Animal Farm
Chapter 6
All that year the animals worked like slaves.
But they were happy in their work; 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, and not/ for a pack of idle, thieving human beings.
Throughout the spring and summer they worked a sixty-hour week, and in August Napoleon announced that there would be work on Sunday afternoons as well.
This work was strictly voluntary, but any animal who absented himself from it would have his rations reduced by half.
Even so, it was found necessary to leave certain tasks undone.
The harvest was a little less successful than in the previous year, 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.
It was possible to foresee that the coming winter would be a hard one.
The windmill presented unexpected difficulties.
There was a good quarry of limestone on the farm, and plenty of sand and cement had been found in one of the outhouses, so that all the materials for building were at hand.
But the problem the animals could not at first solve was how to break up the stone into pieces of suitable size.
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.
Only after weeks of vain effort did the right idea occur to somebody namely to utilise the force of gravity.
Huge boulders, far too big to be used as they were, were lying all over the bed of the quarry.
The animals lashed ropes round these, and then all together, cows, horses, sheep, any animal that could lay hold of the rope - even the pigs sometimes joined in at critical moments - 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.
Transporting the stone when it was once broken was comparatively simple.
The horses carried it off in cart-loads, the sheep dragged single blocks, even Muriel and Benjamin yoked themselves into an old governess-cart and did their share.
By late summer a sufficient store of stone had accumulated, and then the building began, under the superintendence of the pigs.
translation
- 那一年，动物们像奴隶一样工作。
- 但是它们在工作中很快乐；它们毫不吝惜地付出努力和牺牲，因为它们深知所做的一切都是为了自己和未来的同类的利益，而不是为了一群懒惰的、偷窃成性的人。
- 整个春天和夏天，它们每周工作六十个小时，到了八月，拿破仑宣布星期天下午也要工作。
- 这项工作是严格自愿的，但任何缺席的动物都会将食量减半。
- 即便如此，有些任务仍然不得不被搁置。
- 收获比去年稍微差一些，两块本应在初夏播种根茎作物的田地没有种上，因为耕地没有及时完成。
- 可以预见，即将到来的冬天将是一个艰难的冬天。
- 风车出现了意想不到的困难。
- 农场里有一个很好的石灰石采石场，在一间外屋里还发现了大量的沙子和水泥，所以所有的建筑材料都在手边。
- 但动物们起初无法解决的问题是如何把石头破碎成合适大小的石块。
- 除了用镐和撬棍之外，似乎没有别的办法来做到这一点，但没有动物会使用这些工具，因为没有动物能够用后腿站立。
- 经过数周的徒劳努力之后，才有人想到一个正确的主意，那就是利用重力。
- 巨大的石块，大到不能直接使用的程度，散落在采石场的底部各处。
- 动物们把绳子套在这些大石头上，然后所有的动物齐心协力——无论是牛、马、羊，还是任何能抓住绳子的动物——甚至连猪有时在关键时刻也会加入进来。它们以极其缓慢的速度，拼命地把这些石头拖到采石场的顶部，再从边缘推下去，让石头在下面摔得粉碎。
- 一旦石头被打碎，运输起来就相对简单了。
- 马儿们用马车一车车地运走石头，羊群则拖拽着单独的石块。甚至连穆丽尔和本杰明也套上一辆旧的保姆车，尽自己的一份力。
- 到了夏末，石头的储备已经足够多了，于是在猪们的监督下，建筑工作开始了。
vocabulary
[
{
"name": "grudge",
"trans": [
"n. 怨恨；积怨；嫌隙",
"v. 勉强做；不情愿地给；吝惜；认为…不应得到",
"网络 舍不得；不愿给；妒忌"
],
"usphone": "'ɡrʌdʒ'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "sacrifice",
"trans": [
"n. 牺牲；祭祀；祭品；祭献",
"v. 牺牲；献出；以（人或动物）作祭献"
],
"usphone": "'ˈsækrɪfaɪs'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "come after",
"trans": [
"紧跟；继……而来"
],
"usphone": "''",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "idle",
"trans": [
"adj. 懈怠的；懒惰的；闲置的；没有工作的",
"v. 无所事事；空转；混时间；闲荡"
],
"usphone": "'ˈaɪd(ə)l'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "thieving",
"trans": [
"v. 偷窃（****e 的现在分词）",
"adj. 偷窃的，做贼的",
"n. 偷窃，做贼，偷窃行为"
],
"usphone": "'ˈθiːvɪŋ'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "strictly",
"trans": [
"adv. 完全地，确切地；严格地，严厉地；绝对地，没有例外地；只，仅限于"
],
"usphone": "'ˈstrɪktli'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "strictly voluntary",
"trans": [
"完全是自愿的"
],
"usphone": "''",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "even so",
"trans": [
"虽然如此；尽管如此；即使这样"
],
"usphone": "''",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "necessary",
"trans": [
"adj. 不可避免的，必然的；必要的，必需的；迫不得已的，非自愿的",
"n. （生活）必需品；<英，非正式>必要的事（the ******）；<英，非正式>足够的钱（the ******）"
],
"usphone": "'ˈnesəseri'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "certain",
"trans": [
"pron. 某些，某几个",
"adj. 某个，特定的；必然的，必定的；确定的，无疑的；某位，一位叫……的；一定程度上的，有点儿"
],
"usphone": "'ˈsɜːrt(ə)n'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "undone",
"trans": [
"adj. （尤指衣服）未扣，解开的；（尤指工作）未完成的；（旧）毁掉的，完蛋了的",
"v. 打开，解开；消除……的影响；使垮台，打败；（计）撤销先前的指令（**** 的过去分词）"
],
"usphone": "'ʌnˈdʌn'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "little less",
"trans": [
"稍微少一点：比原来少一点，但不是很多。"
],
"usphone": "''",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "previous",
"trans": [
"adj. 以前的，先前的；（时间或顺序上）稍前的；<非正式>过早的，过急的",
"n. <英，非正式>前科，犯罪记录"
],
"usphone": "'ˈpriːviəs'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "sown",
"trans": [
"v. 播种；布满；埋雷；传播（*** 的过去分词）"
],
"usphone": "'soʊn'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "presented",
"trans": [
"v. 引起，带来；展示，提供；赠送，授予；展现；主持播出（电视或广播节目）；引见，介绍（****** 的过去式和过去分词）
"
],
"usphone": "'prɪˈzentɪd'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "quarry",
"trans": [
"n. 采石场；猎物；来源",
"vi. 费力地找",
"vt. 挖出；努力挖掘"
],
"usphone": "'ˈkwɑːri'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "limestone",
"trans": [
"n. [岩] 石灰岩"
],
"usphone": "'ˈlaɪmstoʊn'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "cement",
"trans": [
"n. 水泥；胶合剂，接合剂；（对关系、看法等起巩固作用的）纽带；牙骨质；（黏附颗粒的）沉积岩基质；（填充牙齿龋洞的）黏固粉",
"v. 用（水泥或胶合剂）黏结，胶合；巩固，加强；决定，确立"
],
"usphone": "'sɪˈment'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "outhouse",
"trans": [
"n. 外围建筑，（用于储物等的）附属建筑；户外厕所（outhouse 的复数）"
],
"usphone": "'ˈaʊthaʊs'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "at hand",
"trans": [
"近在手边：指某物或某事物在附近或即将发生。"
],
"usphone": "'æt hænd'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "picks",
"trans": [
"n. 凿；选择；精华；收获量（**** 的复数）",
"v. 挑选；拾起；挖；采摘；偷窃（**** 的三单形式）"
],
"usphone": "'pɪks'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "crowbar",
"trans": [
"n. 撬棍；铁橇；起货钩"
],
"usphone": "'ˈkroʊbɑːr'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "hind",
"trans": [
"adj. 后部的",
"n. 雌鹿"
],
"usphone": "'haɪnd'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "vain",
"trans": [
"adj. 虚荣的，自负的；徒劳的"
],
"usphone": "'veɪn'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "vain effort",
"trans": [
"徒劳无功：指做了很多努力，但最终没有取得任何成果或成功。"
],
"usphone": "''",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "utilise",
"trans": [
"vt. 使用（等于 utilize）；利用"
],
"usphone": "'ˈjuːtəlaɪz'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "gravity",
"trans": [
"n. 重力，地心引力；严重性；严肃，庄严；重（量）"
],
"usphone": "'ˈɡrævəti'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "boulder",
"trans": [
"n. （受水或天气侵蚀而成的）巨石，巨砾"
],
"usphone": "'ˈboʊldər'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "lash",
"trans": [
"v. 捆绑，捆扎；猛击，狠打；鞭打，抽打；怒斥，抨击；煽动，激励；（动物）用力甩动（尾巴）",
"n. 睫毛；鞭打（尤作为惩罚）；突然（猛烈）的一甩；责骂，讽刺；鞭梢"
],
"usphone": "'læʃ'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "rope",
"trans": [
"n. 绳索；粗绳；线缆；圈绳",
"v. 用绳子捆（或绑、系）；用绳子系牢；捆紧；用套索抓捕（动物）"
],
"usphone": "'roʊp'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "critical",
"trans": [
"adj. 关键的；批判的，爱挑剔的；极其重要的，严重的，危急的；病重的，重伤的；评论性的，评论家的；临界的"
],
"usphone": "'ˈkrɪtɪk(ə)l'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "desperate",
"trans": [
"adj. 极严重的，极危险的；不顾一切的，拼命的；极需要的，渴望的；绝望的，无望的；绝望的，无望的"
],
"usphone": "'ˈdespərət'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "topple",
"trans": [
"v. （使）不稳而倒下，（使）倒塌；推翻（首领），颠覆（政权）；<美>战胜，打败"
],
"usphone": "'ˈtɑːp(ə)l'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "shatter",
"trans": [
"v. （使）破碎，碎裂；破坏，摧毁（抽象物）；使极为惊愕难过，给予极大打击",
"n. 碎片；受到极大打击的状态"
],
"usphone": "'ˈʃætər'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "transporting",
"trans": [
"v. 运输；使产生身临其境的感觉；流放（****** 的现在分词）"
],
"usphone": "'trænˈspɔːrtɪŋ'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "comparatively",
"trans": [
"adv. 比较地，相对地"
],
"usphone": "'kəmˈpærətɪvli'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "yoked",
"trans": [
"v. 用轭把（动物）套在一起；给（动物）上轭；（使）强行结合；（使）工作（**** 的过去式及过去分词）"
],
"usphone": "'joʊkt'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "Governess cart",
"trans": [
"一种小型二轮马车"
],
"usphone": "''",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "sufficient",
"trans": [
"adj. 足够的，充足的；（理由、条件）充足的，充分的"
],
"usphone": "'səˈfɪʃ(ə)nt'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "superintendence",
"trans": [
"n. 监督，指挥；管理"
],
"usphone": "'ˌsuːpərɪnˈtendəns'",
"ukphone": "''"
}
]