They milked entirely in the meads for coolness and convenience, without driving in the cows. During the day the animals obsequiously followed the shadow of the smallest tree as it moved round the stem with the diurnal roll; and when the milkers came they could hardly stand still for the flies.
为了凉爽和方便,挤牛奶的工人们不把奶牛赶回家去,完全在草地上挤奶。白天,随着地球的转动,太阳也绕着树干移动,因此哪怕是最小的一棵树木,奶牛也要跟随着它的阴影转动;挤奶工人过来挤奶时,由于蚊蝇的叮咬,奶牛几乎都无法安静地站着。

On one of these afternoons four or five unmilked cows chanced to stand apart from the general herd, behind the corner of a hedge, among them being Dumpling and Old Pretty, who loved Tess's hands above those of any other maid. When she rose from her stool under a finished cow Angel Clare, who had been observing her for some time, asked her if she would take the aforesaid creatures next. She silently assented, and with her stool at arm's length, and the pall against her knee, went round to where they stood. Soon the sound of Old Pretty's milk fizzing into the pail came through the hedge, and then Angel felt inclined to go round the corner also, to finish off a hard-yielding milcher who had strayed there, he being now as capable of this as the dairyman himself.
这些天以来,有一天下午,有四五条还没有挤奶的奶牛碰巧离开了牛群,站在一个树篱的拐角后面,这几条牛中有矮胖子和老美人,同其他的女工比起来,它们最喜欢由苔丝来挤奶。苔丝挤完了一头奶牛的奶,从凳子上站起来,这时候已经把她注意了一会儿的安琪尔·克莱尔问她,愿不愿意去挤前面提到的两头奶牛。苔丝默不作声地同意了,把凳子拿在手里,提起牛奶桶,向那两头奶牛站的地方走过去。不久,从树篱那边传来了老美人的奶被挤进桶里的咝咝声,安琪尔·克莱尔这时候也想到拐角那儿去,以便把跑到那边的一头难挤的奶牛的奶挤完,因为他现在已能像奶牛场老板一样挤难挤的奶牛了。

All the men, and some of the women, when milking, dug their foreheads into the cows and gazed into the pail. But a few mainly the younger ones - rested their heads sideways. This was Tess Durbeyfield's habit, her temple pressing the milcher's flank, her eyes fixed on the far end of the meadow with the quiet of one lost in meditation. She was milking Old Pretty thus, and the sun chancing to be on the milking-side it shone flat upon her pink-gowned form and her white curtain-bonnet, and upon her profile, rendering it keen as a cameo cut from the dun background of the cow.
所有挤奶的男工,还有一些女工,他们在挤奶的时候都把额头抵在牛的身上,眼睛盯着牛奶桶。但是也有几个人,主要是年轻的女工,都侧着头靠在牛的肚子上。苔丝·德北菲尔德就是这种挤奶的习惯,她把太阳穴靠在奶牛的肚子上,眼睛凝视着草场的远方,悄悄地聚精会神地想着心思。她就是用这样的姿势为老美人挤奶的,太阳刚好照在挤奶的这一边,太阳的光线一直射到她穿粉红裙子的身上,射到她戴的有帽檐的白色帽子上,照亮了她的侧面身影,使她看上去就像是从奶牛的黄褐色背景上雕刻出来的一尊玉石浮雕像。