Animal Farm
Chapter 10
As for the others, their life, so far as they knew, was as it had always been.
They were generally hungry, they slept on straw, they drank from the pool, they laboured in the fields; in winter they were troubled by the cold, and in summer by the flies.
Sometimes the older ones among them racked their dim memories and tried to determine whether in the early days of the Rebellion, when Jones's expulsion was still recent, things had been better or worse than now.
They could not remember.
There was nothing with which they could compare their present lives: they had nothing to go upon except Squealer's lists of figures, which invariably demonstrated that everything was getting better and better.
The animals found the problem insoluble; in any case, they had little time for speculating on such things now.
Only old Benjamin professed to remember every detail of his long life and to know that things never had been, nor ever could be/ much better or much worse - hunger, hardship, and disappointment being, so he said, the unalterable law of life.
translation
- 至于其他的动物，据它们所知，生活还和以前一样。
- 它们常常处于饥饿之中，睡在稻草上，从池塘里喝水，在田里劳作；冬天受寒冷折磨，夏天又被苍蝇困扰。
- 有时它们中的年长者会绞尽脑汁，努力回忆并试图确定，在起义初期，当琼斯被驱逐不久时，情况是否比现在更好或更糟。
- 它们记不起来。
- 它们没有任何东西可以用来对照当下的生活；除了 Squealer 提供的那些数据清单之外，它们别无依据。而那些清单无一例外地证明一切都在不断变好。
- 动物们发现这个问题无法解决；无论如何，它们现在几乎没有时间去思考这些事情。
- 只有年老的本杰明声称能记住他漫长生命中的每一个细节，并知道过去从未更好，将来也永远不会好很多或坏很多——饥饿、苦难和失望，他说，是生命不可改变的法则。
vocabulary
[
{
"name": "As for",
"trans": [
"至于，关于",
"用来引出新的话题或转换话题"
],
"usphone": "æz fɔːr",
"ukphone": "æz fɔːr"
},
{
"name": "so far as",
"trans": [
"就……而言，据……所知",
"表示某人根据自己的知识或经验所了解的范围"
],
"usphone": "soʊ fɑːr æz",
"ukphone": "səʊ fɑː æz"
},
{
"name": "racked",
"trans": [
"v. 折磨，使痛苦（**** 的过去式）",
"这里用在短语 '**** one's memory/brains' 中，表示绞尽脑汁地回忆"
],
"usphone": "rækt",
"ukphone": "rækt"
},
{
"name": "determine",
"trans": [
"v. 确定，决定；查明，弄清楚",
"在这里表示努力判断或确定某事"
],
"usphone": "dɪˈtɜːrmɪn",
"ukphone": "dɪˈtɜːmɪn"
},
{
"name": "expulsion",
"trans": [
"n. 驱逐，排出；开除",
"这里指琼斯被从农场驱逐出去"
],
"usphone": "ɪkˈspʌlʃn",
"ukphone": "ɪkˈspʌlʃn"
},
{
"name": "go upon",
"trans": [
"依据，根据",
"表示依赖或基于某种信息或证据"
],
"usphone": "ɡoʊ əˈpɑːn",
"ukphone": "ɡəʊ əˈpɒn"
},
{
"name": "invariably",
"trans": [
"adv. 总是，不变地；一定地",
"表示在任何情况下都没有例外"
],
"usphone": "ɪnˈveriəbli",
"ukphone": "ɪnˈveəriəbli"
},
{
"name": "demonstrated",
"trans": [
"v. 证明，展示；演示",
"过去式形式，这里表示用数据或事实来证明某个观点"
],
"usphone": "ˈdemənstreɪtɪd",
"ukphone": "ˈdemənstreɪtɪd"
},
{
"name": "insoluble",
"trans": [
"adj. 不能溶解的；无法解决的",
"这里指动物们发现这个问题无法解决"
],
"usphone": "ɪnˈsɑːljubl",
"ukphone": "ɪnˈsɒljubl"
},
{
"name": "speculating",
"trans": [
"v. 推测，思索；投机",
"这里表示思考或推测某些事情"
],
"usphone": "ˈspekjuleɪtɪŋ",
"ukphone": "ˈspekjuleɪtɪŋ"
},
{
"name": "professed",
"trans": [
"v. 声称，表白（****** 的过去式）",
"表示公开声明或宣称拥有某种品质或知识"
],
"usphone": "prəˈfest",
"ukphone": "prəˈfest"
},
{
"name": "unalterable",
"trans": [
"adj. 不可改变的，不能变更的",
"表示无法更改或无法避免的"
],
"usphone": "ʌnˈɔːltərəbl",
"ukphone": "ʌnˈɔːltərəbl"
},
{
"name": "law",
"trans": [
"n. 法律，法规；定律，法则",
"这里指生活的法则或规律"
],
"usphone": "lɔː",
"ukphone": "lɔː"
}
]