Gabriel soon arranged the details of his employment with Bathsheba's farm manager,Benjy Pennyways,and walked on to the village to find a place to live. As he walked,he thought of Bathsheba. How quickly the young girl he remembered had become the capable mistress of a farm!
盖伯瑞尔很快就与芭丝谢芭的农场经理宾尼威斯安排妥了有关他受雇的一些具体事宜,然后向村里走去,去找一个住的地方。他一边走,一边想芭丝谢芭。他认识的那个年轻姑娘才几天就成了一个农场的女主人!
When he passed the churchyard,and the ancient trees around it,he noticed that someone was standing behind one of the trees.
在经过教堂及教堂周围的古树时,他注意到有个人站在一棵树后。
‘Is this the right way to Weatherbury?’asked Gabriel.
“这是去威瑟伯里的路吗?”他问。
‘Oh yes,straight on,’said a girl's voice,low and sweet. After a pause she added,‘You're not a Weatherbury man?’
“噢,是的,一直往前走,”一个姑娘的声音,声音虽然低但甜美。停了一下她又说,“你不是威瑟伯里人?”
‘No,I'm the new shepherd,just arrived. ’
“不是,我是新来的牧羊人,刚到这里。”
‘Only a shepherd!You seem almost like a farmer to me. ’
“不过是个牧羊人!我觉得你差不多像个农场主。”
‘Only a shepherd,’repeated Gabriel in a dull voice,think-ing of the disaster that had destroyed his hopes of being a farmer.
“不过是个牧羊人,”盖伯瑞尔闷声闷气地重复着,想到了那场灾难,那场灾难破灭了他想成为农场主的希望。
‘Please don't tell anyone in the village that you've seen me,’begged the girl. ‘I'm rather poor,and I don't want anyone to know about me. ’ Her thin arms trembled in the cold.
“请你千万别对村里的任何人说看见了我,”姑娘哀求说。“我很穷,我不想让人们知道我的事。”她的瘦弱的胳膊由于天冷而颤抖着。
‘I won't tell anyone,’said Gabriel,‘but you ought to be wearing a cloak on a night like this. ’
“我谁也不告诉,”盖伯瑞尔说,“你在这样的晚上应该穿一件斗篷。”
‘Oh,it doesn't matter. Please go on and leave me. ’
“噢,没关系。请你继续赶路吧,你走吧。”
He hesitated ‘Perhaps you'd accept this. It's not much,but it's all I have to spare. ’He put a coin into her small hand,and as he touched her wrist he noticed how quickly the blood was beating. It was the same quick,hard beat that he felt in his lambs when they were close to death.
他犹豫着。“也许你会接受这个。虽然不多,我就这点富余。”他把一枚硬币放进她的小手里,触到她的手腕时,他察觉到她的脉搏跳动得异常快。他的羊羔临近死亡时,他也曾在它们身上感到了同样迅速、剧烈的跳动。
‘What's the matter?Can't I help you?’he asked. He felt a deep sadness in this thin,weak creature.
“出了什么事?我不能帮你吗?”他问道。他感到这瘦弱可怜的人儿怀有一种深深的悲哀。
‘No,no!Don't tell anyone you've seen me!Good night!’She stayed in the shadows,and Gabriel went on to Weather-bury.
“不,不!别告诉任何人你见过我!再见!”她呆在黑暗中,盖伯瑞尔继续向威瑟伯里走去。