The dairymaids and men had flocked down from their cottages and out of the dairy-house with the arrival of the cows from the meads; the maids walking in pattens, not on account of the weather, but to keep their shoes above the mulch of the barton. Each girl sat down on her three-legged stool, her face sideways, her right cheek resting against the cow; and looked musingly along the animal's flank at Tess as she approached. The male milkers, with hat-brims turned down, resting flat on their foreheads and gazing on the ground, did not observe her.
奶牛從草場一回來，擠奶的男女工人們就成群結(jié)隊地從他們的茅屋和奶房里涌出來；擠奶的女工都穿著木頭套鞋，不是因為天氣不好，而是免得她們的鞋子沾上了院子里的爛草爛泥。所有的女孩子都坐在三條腿的凳子上，側(cè)著臉，右臉頰靠著牛肚子；苔絲走過來時，她們都沿著牛肚子不聲不響地看著她。擠牛奶的男工們把帽檐彎下來，前額靠在牛的身上，眼睛盯著地面，沒有注意到苔絲。

One of these was a sturdy middle-aged man - whose long white 'pinner' was somewhat finer and cleaner than the wraps of the others, and whose jacket underneath had a presentable marketing aspect - the master-dairyman, of whom she was in quest, his double character as a working milker and butter-maker here during six days, and on the seventh as a man in shining broadcloth in his family pew at church, being so marked as to have inspired a rhyme--
男工中間有一個健壯的中年人，他的長長的白色圍裙比別人的罩衫要漂亮些、干凈些，里面穿的短上衣既體面又時興，他就是奶牛場的場主，是苔絲要找的人。他具有雙重的身分，一個星期有六天在這兒做擠牛奶和攪黃油的工人，第七天則穿著精致的細呢服裝，坐在教堂里他自家的座位上。他的這個特點十分顯著，因此有人給他編了一首歌謠——?

Dairyman Dick
擠牛奶的狄克，

All the week: - On Sundays Mister Richard Crick.
整個星期里：—— 只有禮拜天，才是理查德·克里克。

Seeing Tess standing at gaze he went across to her.
看見苔絲站在那兒東張西望，他就走了過去。

The majority of dairymen have a cross manner at milking-time, but it happened that Mr Crick was glad to get a new hand - for the days were busy ones now - and he received her warmly; inquiring for her mother and the rest of the family - (though this as a matter of form merely, for in reality he had not been aware of Mrs Durbeyfield's existence till apprised of the fact by a brief business letter about Tess).
大多數(shù)男工擠奶的時候都脾氣煩躁，但是碰巧克里克先生正想雇傭一個新手——因為這些日子正是缺少人手的時候——于是他就熱情地接待了她；他問候她的母親和家中其他的人——（其實這不過是客套而已，因為他在接到介紹苔絲的一封短信之前，根本就不知道德北菲爾德太太的存在）。

'Oh - ay, as a lad I knowed your part o' the country very well,' he said terminatively. 'Though I've never been there since. And a aged woman of ninety that used to live nigh here, but is dead and gone long ago, told me that a family of some such name as yours in Blackmoor Vale came originally from these parts, and that 'twere a old ancient race that had all but perished off the earth - though the new generations didn't know it. But, Lord, I took no notice of the old woman's ramblings, not I.'
“啊——對，我還是孩子的時候，對鄉(xiāng)村中你們那個地方就十分熟悉了，”他最后說?！安贿^后來我從沒去過那兒。從前這兒有個九十歲的老太太住在附近，不過早已經(jīng)死了，她告訴我布萊克原野谷有一戶人家姓你們這個姓，最初是從這些地方搬走的，據(jù)說是一個古老的家族，現(xiàn)在差不多都死光了——新一輩人都不知道這些。不過，唉，我對那個老太太的嘮叨沒有太在意，我沒有太在意?！?/div>