那一年，动物们干起活来就像奴隶一样但他们乐在其中。

　　They grudged no effort or sacrifice, well aware that everything that they did was for the benefit of themselves and those of their kind who would come after them,

　　流血流汗甚至牺牲也心甘情愿，因为他们深深地意识到：他们干的每件事都是为他们自己和未来的同类的利益，

　　and not for a pack of idle, thieving human beings.

　　而不是为了那帮游手好闲、偷摸成性的人类。

　　Throughout the spring and summer they worked a sixty-hour week.

　　从初春到夏末这段时间里，他们每周工作六十个小时。

　　And in August Napoleon announced that there would be work on Sunday afternoons as well.

　　到了八月，拿破仑又宣布，星期天下午也要安排工作。

　　This work was strictly voluntary, but any animal who absented himself from it would have his rations reduced by half.

　　这项工作完全是自愿性的，不过，无论哪个动物缺勤，他的口粮就要减去一半。

　　Even so, it was found necessary to leave certain tasks undone.

　　即使这样，大家还是发觉，有些活就是干不完。

　　The harvest was a little less successful than in the previous year,

　　收获比去年要差一些，

　　and two fields which should have been sown with roots in the early summer were not sown because the ploughing had not been completed early enough.

　　而且，因为耕作没有及早完成，本来应该在初夏播种薯类作物的两快地也没种成。

　　It was possible to foresee that the coming winter would be a hard one.

　　可以预见，来冬将是一个艰难的季节。

　　The windmill presented unexpected difficulties.

　　风车的事引起了意外的难题。

　　动物农场01.jpg

　　There was a good quarry of limestone on the farm,

　　按说，庄园里就有一个质地很好的石灰石矿，

　　and plenty of sand and cement had been found in one of the outhouses, so that all the materials for building were at hand.

　　又在一间小屋里发现了大量的沙子和水泥，这样，所有的建筑材料都已齐备。

　　But the problem the animals could not at first solve was how to break up the stone into pieces of suitable size.

　　但问题是，动物们刚开始不知道如何才能把石头弄碎到适用的规格。

　　There seemed no way of doing this except with picks and crowbars, which no animal could use, because no animal could stand on his hind legs.

　　似乎除了动用十字镐和撬棍外，没有别的办法。可是，动物们都不能用后腿站立，也就无法使用镐和撬棍。

　　Only after weeks of vain effort did the right idea occur to somebody-namely, to utilize the force of gravity.

　　在他们徒劳几个星期之后，才有动物想出了一个好主意，就是利用重力的作用。

　　Huge boulders, far too big to be used as they were, were lying all over the bed of the quarry.

　　再看那些巨大的圆石，虽然大都无法直接利用，但整个采石场上到处都是。

　　The animals lashed ropes round these, and then all together, cows, horses, sheep, any animal that could lay hold of the rope.

　　于是，动物们用绳子绑住石头，然后，由牛、马、羊以及所有能抓住绳子的动物合在一起。

　　Even the pigs sometimes joined in at critical moments.

　　甚至猪有时也在关键时刻搭个帮手。

　　They dragged them with desperate slowness up the slope to the top of the quarry, where they were toppled over the edge, to shatter to pieces below.

　　一起拖着石头，慢慢地、慢慢地沿着坡拖到矿顶。到了那儿，把石头从边上堆下去，在底下就摔成了碎块。