Meanwhile many of the milkmaids had said to one another of the new-comer, 'How pretty she is!' with something of real generosity and admiration, though with a half hope that the auditors would qualify the assertion - which, strictly speaking, they might have done, prettiness being an inexact definition of what struck the eye in Tess. When the milking was finished for the evening they straggled indoors, where Mrs Crick, the dairyman's wife - who was too respectable to go out milking herself, and wore a hot stuff gown in warm weather because the dairymaids wore prints - was giving an eye to the leads and things.
就在此时，许多挤牛奶的女工们已经开始互相谈论起她这个新来的人，“她多么漂亮呀！”这句话里带有几分真正的慷慨，几分真心的羡慕，尽管也带有一半希望，但愿听话的人会对这句评价加以限制——严格说来，姑娘们也只能找到这句评价了，因为漂亮这个词是不足以表现她们的眼睛所看到的苔丝的。大家挤完了当晚的牛奶，陆陆续续地走进屋内。老板娘克里克太太因为自恃身分，不肯到外面亲自挤牛奶，就在屋里照料一些沉重的锅盆和杂事；也因为女工们都穿印花布，所以在暖和天气里她还穿着一件闷热的毛料衣服。

Only two or three of the maids, Tess learnt, slept in the dairy-house besides herself; most of the helpers going to their homes. She saw nothing at supper-time of the superior milker who had commented on the story, and asked no questions about him, the remainder of the evening being occupied in arranging her place in the bed-chamber. It was a large room over the milk-house, some thirty feet long; the sleeping-cots of the other three indoor milkmaids being in the same apartment. They were blooming young women, and, except one, rather older than herself. By bedtime Tess was thoroughly tired, and fell asleep immediately.
苔丝已经听说，除她而外，只有两三个挤牛奶的女工在奶牛场的屋子里睡觉；大多数雇工都是回他们自己家里睡。吃晚饭的时候，她没有看见那个评论故事的挤牛奶的上等工人，也没有问起过他，晚上剩余的时间她都在寝室里安排自己睡觉的地方。寝室是牛奶房上方的一个大房间，大约有三十英尺长；另外三个在奶牛场睡觉的女工的床铺也在同一个寝室里。她们都是年轻美貌的女孩子，只有一个比她年纪小，其他的都比她的年纪大些。到睡觉的时候苔丝已经筋疲力尽，一头倒在床上立即睡着了。

But one of the girls who occupied an adjoining bed was more wakeful than Tess, and would insist upon relating to the latter various particulars of the homestead into which she had just entered. The girl's whispered words mingled with the shades, and, to Tess's drowsy mind, they seemed to be generated by the darkness in which they floated.
不过，在和她毗邻的一张床上睡觉的女孩子，不像苔丝那样很快就能入睡，坚持要讲讲她刚刚加入进来的这户人家的一些琐事。女孩子的喃喃细语混合着沉沉的夜色，在半睡半醒的苔丝听来，它们似乎是从黑暗中产生的，而且漂游在黑暗里。

'Mr Angel Clare - he that is learning milking, and that plays the harp -never says much to us. He is a pa'son's son, and is too much taken up wi' his own thoughts to notice girls. He is the dairyman's pupil - learning farming in all its branches. He has learnt sheep-farming at another place, and he's now mastering dairy-work... Yes, he is quite the gentleman-born. His father is the Reverent Mr Clare at Emminster - a good many miles from here.'
“安琪尔·克莱尔先生——他是在这儿学挤牛奶的，会弹竖琴——从不对我们多说话。他是一个牧师的儿子，对自己的心思想得太多，因此不太注意女孩子们。他是奶牛场老板的学徒——他在学习办农场的各方面的技艺。他已在其它的地方学会了养羊，现在正学习养牛……哦，他的确是一个天生的绅士。他的父亲是爱敏寺的牧师克莱尔先生——离这儿远得很。”

'Oh - I have heard of him,' said her companion, now awake. 'A very earnest clergyman, is he not?'
“哦——我也听说过他，”现在她的伙伴醒过来说。“他是一个十分热心的牧师，是不是？”

'Yes - that he is - the earnestest man in all Wessex, they say the last of the old Low Church sort, they tell me - for all about here be what they call High. All his sons, except our Mr Clare, be made pa'sons too.'
“是的——他很热心——他们说他是全威塞克斯最热心的人——他们告诉我，他是低教派的最后一个了——因为这儿的牧师基本上都被称作高教派。他所有的儿子，除了克莱尔先生外也都做了牧师。”

Tess had not at this hour the curiosity to ask why the present Mr Clare was not made a parson like his brethren, and gradually fell asleep again, the words of her informant coming to her along with the smell of the cheeses in the adjoining cheese-loft, and the measured dripping of the whey from the wrings downstairs.
苔丝此刻没有好奇心去问为什么这个克莱尔先生没有像他的哥哥一样也去做牧师，就慢慢地睡着了，为她报告新闻的那个女孩子的说话向她传过来，一同传过来的还有隔壁奶酪房里的奶酪气味，以及楼下榨房里奶清滴下来的韵律声。