He looked into the fire. He remembered how, when he was a lad of fifteen, his godmother, the Squire's wife - the only rich person with whom he had ever come in contact - had pinned her faith to his success; had prophesied a wondrous career for him. There had seemed nothing at all out of keeping with such a conjectured career in the storing up of these showy ornaments for his wife and the wives of her descendants. They gleamed somewhat ironically now. 'Yet why?' he asked himself. It was but a question of vanity throughout; and if that were admitted into one side of the equation it should be admitted into the other. His wife was a d'Urberville: whom could they become better than her?
他向壁爐里的爐火看去。他還記得，當(dāng)他還是一個十五歲的孩子的時候，他的教母，一個紳士的妻子——他一生中接觸過的唯一一個富有的人，相信他將來一定能夠取得成功；她預(yù)言他的事業(yè)會超群出眾。把這些華麗的裝飾留給他的妻子，留給她的子孫的妻子，這與他想象中的事業(yè)根本就沒有矛盾的地方?，F(xiàn)在它們在那兒放射出諷刺的光芒?！翱墒菫槭裁匆@樣呢？”他問自己。自始至終，這只不過是一個虛榮的問題；如果承認他的教母有虛榮心的話，那么他的妻子也應(yīng)該有虛榮心啊。他妻子是德貝維爾家族的后人：誰還能比她更值得戴這些首飾呢？

Suddenly he said with enthusiasm--
他突然熱情地說——

'Tess, put them on - put them on!' And he turned from the fire to help her.
“苔絲，把它們戴上——把它們戴上！”他從爐火邊轉(zhuǎn)過身來，幫著她戴首飾。

But as if by magic she had already donned them - necklace, ear-rings, bracelets, and all.
但是仿佛有魔法幫助她似的，她已經(jīng)把首飾戴上了——項鏈、耳環(huán)，所有的首飾她都戴上了。

'But the gown isn't right, Tess,' said Clare. 'It ought to be a low one for a set of brilliants like that.'
“不過這件袍子不太合身，苔絲，”克萊爾說?！皯?yīng)該是低領(lǐng)口的袍子，才好配這一副閃閃發(fā)亮的首飾?！?/div>

'Ought it?' said Tess.
“是嗎？”苔絲問。

'Yes,' said he.
“是的，”他說。

He suggested to her how to tuck in the upper edge of her bodice, so as to make it roughly approximate to the cut for evening wear; and when she had done this, and the pendant to the necklace hung isolated amid the whiteness of her throat, as it was designed to do, he stepped back to survey her.
他建議她把胸衣的上邊折進去，這樣就大致上接近晚禮服的式樣了；她照著他的話做了，項鏈上那個墜子就獨自垂下來，顯露在她脖子的前面了，這正是設(shè)計要求戴的樣子，他向后退了幾步，打量著她。

'My heavens,' said Clare, 'how beautiful you are!'
“我的天呀，”克萊爾說，“你有多漂亮??！”

As everybody knows, fine feathers make fine birds; a peasant girl but very moderately prepossessing to the casual observer in her simple condition and attire, will bloom as an amazing beauty if clothed as a woman of fashion with the aids that Art can render; while the beauty of the midnight crush would often cut but a sorry figure if placed inside the field-woman's wrapper upon a monotonous acreage of turnips on a dull day. He had never till now estimated the artistic excellence of Tess's limbs and features.
正如所有的人知道的那樣，人是樹樁，還要衣妝；一個農(nóng)村女孩子穿著簡單的服飾，隨隨便便看上去就讓人喜愛，要是像一個時髦女人加以打扮，加上藝術(shù)的修飾，就會光彩照人美不勝收了。而半夜舞會里的那些美女們，要是穿上鄉(xiāng)村種地婦女的衣服，在沉悶的天氣里站在單調(diào)的胡蘿卜地里，她們就會常常顯得可憐寒酸了。一直到現(xiàn)在，他都沒有想到苔絲面貌和四肢的藝術(shù)美點。