動物農(nóng)場Animal Farm 第6章(7)

By the autumn the animals were tired but happy.

直到秋天，動物們都挺累的，卻也愉快。

They had had a hard year, and after the sale of part of the hay and corn, the stores of food for the winter were none too plentiful.

說起來他們已經(jīng)在艱難中熬過整整一年了，并且在賣了部分干草和玉米之后，準(zhǔn)備過冬的飼料就根本不夠用了。

But the windmill compensated for everything. It was almost half built now.

但是，風(fēng)車補(bǔ)償這一切，它這時差不多建到一半了。

After the harvest there was a stretch of clear dry weather, and the animals toiled harder than ever,

秋收以后，天氣一直晴朗無雨，動物們干起活來比以前更勤快了。

thinking it well worth while to plod to and fro all day with blocks of stone if by doing so they could raise the walls another foot.

他們整天拖著石塊，辛勞地來回奔忙。他們想著這樣一來，便能在一天之內(nèi)把墻又加高一呎了，因而是多么富有意義啊!

Boxer would even come out at nights and work for an hour or two on his own by the light of the harvest moon.

鮑克瑟甚至在夜間也要出來，借著中秋的月光干上一兩個小時。

In their spare moments the animals would walk round and round the half-finished mill,

動物們則樂于在工余時間繞著進(jìn)行了一半的工程走來走去，

admiring the strength and perpendicularity of its walls and marveling that they should ever have been able to build anything so imposing.

對于那墻壁的強(qiáng)度和垂直度贊嘆一番，并為他們竟能修建如此了不起的工程而感到驚喜交加。

Only old Benjamin refused to grow enthusiastic about the windmill, though, as usual, he would utter nothing beyond the cryptic remark that donkeys live a long time.

唯獨(dú)老本杰明對風(fēng)車毫無熱情，他如同往常一樣，除了說驢都長壽這句話神乎其神的話之外，就再也無所表示了。

November came, with raging south-west winds.

十二月到了，帶來了猛烈的西北風(fēng)。

Building had to stop because it was now too wet to mix the cement.

這時常常是雨天，沒法和水泥，建造工程不得不中斷。

Finally there came a night when the gale was so violent that the farm buildings rocked on their foundations and several tiles were blown off the roof of the barn.

后來有一個夜晚，狂風(fēng)大作，整個莊園里的窩棚從地基上都被搖撼了，大谷倉頂棚的一些瓦片也刮掉了。

The hens woke up squawking with terror because they had all dreamed simultaneouslyof hearing a gun go off in the distance.

雞群在恐懼中嘎嘎亂叫著驚醒來，因?yàn)樗麄冊谒瘔糁型瑫r聽見遠(yuǎn)處在打槍。

In the morning the animals came out of their stalls to find that the flagstaff had been blown down and an elm tree at the foot of the orchard had been plucked up like a radish.

早晨，動物們走出窩棚，發(fā)現(xiàn)旗桿已被風(fēng)吹倒，果園邊上的一棵榆樹也象蘿卜一樣被連根拔起。

They had just noticed this when a cry of despair broke from every animal's throat.

就在這個時候，所有的動物喉嚨里突然爆發(fā)出一陣絕望的哭喊。

A terrible sight had met their eyes. The windmill was in ruins.

一幅可怕的景象呈現(xiàn)在他們面前：風(fēng)車毀了。

With one accord they dashed down to the spot.

他們不約而同地沖向現(xiàn)場。

Napoleon, who seldom moved out of a walk, raced ahead of them all.

很少外出散步的拿破侖，率先跑在最前頭。

Yes, there it lay, the fruit of all their struggles, leveled to its foundations,

是的，他們的全部奮斗成果躺在那兒了，全部夷為平地了，

the stones they had broken and carried so laboriously scattered all around.

他們好不容易弄碎又拉來的石頭四下散亂著。

Unable at first to speak, they stood gazing mournfully at the litter of fallen stone.

動物們心酸地凝視著倒塌下來的碎石塊，一下子說不出話來。

Napoleon paced to and fro in silence, occasionally snuffing at the ground.

拿破侖默默地來回踱著步，偶爾在地面上聞一聞。

His tail had grown rigid and twitched sharply from side to side, a sign in him of intense mental activity.

他的尾巴變得僵硬，并且還忽左忽右急劇地抽動，對他來說，這是緊張思維活動的表現(xiàn)。