Animal Farm
Chapter 6
But it was a slow, laborious process.
Frequently it took a whole day of exhausting effort to drag a single boulder to the top of the quarry, and sometimes when it was pushed over the edge it failed to break.
Nothing could have been achieved without Boxer, whose strength seemed equal to that of all the rest of the animals put together.
When the boulder began to slip and the animals cried out in despair at finding themselves dragged down the hill, it was always Boxer who strained himself against the rope and brought the boulder to a stop.
To see him toiling up the slope inch by inch, his breath coming fast, the tips of his hoofs clawing at the ground, and his great sides matted with sweat, filled everyone with admiration.
Clover warned him sometimes to be careful not to overstrain himself, but Boxer would never listen to her.
His two slogans, “I will work harder” and “Napoleon is always right,” seemed to him a sufficient answer to all problems.
He had made arrangements with the cockerel to call him three-quarters of an hour earlier in the mornings instead of half an hour.
And in his spare moments, of which there were not many nowadays, he would go alone to the quarry, collect a load of broken stone, and drag it down to the site of the windmill unassisted.
The animals were not badly off throughout that summer, in spite of the hardness of their work.
If they had no more food than they had had in Jones's day, at least they did not have less.
The advantage of only having to feed themselves, and not having to support five extravagant human beings as well, was so great that it would have taken a lot of failures to outweigh it.
And in many ways the animal method of doing things was more efficient and saved labour.
Such jobs as weeding, for instance, could be done with a thoroughness impossible to human beings.
And again, since no animal now stole, it was unnecessary to fence off pasture from arable land, which saved a lot of labour on the upkeep of hedges and gates.
Nevertheless, as the summer wore on, various unforeseen shortages began to make themselves felt.
There was need of paraffin oil, nails, string, dog biscuits, and iron for the horses' shoes, none of which could be produced on the farm.
Later there would also be need for seeds and artificial manures, besides various tools and, finally, the machinery for the windmill.
How these were to be procured, no one was able to imagine.
translation
- 但这是一个缓慢而费力的过程。
- 通常，拖动一块巨石到采石场顶部需要一整天的艰苦努力，有时即使将其推下悬崖边缘，它也未必会破碎。
- 没有鲍克瑟，这一切都无法实现。他的力量似乎与所有其他动物的总和相当。
- 当巨石开始滑落，动物们绝望地发现自己被拖下山时，总是鲍克瑟用尽全力拉住绳索，让巨石停了下来。
- 看着他一寸一寸地艰难爬上斜坡，呼吸急促，蹄尖抓着地面，巨大的身躯被汗水浸湿，每个人都对他充满了钦佩。
- 克洛弗有时警告他要当心，不要过度劳累自己，但鲍克瑟从不听她的劝告。
- 他的两句口号“我会更努力工作”和“拿破仑永远正确”，在他看来足以回答所有问题。
- 他已经与公鸡商量好了，每天早上比原来提前三刻钟而不是半小时叫醒他。
- 在他为数不多的闲暇时间里，他会独自前往采石场，收集一车碎石，然后不借助其他动物的帮助，独自拖到风车工地。
- 尽管工作艰辛，但整个夏天动物们过得还不错。
- 虽然他们的食物并没有比琼斯时代的多，但至少也没有少。
- 只需要养活自己，而不需要支持五个奢侈的人的这一优势是如此之大，以至于需要很多失败才能抵消它。
- 在许多方面，动物们的工作方式更加高效，节省了劳动力。
- 例如，除草这样的工作可以做得非常彻底，这是人类无法做到的。
- 而且，由于现在没有动物偷窃，因此无需将牧场与耕地隔离开来，这节省了大量维护篱笆和大门的劳动。
- 然而，随着夏天的推移，各种未预见到的短缺开始显现。
- 他们需要煤油、钉子、绳子、狗饼干和马蹄铁，这些都是农场无法生产的。
- 之后，还需要种子、化肥以及各种工具，最终还需要风车的机械装置。
- 如何获得这些东西，没有人能够想象。
vocabulary
[
{
"name": "laborious",
"trans": [
"adj. 耗时费力的，辛苦的；（尤指讲话，写作风格）造作的，不流畅的"
],
"usphone": "'ləˈbɔːriəs'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "frequently",
"trans": [
"adv. 经常地，频繁地"
],
"usphone": "'ˈfriːkwəntli'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "exhausting",
"trans": [
"adj. 使人筋疲力竭的，使人疲惫不堪的",
"v. 使精疲力尽；耗尽；详尽讨论（****** 的现在分词）"
],
"usphone": "'ɪɡˈzɔːstɪŋ'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "boulder",
"trans": [
"n. （受水或天气侵蚀而成的）巨石，巨砾"
],
"usphone": "'ˈboʊldər'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "strained",
"trans": [
"v. 使紧张（动词 ***** 的过去式和过去分词）",
"adj. 牵强附会的；紧张的；勉强的；滤过的"
],
"usphone": "'streɪnd'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "toil",
"trans": [
"v. （长时间地）苦干，辛勤劳作；艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉",
"n. （尤指体力上的）苦工，苦活；网，捕捉野兽的陷阱"
],
"usphone": "'tɔɪl'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "inch by inch",
"trans": [
"寸寸：逐步地，一点一点地。"
],
"usphone": "'ɪntʃ baɪ ɪntʃ'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "matted",
"trans": [
"adj. 纠缠的；铺席子的；暗淡的，无光泽的"
],
"usphone": "'ˈmætɪd'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "admiration",
"trans": [
"n. 钦佩，赞美，欣赏；赞美对象"
],
"usphone": "'ˌædməˈreɪʃ(ə)n'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "overstrain",
"trans": [
"n. 过度紧张；过劳",
"vt. 使过度紧张；使工作过度；伸张过度",
"vi. 过度紧张"
],
"usphone": "'ˌoʊvərˈstreɪn'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "make arrangements with",
"trans": [
"与……协议：指与某人商定或达成协议，安排某事。"
],
"usphone": "''",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "three-quarters of an hour",
"trans": [
"四十五分钟：指45分钟的时间段。"
],
"usphone": "''",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "spare moment",
"trans": [
"空闲时刻：指在忙碌的日常生活中找到的一段短暂的休息时间。"
],
"usphone": "''",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "load",
"trans": [
"n. 负荷；负载；工作量；大量",
"v. 承载；装载；装入；载入"
],
"usphone": "'loʊd'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "unassisted",
"trans": [
"adj. 无助的（等于 unaided）"
],
"usphone": "'ˌʌnəˈsɪstɪd'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "badly off",
"trans": [
"贫困的：指没有足够的钱和生活所需的东西。"
],
"usphone": "''",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "hardness",
"trans": [
"n. 困难；[物] 硬度；坚硬；冷酷"
],
"usphone": "'ˈhɑːrdnəs'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "if",
"trans": [
"conj. 尽管；（表条件）如果；（表假设）要是，假如；无论何时；虽然，即使；（用于间接疑问）是否；（用于礼貌问询）是否；当，每次；（与情态动词连用）表婉转客气；这不是……，要是……多好；或许不；就算；",
""
],
"usphone": "'ɪf'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "at least",
"trans": [
"至少：表示最小的数量、程度或条件。"
],
"usphone": "'æt liːst'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "advantage",
"trans": [
"n. 有利条件，优势；优点；利益；（局末平分后）占先，优势分",
"v. 有利于，有助于"
],
"usphone": "'ədˈvæntɪdʒ'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "extravagant",
"trans": [
"adj. 奢侈的，挥霍的；不切实际的，放肆的；豪华的，精美的"
],
"usphone": "'ɪkˈstrævəɡənt'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "failure",
"trans": [
"n. 缺乏，不足；失败；失败的人（或企业、事物）；未做到；故障，衰退；公司倒闭；歉收；突然失去"
],
"usphone": "'ˈfeɪljər'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "outweigh",
"trans": [
"v. 超过；大于；重于；"
],
"usphone": "'ˌaʊtˈweɪ'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "save labour",
"trans": [
"节省劳力"
],
"usphone": "''",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "weeding",
"trans": [
"v. 除草（**** 的现在分词）",
"n. 除草，除杂草"
],
"usphone": "'ˈwiːdɪŋ'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "thoroughness",
"trans": [
"n. 十分，完全；彻底"
],
"usphone": "'ˈθɜːroʊnəs'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "fence off",
"trans": [
"用篱笆围起来一个区域"
],
"usphone": "''",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "arable",
"trans": [
"adj. 与种植有关的",
"n. 耕地"
],
"usphone": "'ˈærəb(ə)l'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "upkeep",
"trans": [
"n. 维持；维修费；保养"
],
"usphone": "'ˈʌpkiːp'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "nevertheless",
"trans": [
"adv. 然而，不过"
],
"usphone": "'ˌnevərðəˈles'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "wore on",
"trans": [
"随着时间的推移：指随着时间的推移或持续。"
],
"usphone": "''",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "unforeseen",
"trans": [
"adj. 未预见到的，无法预料的，意料之外的"
],
"usphone": "'ˌʌnfɔːrˈsiːn'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "paraffin",
"trans": [
"n. 石蜡；[有化]链烷烃；硬石蜡",
"vt. 用石蜡处理；涂石蜡于……"
],
"usphone": "'ˈpærəfɪn'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "nails",
"trans": [
"n. 钉子；指甲；（动物的）爪；（一些软喙鸟类）上喙的硬甲壳（**** 的复数）",
"v. 把……钉牢；（非正式）揭穿（某人）；（花费很多时间或精力而）得到（**** 的第三人称单数）"
],
"usphone": "'neɪlz'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "artificial",
"trans": [
"adj. 人造的，人工的；人为的；不真挚的，矫揉造作的"
],
"usphone": "'ˌɑːrtɪˈfɪʃ(ə)l'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "manure",
"trans": [
"n. 肥料，粪肥",
"v. 给……施肥"
],
"usphone": "'məˈnʊr'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "procure",
"trans": [
"v. 取得；诱使（妇女）卖淫"
],
"usphone": "'prəˈkjʊr'",
"ukphone": "''"
}
]