She mounted again beside her lover, with a mute obedience characteristic of impassioned natures at times, and when they had wrapped themselves up over head and ears in the sail-cloth again, they plunged back into the now thick night. Tess was so receptive that the few minutes of contact with the whirl of material progress lingered in her thought.
她上了車，坐在情人的旁邊，她熱烈的天性有時表現(xiàn)得既沉默又溫順；他們又用車上的帆布把自己的頭和耳朵包裹起來，轉(zhuǎn)身在已經(jīng)變得很深沉的夜色中往回走了。苔絲是一個十分敏感的人，所以她剛才和物質(zhì)文明的漩渦接觸了幾分鐘，這種接觸就留在她的思想里了。

'Londoners will drink it at their breakfasts to-morrow, won't they?' she asked. 'Strange people that we have never seen.'
“明天早晨倫敦人在吃早飯的時候就可以喝這些牛奶了，是不是？”她問。“他們都是我們從來沒有見過的陌生人，是不是？”

'Yes - I suppose they will. Though not as we send it. When its strength has been lowered, so that it may not get up into their heads.'
“不錯——我想他們明天就可以喝這些牛奶了。不過他們喝的和我們送的牛奶有些不同。他們喝的牛奶的含量被降低了，免得他們被喝醉了?！?/div>

'Noble men and noble women, ambassadors and centurions, ladies and tradeswomen, and babies who have never seen a cow.'
“他們都是高貴的紳士、貴婦、外國大使、千夫長①、太太小姐、還有孩子，他們都從來沒有看見過一頭奶牛，是不是？”

'Well, yes; perhaps; particularly centurions.'
“哦，是的；也許是的；尤其是千夫長?！?/div>

'Who don't know anything of us, and where it comes from; or think how we two drove miles across the moor to-night in the rain that it might reach 'em in time?'
“他們對我們是什么人也不知道的啦？也不知道牛奶是從哪兒來的啦？他們也想不到我們走了好遠的路，今天夜里冒雨穿過荒野把牛奶送到車站，好讓他們明天早晨喝上牛奶，是不是？”

'We did not drive entirely on account of these precious Londoners; we drove a little on our own - on account of that anxious matter which you will, I am sure, set at rest, dear Tess. Now,-permit me to put it in this way. You belong to me already, you know; your heart, I mean. Does it not?'
“我們并不是完全為了這些寶貴的倫敦人送牛奶的；我們送牛奶也有點兒為我們自己——為了那個讓人焦慮的問題，我想，親愛的苔絲，這個問題你會讓我放心的。好啦，請允許我這樣說，你知道，你已經(jīng)屬于我了；我是說你的心。是不是這樣的？”

'You know as well as I. O yes - yes!'
“你知道得像我一樣清楚的。啊，是的——是的！”

'Then, if your heart does, why not your hand?'
“既然你的心答應了，為什么你不答應嫁給我呢？”

①千夫長（centurions），古代羅馬下級軍官的官銜，苔絲的時代沒有這種人，表明苔絲對農(nóng)村以外的知識所知不多。下文克萊爾也提千夫長，是對苔絲的一種調(diào)笑。