Having mounted beside her, Alec d’Urberville drove rapidly along the crest of the first hill, chatting compliments to Tess as they went, the cart with her box being left far behind. Rising still, an immense landscape stretched around them on every side; behind, the green valley of her birth, before, a gray country of which she knew nothing except from her first brief visit to Trantridge. Thus they reached the verge of an incline down which the road stretched in a long straight descent of nearly a mile.
Ever since the accident with her father’s horse Tess Durbeyfield, courageous as she naturally was, had been exceedingly timid on wheels; the least irregularity of motion startled her. She began to get uneasy at a certain recklessness in her conductor’s driving.
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3
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“我想下山时你会慢些走吧,先生?”
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`You will go down slow, sir, I suppose?’ she said with attempted unconcern.
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4
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德贝维尔扭头看看苔丝,用他的又白又大的门牙叼着雪茄烟,慢慢咧开两片嘴唇笑开了。
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4
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D’Urberville looked round upon her, nipped his cigar with the tips of his large white centre-teeth, and allowed his lips to smile slowly of themselves.
`Why, Tess,’ he answered, after another whiff or two, `it isn’t a brave bouncing girl like you who asks that? Why, I always go down at full gallop. There’s nothing like it for raising your spirits.’
`Ah, well may you ask it! It was my fate, I suppose. Tib has killed one chap; and just after I bought her she nearly killed me. And then, take my word for it, I nearly killed her. But she’s touchy still, very touchy; and one’s life is hardly safe behind her sometimes.’
They were just beginning to descend; and it was evident that the horse, whether of her own will or of his (the latter being the more likely), knew so well the reckless performance expected of her that she hardly required a hint from behind.
Down, down, they sped, the wheels humming like a top, the dog-cart rocking right and left, its axis acquiring a slightly oblique set in relation to the line of progress; the figure of the horse rising and falling in undulations before them. Sometimes a wheel was off the ground, it seemed, for many yards; sometimes a stone was sent spinning over the hedge, and flintysparks from the horse’s hoofs outshone the daylight. The aspect of the straight road enlarged with their advance, the two banks dividing like a splitting stick; one rushing past at each shoulder.
The wind blew through Tess’s white muslin to her very skin, and her washed hair flew out behind. She was determined to show no open fear, but she clutched d’Urberville’s rein-arm.
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17
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“别碰我的胳膊!你要是抓住我的胳膊,我们都会被摔出去的!你搂着我的腰好啦!”
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17
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`Don’t touch my arm! We shall be thrown out if you do! Hold on round my waist!’
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18
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她把他的腰搂住了,两人就这样跑到了山下。
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18
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She grasped his waist, and so they reached the bottom.
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19
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“虽然你这样莽撞,不过总算安全了,谢天谢地!”她说,脸上都是激动的神情。
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`Safe, thank God, in spite of your fooling!’ said she, her face on fire.
`Well, you need not let go your hold of me so thanklessly the moment you feel yourself out of danger.’
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23
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“喂,又要下山啦!”德贝维尔说。
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She had not considered what she had been doing; whether he were man or woman, stick or stone, in her involuntary hold on him. Recovering her reserve she sat without replying, and thus they reached the summit of another declivity.
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24
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“不要乱来,不要乱来!”苔丝说:“请你一定要多一些理智,先生。”
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24
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`Now then, again!’ said d’Urberville.
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25
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“不过,当人到了这个地区最高的山顶上,都肯定要冲下山去的,”他反驳说。
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`No, no!’ said Tess. `Show more sense, do, please.’
`But when people find themselves on one of the highest points in the county, they must get down again,’ he retorted.
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27
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“决不!”苔丝坚决地说,一面尽力坚持住自己,不去碰他。
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He loosened rein, and away they went a second time. D’Urberville turned his face to her as they rocked, and said, in playful raillery: `Now then, put your arms round my waist again, as you did before, my Beauty.’
`Will nothing else do?’ she cried at length, in desperation, her large eyes staring at him like those of a wild animal. This dressing her up so prettily by her mother hid apparently been to lamentable purpose.
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32
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“别的不行,亲爱的苔丝,”他回答说。
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32
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`Nothing, dear Tess,’ he replied.
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33
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“唉,我完全不知道——怎么办好了;我不管那么多了!”她可怜地喘着气说。
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33
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`Oh, I don’t know - very well; I don’t mind!’ she panted miserably.
He drew rein, and as they slowed he was on the point of imprinting the desired salute, when, as if hardly yet aware of her own modesty, she dodged aside. His arms being occupied with the reins there was left him no power to prevent her manoeuvre.
`Now, damn it - I’ll break both our necks!’ swore her capriciously passionate companion. `So you can go from your word like that, you young witch, can you?’
`But I don’t want anybody to kiss me, sir!’ she implored, a big tear beginning to roll down her face, and the corners of her mouth trembling in her attempts not to cry. `And I wouldn’t ha’come if I had known!’
He was inexorable, and she sat still, and d’Urberville gave her the kiss of mastery. No sooner had he done so than she flushed with shame, took out her handkerchief, and wiped the spot on her cheek that had been touched by his lips. His ardour was nettled at the sight, for the act on her part had been unconsciously done.
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40
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“一个乡村姑娘,你倒挺敏感的!”年轻的男子说。
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40
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`You are mighty sensitive for a cottage girl!’ said the young man.
Tess made no reply to this remark, of which, indeed, she did not quite comprehend the drift, unheeding the snub she had administered by her instinctive rub upon her cheek. She had, in fact, undone the kiss, as far as such a thing was physically possible. With a dim sense that he was vexed she looked steadily ahead as they trotted on near Melbury Down and Wingreen, till she saw, to her consternation, that there was yet another descent to be undergone.
`You shall be made sorry for that!’ he resumed, his injured tone still remaining, as he flourished the whip anew. `Unless, that is, you agree willingly to let me do it again, and no handkerchief.’
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43
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她叹了口气。“好吧,先生!”她说。“哦——你让我把帽子捡起来!”
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43
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Sie sighed. `Very well, sir!’ she said. `Oh let me get my hat!’
At the moment of speaking her hat had blown off into the road, their present speed on the upland being by no means slow. D’Urberville pulled up, and said he would get it for her, but Tess was down on the other side.
`You look prettier with it off, upon my soul, if that’s possible,’ he said, contemplating her over the back of the vehicle. `Now then, up again! What’s the matter?’
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47
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帽子已经戴在了头上,帽带也系好了,但是苔丝却没有走过来。
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The hat was in place and tied, but Tess had not stepped forward.
Then d’Urberville cursed and swore at her, and called her everything he could think of for the trick. Turning the horse suddenly he tried to drive back upon her, and so hem her in between the gig and the hedge. But he could not do this short of injuring her.
`You ought to be ashamed of yourself for using such wicked words!’ cried Tess with spirit, from the top of the hedge into which she had scrambled. `I don’t like ’ee at all! I hate and detest you! I’ll go back to mother, I will!’
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57
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看见苔丝大发脾气,德贝维尔的火气顿时消了,哈哈大笑起来。
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57
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D’Urberville’s bad temper cleared up at sight of hers; and he laughed heartily.
Still Tess could not be induced to remount. She did not, however, object to his keeping his gig alongside her; and in this manner, at a slow pace, they advanced towards the village of Trantridge. From time to time d’Urberville exhibited a sort of fierce distress at the sight of the tramping he had driven her to undertake by his misdemeanour. She might in truth have safely trusted him now; but he had forfeited her confidence for the time, and she kept on the ground, progressing thoughtfully, as if wondering whether it would be wiser to return home. Her resolve, however, had been taken, and it seemed vacillating even to childishness to abandon it now, unless for graver reasons. How could she face her parents, get back her box, and disconcert the whole scheme for the rehabilitation of her family on such sentimental grounds?