She had not known that men could be so disinterested, chivalrous, protective, in their love for women as he. Angel Clare was far from all that she thought him in this respect; absurdly far, indeed; but he was, in truth, more spiritual than animal; he had himself well in hand, and was singularly free from grossness. Though not cold-natured, he was rather bright than hot - less Byronic than Shelleyan; could love desperately, but with a love more especially inclined to the imaginative and ethereal; it was a fastidious emotion which could jealously guard the loved one against his very self. This amazed and enraptured Tess, whose slight experiences had been so infelicitous till now; and in her reaction from indignation against the male sex she swerved to excess of honour for Clare.
她从来也不知道,男人爱起女子来,也会像他那样无私、殷勤、呵护。但是在这一点上,安琪尔·克莱尔和她以为的那样完全不同;实在说来是绝对不同;实际上,他恋爱中的精神的成分多,肉欲的成分少;他能够很好地克制自己,完全没有粗鄙的表现。虽然他并非天性冷淡,但是乖巧胜于热烈——他像拜伦少些,却像雪莱多些;他可以爱得痴情,但是他的爱又特别倾向于想象,倾向于空灵;他的爱是一种偏执的感情,能够克制住自己,保护自己所爱的人不受侵犯。一直到现在,苔丝对男人的经验仍然很少,所以不禁对他感到吃惊,感到快乐;她以前对男性的反应是憎恨,现在却变成了对克莱尔的极度尊敬。

They unaffectedly sought each other's company; in her honest faith she did not disguise her desire to be with him. The sum of her instincts on this matter, if clearly stated, would have been that the elusive quality in her sex which attracts men in general might be distasteful to so perfect a man after an avowal of love, since it must in its very nature carry with it a suspicion of art.
他们相互邀请作伴,毫无忸怩之态;在她坦诚的信任里,她从来也不掩饰想和他在一起的愿望。她对于这件事的全部本能,如果清楚地表述出来,那就是说,如果她躲躲闪闪,这种态度只能吸引一般的男人,而对于一个完美的男人,在海誓山盟之后也许就要讨厌这种态度了,因为就其本质说,这种态度带有矫揉造作的嫌疑。

The country custom of unreserved comradeship out of doors during betrothal was the only custom she knew, and to her it had no strangeness; though it seemed oddly anticipative to Clare till he saw how normal a thing she, in common with all the other dairy-folk, regarded it. Thus, during this October month of wonderful afternoons they roved along the meads by creeping paths which followed the brinks of trickling tributary brooks, hopping across by little wooden bridges to the other side, and back again. They were never out of the sound of some purling weir, whose buzz accompanied their own murmuring, while the beams of the sun, almost as horizontal as the mead itself, formed a pollen of radiance over the landscape. They saw tiny blue fogs in the shadows of trees and hedges, all the time that there was bright sunshine elsewhere. The sun was so near the ground, and the sward so flat, that the shadows of Clare and Tess would stretch a quarter of a mile ahead of them, like two long fingers pointing afar to where the green alluvial reaches abutted against the sloping sides of the vale.
乡村的风气是在定婚期间,男女可以出门相互为伴,不拘形迹,这也是她唯一知道的风气,所以在她看来没有什么奇怪;这似乎是克莱尔没有预料到的,也感到有些奇怪,但是在他看到苔丝和所有其他的奶牛场的工人都如同寻常时,才知道她完全是一个正常的人。在整个十月间美妙的下午,他们就这样在草场上漫游,沿着小溪旁边弯曲的小径漫步,倾听着小溪里的淙淙流水,从小溪上木桥的一边跨过去,然后又跨回来。他们所到之处,耳边都是潺潺的流水声,水声同他们的喁喁低语交织在一起,而太阳的光线,差不多已经和草场平行,为四周的景色罩上了一层花粉似的光辉。他们看见在树林和树篱的树阴里,有一些小小的蓝色暮霭,而其它地方都是灿烂的阳光。太阳和地面如此接近,草地又是那样平坦,所以克莱尔和苔丝两个人的影子,就在他们的面前伸展出去四分之一英里远近,就像两根细长的手指,远远地指点着同山谷斜坡相连的绿色冲积平原。