'Mr Clare,' said the dairyman emphatically, 'is one of the most rebellest rozums you ever knowed - not a bit like the rest of his family; and if there's one thing that he do hate more than another 'tis the notion of what's called a' old family. He says that it stands to reason that old families have done their spurt of work in past days, and can't have anything left in 'em now. There's the Billetts and the Drenkhards and the Greys and the St Quintins and the Hardys and the Goulds, who used to own the lands for miles down this valley; you could buy 'em all up now for an old song a'most. Why, our little Retty Priddle here, you know, is one of the Paridelles - the old family that used to own lots o' the lands out by King's-Hintock now owned by the Earl o' Wessex, afore even he or his was heard of. Well, Mr Clare found this out, and spoke quite scornful to the poor girl for days. 'Ah!' he says to her, 'you'll never make a good dairymaid! All your skill was used up ages ago in Palestine, and you must lie fallow for a thousand years to git strength for more deeds!' A boy came here t'other day asking for a job, and said his name was Matt, and when we asked him his surname he said he'd never heard that 'a had any surname, and when we asked why, he said he supposed his folks hadn't been established long enough. "Ah! you're the very boy I want!" says Mr Clare, jumping up and shaking hands wi'en; "I've great hopes of you"; and gave him half-a-crown. O no! he can't stomach old families!'
“克莱尔先生,”奶牛场老板强调说,“他是一个你从来没听说过的最有反抗精神的怪人——一点儿也不像他家里的其他人;有一件事他是最讨厌不过的,那就是什么古老世家了。他说,从情理上讲,古老世家在过去已经用尽了力气,现在他们什么也没有剩下了。你看什么比勒特家、特伦哈德家、格雷家、圣昆丁家、哈代家,还有高尔德家,从前在这个山谷里拥有的产业有好几英里,而现在你差不多花一点儿小钱就可以把它们买下来。你问为什么,你知道我们这儿的小莱蒂·普里德尔,他就是帕里德尔家族的后裔——帕里德尔是古老的世家,新托克的王家产业现在是威塞克斯伯爵的了,而从前却是帕里德尔家的,可从前没有听说过威塞克斯伯爵家啊。唔,克莱尔先生发现了这件事,还把可怜的小莱蒂嘲笑了好几天呢。‘啊!’他对莱蒂说,‘你永远也做不成一个优秀的挤奶女工的!你们家的本领在几十辈人以前就在巴勒斯坦用尽了,你们要恢复力气做事情,就得再等一千年。’又有一天,有个小伙子来这儿找活儿干,说他的名字叫马特,我们问他姓什么,他说他从来没有听说他有什么姓,我们问为什么,他说大概是他们家建立起来的时间还不够长吧。‘啊!你正是我需要的那种小伙子呀!’克莱尔说,跳起来去同他握手;‘你将来一定大有前途’;他还给了他半个克朗呢。啊,他是不吃古老世家那一套的。

After hearing this caricature of Clare's opinions poor Tess was glad that she had not said a word in a weak moment about her family - even though it was so unusually old as almost to have gone round the circle and become a new one. Besides, another dairy-girl was as good as she, it seemed, in that respect. She held her tongue about the d'Urberville vault, and the Knight of the Conqueror whose name she bore. The insight afforded into Clare's character suggested to her that it was largely owing to her supposed untraditional newness that she had won interest in his eyes.
可怜的苔丝在听了对克莱尔思想的形容和描述后,暗自庆幸自己没有在软弱的时候对自己的家旅吐露出一个字——虽然她的家族不同寻常地古老,差不多都要转一圈了,又要变成一个新的家族了。另外,还有一个挤奶的姑娘在家世方面似乎和她不相上下。因此,她对德贝维尔家族的墓室,对她出生的那个征服者威廉的骑士家族,都闭口不提。她对克莱尔的性格有了这种了解以后,她猜想她之所以引起他的兴趣,大半是他认为她不是一个古老世家,而是一个新家。