perceiving that Tess did not quite understand, she explained, 'Mis'ess is a old lady, and blind.'
“德贝维尔夫人又要鸡啦,”她说:不过她看见苔丝没有完全明白,就解释说,“夫人是一个老太太,眼睛瞎了。”

'Blind!' said Tess.
“眼睛瞎啦!”苔丝说。