Amid the oozing fatness and warm ferments of the Var Vale, at a season when the rush of juices could almost be heard below the hiss of fertilization, it was impossible that the most fanciful love should not grow passionate. The ready bosoms existing there were impregnated by their surroundings.
在佛卢姆谷里,土壤肥沃得冒油,气候温暖得发酵,在这种季节里,从万物滋生发育的咝咝声中,几乎连草木汁液的奔流都听得见,因此,那种最富有幻想的爱情就不可能不生出缠绵的情意来。生活在那儿的胸怀激情的两个人,也都受到了周围环境的感染。

July passed over their beads, and the Thermidorean weather which came in its wake seemed an effort on the part of Nature to match the state of hearts at Talbothays Dairy. The air of the place, so fresh in the spring and early summer, was stagnant and enervating now. Its heavy scents weighed upon them, and at mid-day the landscape seemed lying in a swoon. Ethiopic scorchings browned the upper slopes of the pastures, but there was still bright green herbage here where the watercourses purled. And as Clare was oppressed by the outward heats, so was he burdened inwardly by waxing fervour of passion for the soft and silent Tess.
七月已经从他们的身边过去了,随后而来的便是暑月①的气候,似乎自然这一方面也在作出努力,以便能够适合在泰波塞斯奶牛场谈情说爱的心境。这个地方的空气,在春天和初夏都非常清新,而现在却变得呆滞和使人困倦了。沉重的气息压在他们的身上,到了正午,似乎连景物也昏昏入睡了。像埃塞俄比亚的烈日一样灼热的太阳,晒黄了牧场斜坡顶上的青草,不过在流水潺潺的地方依然还是嫩绿的草地。克莱尔不仅外面受到热气的灼烤,而且内心里也为了温柔沉静的苔丝受到越来越强烈的激情的压迫。

The rains having passed the uplands were dry. The wheels of the dairyman's spring-cart, as he sped home from market, licked up the pulverized surface of the highway, and were followed by white ribands of dust, as if they had set a thin powder-train on fire. The cows jumped wildly over the five-barred barton-gate, maddened by the gad-fly; Dairyman Crick kept his shirt-sleeves permanently rolled up from Monday to Saturday: open windows had no effect in ventilation without open doors, and in the dairy-garden the blackbirds and thrushes crept about under the currant-bushes, rather in the manner of quadrupeds than of winged creatures. The flies in the kitchen were lazy, teasing, and familiar, crawling about in unwonted places, on the floor, into drawers, and over the backs of the milkmaids' hands. Conversations were concerning sunstroke; while butter-making, and still more butterkeeping, was a despair.
雨已经下过了,高地也干了。奶牛场老板坐着带弹簧的双轮马车从市场回家,马车跑得飞快,车轮的后面带起一股白色的尘土,好像是点燃了的一条细长的火药引线一样。奶牛被牛虻咬得发了疯,有五道横木的栅栏门都被它们跳了过去;从星期一到星期六,奶牛场的克里克老板卷起来的衬衣袖子,从来就没有放下来过。只开窗户而不把门打开,风是透不进来的;在奶牛场的园子里,乌鸦和画盾在覆盆子树丛下跳来跳去,看它们的样子,与其说它们是长翅膀的飞鸟,还不如说它们是长四条腿的走兽。厨房里的蚊蝇懒洋洋的,一点儿也不伯人,在没有人的地方爬来爬去,比如地板上、柜子上以及挤奶女工的手背上。他们在一块儿谈话的内容总是与中暑有关;而做黄油,尤其是保存黄油都是没有办法做到的事了。

①暑月(Thermindnrean),1789年法国大革命改变历法,其中从7月19日至8月17日的一个月被称为暑月。Thermindorean来自希腊文,热的意思,暑月也有被译为雾月和热月的。