Songs were often resorted to in dairies hereabout as an enticement to the cows when they showed signs of withholding their usual yield; and the band of milkers at this request burst into melody - in purely business-like tones, it is true, and with no great spontaneity; the result, according to their own belief, being a decided improvement during the song's continuance. When they had gone through fourteen or fifteen verses of a cheerful ballad about a murderer who was afraid to go to bed in the dark because he saw certain brimstone flames around him, one of the male milkers said--
当奶牛一出现出奶量比平常减少的迹象,人们往往就采取在牛奶场唱歌的办法,想用这种办法把牛奶引出来;老板要求唱歌,这群挤牛奶的工人们就放开喉咙唱起来——唱的完全是一种应付公事的调子,老实说,一点也没有自愿的意思;结果,就像他们相信的那样,在他们不停地唱歌的时候,出奶的状况的确有了改变。他们唱的是一首民歌,说是有一个杀人凶手不敢在黑暗里睡觉,因为他看见有某种硫磺火焰在围绕着他燃烧,他们唱到第十四段还是第十五段的时候,挤牛奶的男工中有人说——

'I wish singing on the stoop didn't use up so much of a man's wind! You should get your harp, sir; not but what a fiddle is best.'
“但愿弯着腰唱歌不要这样费气力才好!你应该把你的竖琴拿来,先生;不拿竖琴,最好还是拿小提琴。”

Tess, who had given ear to this, thought the words were addressed to the dairyman, but she was wrong. A reply, in the shape of 'Why?'came as it were out of the belly of a dun cow in the stalls; it had been spoken by a milker behind the animal, whom she had not hitherto perceived.
一直在留神听他们说话的苔丝,以为这些话是对牛奶场老板说的,不过她想错了。有人接口说了句“为什么”,声音似乎是从牛棚里一头黄牛的肚子里发出来的;这句话是那头牛后面的一个挤奶工人说的,苔丝直到这时才看见他。

'Oh yes; there's nothing like a fiddle,' said the dairyman. 'Though I do think that bulls are more moved by a tune than cows - at least that's my experience. Once there was a old aged man over at Mellstock - William Dewy by name - one of the family that used to do a good deal of business as tranters over there, Jonathan, do ye mind? - I knowed the man by sight as well as I know my own brother, in a manner of speaking. Well, this man was a coming home-along from a wedding where he had been playing his fiddle, one fine moonlight night, and for shortness' sake he took a cut across Forty-acres, a field lying that way, where a bull was out to grass. The bull seed William, and took after him, horns aground, begad; and though William runned his best, and hadn't much drink in him (considering 'twas a wedding, and the folks well off), he found he'd never reach the fence and get over in time to save himself. Well, as a last thought, he pulled out his fiddle as he runned, and struck up a jig, turning to the bull, and backing towards the corner. The bull softened down, and stood still, looking hard at William Dewy, who fiddled on and on; till a sort of a smile stole over the bull's face. But no sooner did William stop his playing and turn to get over hedge than the bull would stop his smiling and lower his horns towards the seat of William's breeches. Well, William had to turn about and play on, willy-nilly; and 'twas only three o'clock in the world, and 'a knowed that nobody would come that way for hours, and he so leery and tired that 'a didn't know what to do. When he had scraped till about four o'clock he felt that he verily would have to give over soon, and he said to himself, "There's only this last tune between me and eternal welfare! Heaven save me, or I'm a done man." Well, then he called to mind how he'd seen the cattle kneel o' Christmas Eves in the dead o' night. It was not Christmas Eve then, but it came into his head to play a trick upon the bull. So he broke into the 'Tivity Hymn, just as at Christmas carol-singing; when, lo and behold, down went the bull on his bended knees, in his ignorance, just as if 'twere the true 'Tivity night and hour. As soon as his horned friend were down, William turned, clinked off like a long-dog, and jumped safe over hedge, before the praying bull had got on his feet again to take after him. William used to say that he'd seen a man look a fool a good many times, but never such a fool as that bull looked when he found his pious feelings had been played upon, and 'twas not Christmas Eve... Yes, William Dewy, that was the man's name; and I can tell you to a foot where's he a-lying in Mellstock Churchyard at this very moment - just between the second yew-tree and the north aisle.'
“啊,是的;什么也比不上提琴,”奶牛场老板说。“尽管我确实认为公牛比母牛更容易受到音乐的感动——至少这是我的经验。从前梅尔斯托克有一个老头儿——名字叫威廉·杜伊——他家里从前是赶大车的,在那一带做了不少的活儿,约纳森,你不在意吗?——也可以这么说,我见面就认识他,就像熟悉我的兄弟一样。哦,有一次他在婚礼上拉提琴,那是一个月光明媚的晚上,他在回家的路上为了少走一些路,就走了一条穿过名叫四十亩地的近路,在横在路中的那块田野里,有一头公牛跑出来吃草。公牛看见威廉,天呀,把头上的角一晃就追了过去;尽管威廉拼命地跑,而且酒他也喝得不多(因为那是婚礼,办婚事的人家也很有钱),但是他还是感到他没法及时跑到树篱跟前跳过去,救自己的命。唉,后来他急中生智,一边跑,一边把提琴拿出来,转身对着公牛拉起一支跳舞的曲子,一边倒着向角落里退去。那头公牛安静下来,站着不动了,使劲地看着威廉·杜伊,看着他把曲子拉了又拉;看到后来,公牛的脸上都悄悄露出一种笑容来了。可是就在威廉停下来刚要翻过树篱的时候,那头公牛就不再笑了,低下头要向威廉的胯裆触过去。啊,威廉不得不转过身去继续拉给它听,拉呀拉呀,不停地拉;那时还只是凌晨三点钟,他知道再有几个小时那条路上也不会有人来,他又累又饿,简直不知道怎么办才好。当他拉到大约四点钟的时候,他真不知道他是不是很快就要拉不下去了,就自言自语地说,“这是我剩下的最后一支曲子了!老天爷,救救我吧,莫让我把命丢了。”哦,后来他突然想起来他看见圣诞节前夕的半夜里有头牛下跪的事来。不过那时候不是圣诞节前夕,但是他突然想到要同那头公牛开个玩笑。因此,他就转而拉了一首“耶稣诞生颂”,就像圣诞节有人在唱圣诞颂歌一样;啊哈,你瞧,那头公牛不知道是开玩笑,就弯着双腿跪了下去,似乎真的以为耶稣诞生的时刻到了。威廉等到他那长角的朋友一跪下去,就转过身去像一条猎狗蹿起来,祈祷的公牛还没有站起来向他追过去,他已经跳过树篱平安无事了。威廉曾经说过愚蠢的人他见得多了,但从没有见过那头公牛发现那天原来不是圣诞节而自己虔诚的感情受到欺骗时那种傻样的……对了,威廉·杜伊,这就是那个人的名字;这阵儿他埋在梅尔斯托克教堂院子里,什么地方我都能说得一点儿不差——他就埋在教堂北边的走道和第二棵紫杉中间那块地方。”