'I wish I could fix my mind on what I hear there more firmly than I do,' she remarked as a safe generality. 'It is often a great sorrow to me.'
“我希望能专心致志地听他讲道,但是我在那儿又老是不能专下心来。”她说着不会让人多心的普通话题。“对这件事我常常感到非常难过。”

She spoke so unaffectedly that Angel was sure in his heart that his father could not object to her on religious grounds, even though she did not know whether her principles were High, Low, or Broad. He himself knew that, in reality, the confused beliefs which she held, apparently imbibed in childhood, were, if any thing, Tractarian as to phraseology, and Pantheistic as to essence. Confused or otherwise, to disturb them was his last desire:
她说得那样坦诚自然,安琪尔心里相信他的父亲是不能用宗教方面的理由反对苔丝了,即使她弄不清楚自己是高教派、低教派还是广教派,这也没有什么关系。但是安琪尔知道,她心中混乱的宗教信仰,明显是在儿童时代受到熏陶的结果,真正说来,就使用的词句而论,是特拉克特主义的①,就精神实质而论,是泛神论的。混乱也罢,不混乱也罢,他绝没有想到要去纠正它们:

Leave thou thy sister, when she prays,
你的妹妹在祈祷,不要去打搅

Her early Heaven, her happy views;
她儿时的天堂,幸福的观念;

Nor thou with shadow'd hint confuse
也不要用晦涩的暗示搅乱 

A life that leads melodious days.
她在美妙岁月里过的生活。②

He had occasionally thought the counsel less honest than musical; but he gladly conformed to it now.
他曾经认为,这首诗的主旨不如它的韵律可靠;但是他现在却乐意遵从它了。

He spoke further of the incidents of his visit, of his father's mode of life, of his zeal for his principles; she grew serener, and the undulations disappeared from her skimming; as she finished one lead after another he followed her, and drew the plugs for letting down the milk.
他继续谈他回家后的种种琐事,谈他父亲的生活方式,谈他父亲追求生活原则的热情;苔丝也慢慢安静下来,撇奶油时手也不发颤了;他陪着她一桶一桶地撇着奶油,又帮她把塞子拔掉,把牛奶放出来。

'I fancied you looked a little downcast when you came in,' she ventured to observe, anxious to keep away from the subject of herself.
“你刚进来的时候,我觉得你情绪不太好似的。”她冒昧地问,尽量绕开与自己有关的话题。

①特拉克特主义(Tractarian),一种英国宗教运动,又称牛津运动,因这一派自1832年到1841年发表九十本小册子,主张英国国教归于天主教,反对新教,后因遭人反对而逐渐消亡。

②该诗引自丁尼生(Alfted Lord Tennyson)的诗《纪念阿塞·哈莱姆》(In Memorian)第三十三节。