Then he pressed her again to his side, and when she had done running her forefinger round the leads to cut off the cream-edge, he cleaned it in nature's way; for the unconstrained manners of Talbothays dairy came convenient now.
接著他又把她緊緊的擁抱在自己的身邊，當(dāng)苔絲伸出食指沿著鉛桶把奶油的邊緣切斷時(shí)，他就用天然的辦法把她的食指吸吮干凈；因?yàn)樘┎ㄈ购翢o(wú)拘束的生活方式，現(xiàn)在倒給了他們方便。

'I may as well say it now as later, dearest,' he resumed gently. 'I wish to ask you something of a very practical nature, which I have been thinking of ever since that day last week in the meads. I shall soon want to marry, and, being a farmer, you see I shall require for my wife a woman who knows all about the management of farms. Will you be that woman, Tessy?'
“我早晚是要對(duì)你說(shuō)的，不如現(xiàn)在就對(duì)你說(shuō)了吧，最親愛(ài)的，”他繼續(xù)溫情地說(shuō)。“我想問(wèn)你一件非常實(shí)際的事情，從上星期草場(chǎng)上那一天開(kāi)始，我一直在考慮這件事。我打算不久就結(jié)婚，既然做一個(gè)農(nóng)場(chǎng)主，你明白，我就應(yīng)該選擇一個(gè)懂得管理農(nóng)場(chǎng)的女人做妻子。你愿意做那個(gè)女人嗎，苔絲？”

He put it in that way that she might not think he had yielded to an impulse of which his head would disapprove.
他提出這件事的時(shí)候，他的表情不會(huì)讓她產(chǎn)生誤解，以為他是一時(shí)屈服于感情沖動(dòng)而理智并不贊成。

She turned quite careworn. She had bowed to the inevitable result of proximity, the necessity of loving him; but she had not calculated upon this sudden corollary, which, indeed, Clare had put before her without quite meaning himself to do it so soon. With pain that was like the bitterness of dissolution she murmured the words of her indispensable and sworn answer as an honourable woman.
苔絲的臉上立刻愁云密布。他們相互接近，她必然會(huì)愛(ài)上他，她對(duì)這個(gè)不可避免的結(jié)果已經(jīng)屈服了；但是她沒(méi)有想到這個(gè)突然而來(lái)的結(jié)果，這件事克萊爾確實(shí)在她面前提出過(guò)，但是他完全沒(méi)有說(shuō)過(guò)會(huì)這樣快就結(jié)婚。她是一個(gè)高尚的女子，嘟噥著說(shuō)了一些不可避免的和發(fā)誓的話作為回答，說(shuō)的時(shí)候帶著痛苦，就像一個(gè)將死的人所遭受的苦難一樣。

'O Mr Clare - I cannot be your wife - I cannot be!'
“啊，克萊爾先生——我不能做你的妻子——我不能！”

The sound of her own decision seemed to break Tess's very heart, and she bowed her face in her grief.
苔絲把自己的決定說(shuō)了出來(lái)，從她的聲音可以聽(tīng)出來(lái)，她似乎是肝腸寸斷，痛苦地把頭低著。