The event of Tess Durbeyfield's return from the manor of her bogus kinsfolk was rumoured abroad, if rumour be not too large a word for a space of a square mile. In the afternoon several young girls of Marlott, former schoolfellows and acquaintances of Tess, called to see her, arriving dressed in their best starched and ironed, as became visitors to a person who had made a transcendent conquest (as they supposed), and sat round the room looking at her with great curiosity. For the fact that it was this said thirty-first cousin, Mr d'Urberville, who had fallen in love with her, a gentleman not altogether local, whose reputation as a reckless gallant and heart-breaker was beginning to spread beyond the immediate boundaries of Trantridge, lent Tess's supposed position, by its fearsomeness, a far higher fascination than it would have exercised if unhazardous.
苔丝·德北菲尔德从她那个冒牌本家回来了这件事,已经四处传说开了,如果说在一英里方圆的地面上使用传说这个词不算太大的话。午后时分,马洛特村里有几个年轻的姑娘,从前是苔丝的小学同学和朋友,一起来看望她,她们来的时候身上穿的衣服,都是她们浆洗过熨平了的最好的衣服,因为她们认为,苔丝是一个胜利归来的卓越征服者,她们要做她的客人;她们在屋里坐成一圈,带着好奇的心情看着她。因为和她恋爱的正是那位据说隔了31代的堂兄德贝维尔先生,一个并不完全是本地的绅士,而他作为猎艳能手和负心汉子的名声已经四下传播开来,开始超越特兰里奇的本地边界,由于这种令人害怕的情形,这也使她们所认定的苔丝的地位,同在毫无危险中的地位相比,就具有了更大的吸引力。

Their interest was so deep that the younger ones whispered when her back was turned--
她们对她抱有浓厚的兴趣,所以当苔丝一转过身去,一些年轻一些的姑娘就小声议论起来——

'How pretty she is; and how that best frock do set her off! I believe it cost an immense deal, and that it was a gift from him.'
“她多么漂亮呀,那件漂亮的衣服穿在身上她显得更漂亮了!我相信它花了一大笔钱,并且还是他送的礼物。”

Tess, who was reaching up to get the tea-things from the corner-cupboard, did not hear these commentaries.
苔丝站在屋子的角落处,正在从碗橱里往外拿茶具,没有听见这些评论。

If she had heard them, she might soon have set her friends right on the matter. But her mother heard, and Joan's simple vanity, having been denied the hope of a dashing marriage, fed itself as well as it could upon the sensation of a dashing flirtation. Upon the whole she felt gratified, even though such a limited and evanescent triumph should involve her daughter's reputation; it might end in marriage yet, and in the warmth of her responsiveness to their admiration she invited her visitors to stay to tea.
要是她听见了这些评论,她也许很快就会把她的朋友们对这件事的误会改正过来。但是她的母亲却听见了,琼简单的虚荣心在高攀一门婚事的希望落空以后,因此就到女儿被人追求这件事上去寻求感情上的满足。总的说来,她感觉到了满足,即使这种短暂和有限的胜利会影响到她女儿的名声;但是她最终也许还是要嫁给他的,她看见她们羡慕她的女儿,心里头高兴,就热情地请她们留下来吃茶。

Their chatter, their laughter, their good-humoured innuendoes, above all, their flashes and flickerings of envy, revived Tess's spirits also; and, as the evening wore on, she caught the infection of their excitement, and grew almost gay. The marble hardness left her face, she moved with something of her old bounding step, and flushed in all her young beauty.
她们的闲聊、她们的欢笑、她们的善意影射,尤其是她们闪烁其词的妒意,也使苔丝在精神上复活了;而且随着晚上时间的流逝,苔丝也渐渐地被她们的兴奋情趣感染了,差不多变得快活起来。她脸上像大理石一样僵硬的表情消失了,走路时的脚步也有些像往日那样蹦蹦跳跳了,她容光焕发,全身显现出青春的美丽风采。