browbeat

The staple conversation on the farms around was on the uselessness of saving money; and smockfrocked arithmeticians, leaning on their ploughs or hoes, would enter into calculations of great nicety to prove that parish relief was a fuller provision for a man in his old age than any which could result from savings out of their wages during a whole lifetime.
周围农庄上的主要谈话内容是存钱无用;穿着罩衫的算术家们，倚着他们的犁或锄头，开始进行非常精细的计算，以证明教区的救济对一个人的老年来说，比从他们一生的工资中储蓄出来的任何东西都要合算。(第十章）