Animal Farm
Chapter 8
All relations with Foxwood had been broken off; insulting messages had been sent to Pilkington.
The pigeons had been told to avoid Pinchfield Farm and to alter their slogan from “Death to Frederick” to “Death to Pilkington.”
At the same time Napoleon assured the animals that the stories of an impending attack on Animal Farm were completely untrue, and that the tales about Frederick's cruelty to his own animals had been greatly exaggerated.
All these rumours had probably originated with Snowball and his agents.
It now appeared that Snowball was not, after all, hiding on Pinchfield Farm, and in fact had never been there in his life: he was living in considerable luxury, so it was said at Foxwood, and had in reality been a pensioner of Pilkington for years past.
The pigs were in ecstasies over Napoleon's cunning. By seeming to be friendly with Pilkington he had forced Frederick to raise his price by twelve pounds.
But the superior quality of Napoleon's mind, said Squealer, was shown in the fact that he trusted nobody, not even Frederick.
Frederick had wanted to pay for the timber with something called a cheque, which, it seemed, was a piece of paper with a promise to pay written upon it. But Napoleon was too clever for him.
He had demanded payment in real five-pound notes, which were to be handed over before the timber was removed.
Already Frederick had paid up; and the sum he had paid was just enough to buy the machinery for the windmill.
translation
- 与狐林庄园的所有关系都已断绝，而且还向皮尔金顿发送了侮辱性的信息。
- 鸽子们被吩咐要避开平彻菲尔德农场，并且将它们的口号从 “弗雷德里克必死” 改成 “皮尔金顿必死”。
- 与此同时，拿破仑向动物们保证，有关动物庄园即将遭到攻击的传闻完全是无稽之谈，而且关于弗雷德里克虐待自己庄园里动物的那些传言也被大大夸大了。
- 所有这些谣言很可能都是斯诺鲍及其同伙编造出来的。
- 现在看来，斯诺鲍根本就没有藏在平彻菲尔德农场，事实上他这辈子都从未去过那里。据说，他在狐林庄园过着相当奢华的生活，而且实际上多年来一直受皮尔金顿的接济。
- 猪们对拿破仑的精明狡猾欣喜若狂。他装作与皮尔金顿友好的样子，这使得弗雷德里克不得不把价格提高了 12 英镑。
- 然而，斯奎拉说，拿破仑的卓越才智恰恰体现在他谁都不相信这一点上，甚至连弗雷德里克也信不过。
- 弗雷德里克原本想用一种叫做支票的东西来支付木材的费用，看样子，那是一张写着付款承诺的纸片。但拿破仑可比他精明多了。
- 他要求用真正的五英镑面额纸币来付款，而且这些钱要在木材运走之前就交过来。
- 弗雷德里克已经把钱付清了，而他所支付的这笔钱刚好足够用来购买建造风车所需的机器。
vocabulary
[
{
"name": "broken off",
"trans": [
"中断、终止",
"断裂、折断",
"结束关系",
],
"usphone": "''",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "insulting",
"trans": [
"adj. 侮辱的，无礼的；污蔑的；损害人体的",
"v. 侮辱；损害（****** 的 ing 形式）"
],
"usphone": "'ɪnˈsʌltɪŋ'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "assured",
"trans": [
"v. 使确信，向……保证；使必然发生；确保得到（**** 的过去式和过去分词）",
"adj. 自信的，有把握的；必将发生的，确定的；肯定得到（****** of sth.）"
],
"usphone": "'əˈʃʊrd'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "impending",
"trans": [
"adj. 即将发生的，逼近的；悬挂的",
"v. 迫近；（坏事）隐现；悬而未决（***** 的现在分词）"
],
"usphone": "'ɪmˈpendɪŋ'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "tales",
"trans": [
"n. 故事；候补陪审员召集令（用作单数）；补缺陪审员；谎言（**** 的复数）"
],
"usphone": "'teɪlz; ˈteɪˌliz'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "originated",
"trans": [
"v. 起源，发起；发明；准备呼叫（****** 的过去式和过去分词）"
],
"usphone": "'əˈrɪdʒɪneɪtɪd'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "considerable",
"trans": [
"adj. 相当大的，相当重要的；（人）显要的，值得尊敬的"
],
"usphone": "'kənˈsɪdərəb(ə)l'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "pensioner",
"trans": [
"n. 领取养老金（或退休金、抚恤金）的人"
],
"usphone": "'ˈpenʃənər'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "ecstasy",
"trans": [
"n. 狂喜，陶醉；摇头丸（Ecstasy）；（情绪或宗教原因引起的）疯狂，出神"
],
"usphone": "'ˈekstəsi'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "cunning",
"trans": [
"n. 狡猾，诡诈；灵巧，巧妙",
"adj. 狡猾的，诡诈的；灵巧的，巧妙的；<美>可爱的，好看的"
],
"usphone": "'ˈkʌnɪŋ'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "superior",
"trans": [
"adj. （规模或实力）更大的，更强的，(在品质上)更好的；（尤用于广告中指产品或服务）高质量的，优质的；上级的，（在级别、重要性或职位上）更高的；有优越感的，高傲的，傲慢的；在其他器官之上的；（字母，数字，符号）上标的；（花的子房）上位的，（子房）在萼上的",
"n. 上级，上司；<正式>优胜者，高手；修道院院长（或其他宗教机构的负责人）；（印刷）上标字母（或数字、符号）"
],
"usphone": "'suːˈpɪriər'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "cheque",
"trans": [
"n. 支票"
],
"usphone": "'tʃek'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "notes",
"trans": [
"n. 票据；注释，说明，笔记（**** 的复数）；"
],
"usphone": "'noʊts'",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "hand over",
"trans": [
"交出；上交"
],
"usphone": "''",
"ukphone": "''"
},
{
"name": "paid up",
"trans": [
"na. (全部或按时)付清；缴清(股款等)",
"缴的；付了所需的保费；满计划"
],
"usphone": "''",
"ukphone": "''"
}
]