'Is it too sudden to be asked thus, my Pretty?'
“是不是我這樣向你求婚太突然了，我的美人兒？”

'Yes - I did not expect it.'
“是的——我一點兒也沒有想到?！?/div>

'If you will let it pass, please, Tessy, I will give you time,' he said. 'It was very abrupt to come home and speak to you all at once. I'll not allude to it again for a while.'
“如果你想把這件事拖一拖，也行，苔絲，我會給你時間的，”他說?！拔乙换貋砭土⒖滔蚰闾徇@件事，的確是太唐突了。隔一陣兒我再提這件事吧。”

She again took up the shining skimmer, held it beneath the pump, and began anew. But she could not, as at other times, hit the exact under-surface of the cream with the delicate dexterity required, try as she might: sometimes she was cutting down into the milk, sometimes in the air. She could hardly see, her eyes having filled with two blurring tears drawn forth by a grief which, to this her best friend and dear advocate, she could never explain.
她又拿起了撇奶油的勺子，把勺子伸到水管子下面，重新開始工作起來?？墒撬裏o法像在其它時候那樣，能夠用所需要的靈巧手法，把勺子精確地伸到奶油的底層下面。她盡力而為，但是有時候她把勺子撇到了牛奶里，有時候什么也撇不著。她的眼睛幾乎看不見了，悲傷給她的一雙眼睛注滿了淚水，模糊了她的視線；對于她這位最好的朋友，她親愛的辯護人，她是永遠無法向他解釋的。

'I can't skim - I can't!' she said, turning away from him.
“我撇不著奶油了——我撇不著了！”她轉過身去說。

Not to agitate and hinder her longer the considerate Clare began talking in a more general way:
為了不讓她激動，不妨礙她的工作，細心體貼的克萊爾開始用一種更加輕松的方式同她說話：

'You quite misapprehend my parents. They are the most simple-mannered people alive, and quite unambitious. They are two of the few remaining Evangelical school. Tessy, are you an Evangelical?'
“你完全誤解了我的父母。他們都是最樸實的人，也是完全沒有野心的人。福音派的教徒所剩無幾了，他們就是其中的兩個。苔絲，你是一個福音教徒嗎？”

'I don't know.'
“我不知道?！?/div>

'You go to church very regularly, and our parson here is not very High, they tell me.'
“你是定期上教堂的，他們告訴我，我們這兒的牧師并不是什么高教派?！?/div>

Tess's ideas on the views of the parish clergyman, whom she heard every week, seemed to be rather more vague than Clare's, who had never heard him at all.
苔絲每個星期都去教堂聽教區(qū)的牧師講道，但是她對那個牧師的印象卻十分模糊，甚至比從來都沒有見過那個牧師的克萊爾還要模糊。