She mounted again beside her lover, with a mute obedience characteristic of impassioned natures at times, and when they had wrapped themselves up over head and ears in the sail-cloth again, they plunged back into the now thick night. Tess was so receptive that the few minutes of contact with the whirl of material progress lingered in her thought.
她上了车，坐在情人的旁边，她热烈的天性有时表现得既沉默又温顺；他们又用车上的帆布把自己的头和耳朵包裹起来，转身在已经变得很深沉的夜色中往回走了。苔丝是一个十分敏感的人，所以她刚才和物质文明的漩涡接触了几分钟，这种接触就留在她的思想里了。

'Londoners will drink it at their breakfasts to-morrow, won't they?' she asked. 'Strange people that we have never seen.'
“明天早晨伦敦人在吃早饭的时候就可以喝这些牛奶了，是不是？”她问。“他们都是我们从来没有见过的陌生人，是不是？”

'Yes - I suppose they will. Though not as we send it. When its strength has been lowered, so that it may not get up into their heads.'
“不错——我想他们明天就可以喝这些牛奶了。不过他们喝的和我们送的牛奶有些不同。他们喝的牛奶的含量被降低了，免得他们被喝醉了。”

'Noble men and noble women, ambassadors and centurions, ladies and tradeswomen, and babies who have never seen a cow.'
“他们都是高贵的绅士、贵妇、外国大使、千夫长①、太太小姐、还有孩子，他们都从来没有看见过一头奶牛，是不是？”

'Well, yes; perhaps; particularly centurions.'
“哦，是的；也许是的；尤其是千夫长。”

'Who don't know anything of us, and where it comes from; or think how we two drove miles across the moor to-night in the rain that it might reach 'em in time?'
“他们对我们是什么人也不知道的啦？也不知道牛奶是从哪儿来的啦？他们也想不到我们走了好远的路，今天夜里冒雨穿过荒野把牛奶送到车站，好让他们明天早晨喝上牛奶，是不是？”

'We did not drive entirely on account of these precious Londoners; we drove a little on our own - on account of that anxious matter which you will, I am sure, set at rest, dear Tess. Now,-permit me to put it in this way. You belong to me already, you know; your heart, I mean. Does it not?'
“我们并不是完全为了这些宝贵的伦敦人送牛奶的；我们送牛奶也有点儿为我们自己——为了那个让人焦虑的问题，我想，亲爱的苔丝，这个问题你会让我放心的。好啦，请允许我这样说，你知道，你已经属于我了；我是说你的心。是不是这样的？”

'You know as well as I. O yes - yes!'
“你知道得像我一样清楚的。啊，是的——是的！”

'Then, if your heart does, why not your hand?'
“既然你的心答应了，为什么你不答应嫁给我呢？”

①千夫长（centurions），古代罗马下级军官的官衔，苔丝的时代没有这种人，表明苔丝对农村以外的知识所知不多。下文克莱尔也提千夫长，是对苔丝的一种调笑。