动物农场Animal Farm 第6章(7)

 　　By the autumn the animals were tired but happy.

　　直到秋天，动物们都挺累的，却也愉快。

　　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 plentiful¹.

　　说起来他们已经在艰难中熬过整整一年了，并且在卖了部分干草和玉米之后，准备过冬的饲料就根本不够用了。

　　But the windmill compensated² for everything. It was almost half built now.

　　但是，风车补偿这一切，它这时差不多建到一半了。

　　After the harvest there was a stretch of clear dry weather, and the animals toiled³ harder than ever,

　　秋收以后，天气一直晴朗无雨，动物们干起活来比以前更勤快了。

　　thinking it well worth while to plod⁴ to and fro all day with blocks of stone if by doing so they could raise the walls another foot.

　　他们整天拖着石块，辛劳地来回奔忙。他们想着这样一来，便能在一天之内把墙又加高一呎了，因而是多么富有意义啊！

　　Boxer⁵ would even come out at nights and work for an hour or two on his own by the light of the harvest moon.

　　鲍克瑟甚至在夜间也要出来，借着中秋的月光干上一两个小时。

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

　　动物们则乐于在工余时间绕着进行了一半的工程走来走去，

　　admiring the strength and perpendicularity⁶ of its walls and marveling that they should ever have been able to build anything so imposing⁷.

　　对于那墙壁的强度和垂直度赞叹一番，并为他们竟能修建如此了不起的工程而感到惊喜交加。

　　Only old Benjamin refused to grow enthusiastic about the windmill, though, as usual, he would utter nothing beyond the cryptic⁸ remark that donkeys live a long time.

　　唯独老本杰明对风车毫无热情，他如同往常一样，除了说驴都长寿这句话神乎其神的话之外，就再也无所表示了。

　　November came, with raging south-west winds.

　　十二月到了，带来了猛烈的西北风。

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

　　这时常常是雨天，没法和水泥，建造工程不得不中断。

　　Finally there came a night when the gale⁹ was so violent that the farm buildings rocked on their foundations and several tiles were blown off the roof of the barn.

　　后来有一个夜晚，狂风大作，整个庄园里的窝棚从地基上都被摇撼了，大谷仓顶棚的一些瓦片也刮掉了。

　　The hens woke up squawking with terror because they had all dreamed simultaneously¹⁰ of hearing a gun go off in the distance.

　　鸡群在恐惧中嘎嘎乱叫着惊醒来，因为他们在睡梦中同时听见远处在打枪。

　　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 orchard¹¹ had been plucked up like a radish.

　　早晨，动物们走出窝棚，发现旗杆已被风吹倒，果园边上的一棵榆树也象萝卜一样被连根拔起。

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

　　就在这个时候，所有的动物喉咙里突然爆发出一阵绝望的哭喊。

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

　　一幅可怕的景象呈现在他们面前：风车毁了。

　　With one accord they dashed down to the spot.

　　他们不约而同地冲向现场。

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

　　很少外出散步的拿破仑，率先跑在最前头。

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

　　是的，他们的全部奋斗成果躺在那儿了，全部夷为平地了，

　　the stones they had broken and carried so laboriously¹² scattered¹³ all around.

　　他们好不容易弄碎又拉来的石头四下散乱着。

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

　　动物们心酸地凝视着倒塌下来的碎石块，一下子说不出话来。

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

　　拿破仑默默地来回踱着步，偶尔在地面上闻一闻。

　　His tail had grown rigid¹⁴ and twitched¹⁵ sharply from side to side, a sign in him of intense mental activity.

　　他的尾巴变得僵硬，并且还忽左忽右急剧地抽动，对他来说，这是紧张思维活动的表现。

1 plentiful   

adj.富裕的，丰富的

参考例句：

• Their family has a plentiful harvest this year.他们家今年又丰收了。
• Rainfall is plentiful in the area.这个地区雨量充足。

2 compensated   

补偿，报酬( compensate的过去式和过去分词 )； 给（某人）赔偿（或赔款）

参考例句：

• The marvelous acting compensated for the play's weak script. 本剧的精彩表演弥补了剧本的不足。
• I compensated his loss with money. 我赔偿他经济损失。

3 toiled   

长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉

参考例句：

• They toiled up the hill in the blazing sun. 他们冒着炎炎烈日艰难地一步一步爬上山冈。
• He toiled all day long but earned very little. 他整天劳碌但挣得很少。

4 plod   

v.沉重缓慢地走，孜孜地工作

参考例句：

• He was destined to plod the path of toil.他注定要在艰辛的道路上跋涉。
• I could recognize his plod anywhere.我能在任何地方辨认出他的沉重脚步声。

5 boxer   

n.制箱者，拳击手

参考例句：

• The boxer gave his opponent a punch on the nose.这个拳击手朝他对手的鼻子上猛击一拳。
• He moved lightly on his toes like a boxer.他像拳击手一样踮着脚轻盈移动。

6 perpendicularity   

n.垂直，直立；垂直度

参考例句：

• Exact perpendicularity between the components must be maintained. 各分量之间必须严格地保持互相垂直。 来自辞典例句
• His square-framed perpendicularity showed more fully now than in the crowed and bustle of the markethouse. 现在，他那宽厚而结实的身材比在那熙攘、喧闹的交易棚中显得更加挺直。 来自辞典例句

7 imposing   

adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的

参考例句：

• The fortress is an imposing building.这座城堡是一座宏伟的建筑。
• He has lost his imposing appearance.他已失去堂堂仪表。

8 cryptic   

adj.秘密的，神秘的，含义模糊的

参考例句：

• She made a cryptic comment about how the film mirrored her life.她隐晦地表示说这部电影是她人生的写照。
• The new insurance policy is written without cryptic or mysterious terms.新的保险单在编写时没有隐秘条款或秘密条款。

9 gale   

n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等）

参考例句：

• We got our roof blown off in the gale last night.昨夜的大风把我们的房顶给掀掉了。
• According to the weather forecast,there will be a gale tomorrow.据气象台预报，明天有大风。

10 simultaneously   

adv.同时发生地，同时进行地

参考例句：

• The radar beam can track a number of targets almost simultaneously.雷达波几乎可以同时追着多个目标。
• The Windows allow a computer user to execute multiple programs simultaneously.Windows允许计算机用户同时运行多个程序。

11 orchard   

n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场

参考例句：

• My orchard is bearing well this year.今年我的果园果实累累。
• Each bamboo house was surrounded by a thriving orchard.每座竹楼周围都是茂密的果园。

12 laboriously   

adv.艰苦地；费力地；辛勤地；（文体等）佶屈聱牙地

参考例句：

• She is tracing laboriously now. 她正在费力地写。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She is laboriously copying out an old manuscript. 她正在费劲地抄出一份旧的手稿。 来自辞典例句

13 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

14 rigid   

adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的

参考例句：

• She became as rigid as adamant.她变得如顽石般的固执。
• The examination was so rigid that nearly all aspirants were ruled out.考试很严，几乎所有的考生都被淘汰了。

15 twitched   

vt.& vi.（使）抽动，（使）颤动（twitch的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Her lips twitched with amusement. 她忍俊不禁地颤动着嘴唇。
• The child's mouth twitched as if she were about to cry. 这小孩的嘴抽动着，像是要哭。 来自《简明英汉词典》