动物农场 Animal Farm 第2章(1)

 　　Three nights later old Major died peacefully in his sleep.

　　三天之后，老麦哲在安睡中平静地死去。

　　His body was buried at the foot of the orchard¹.

　　他的遗体埋在苹果园脚下。

　　This was early in March. During the next three months there was much secret activity.

　　这是三月初的事。从此以后的三个月里，有很多秘密活动。

　　Major's speech had given to the more intelligent animals on the farm a completely new outlook on life.

　　麦哲的演讲给庄园里那些比较聪明的动物带来了一个全新的生活观念。

　　They did not know when the Rebellion predicted by Major would take place.

　　他们不知道麦哲预言的造反什么时候才能发生。

　　They had no reason for thinking that it would be within their own lifetime.

　　他们也无法想象造反会在他们有生之年内到来。

　　But they saw clearly that it was their duty to prepare for it.

　　但他们清楚地晓得，为此作准备就是他们的责任。

　　The work of teaching and organizing the others fell naturally upon the pigs, who were generally recognized as being the cleverest of the animals.

　　训导和组织其他动物的工作，自然地落在猪的身上，他们被一致认为是动物中最聪明的。

　　Pre-eminent among the pigs were two young boars named Snowball and Napoleon, whom Mr. Jones was breeding up for sale.

　　而其中最杰出的是两头名叫斯诺鲍和拿破仑的雄猪，他们是琼斯先生为出售喂养的。

　　Napoleon was a large, rather fierce-looking Berkshire boar, the only Berkshire on the farm, not much of a talker, but with a reputation for getting his own way.

　　拿破仑是头伯克夏雄猪，也是庄园中唯一的伯克夏种，个头挺大，看起来很凶，说话不多，素以固执而出名。

　　Snowball was a more vivacious² pig than Napoleon, quicker in speech and more inventive, but was not considered to have the same depth of character.

　　相比之下，斯诺鲍要伶俐多了，口才好，也更有独创性，但看起来个性上没有拿破仑那么深沉。

　　All the other male pigs on the farm were porkers.

　　庄园里其他的猪都是肉猪。

　　The best known among them was a small fat pig named Squealer³, with very round cheeks, twinkling eyes, nimble movements, and a shrill⁴ voice.

　　他们中最出名的是一头短小而肥胖的猪，名叫斯奎拉。他长着圆圆的面颊，炯炯闪烁的眼睛，动作敏捷，声音尖细。

　　He was a brilliant talker, and when he was arguing some difficult point he had a way of skipping from side to side and whisking his tail which was somehow very persuasive⁵.

　　他是个不可多得的演说家，尤其是在阐述某些艰深的论点时，他习惯于边讲解边来回不停地蹦跳，同时还甩动着尾巴。而那玩意儿不知怎么搞地就是富有蛊惑力。

　　The others said of Squealer that he could turn black into white.

　　别的动物提到斯奎拉时，都说他能把黑的说成白的。

　　These three had elaborated old Major's teachings into a complete system of thought, to which they gave the name of Animalism.

　　这三头猪把老麦哲的训导用心琢磨，推敲出一套完整的思想体系，他们称之为“动物主义”。

　　Several nights a week, after Mr. Jones was asleep, they held secret meetings in the barn and expounded⁶ the principles of Animalism to the others.

　　每周总有几个夜晚，等琼斯先生入睡后，他们就在大户仓里召集秘密会议，向其他动物详细阐述动物主义的要旨。

1 orchard   

n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场

参考例句：

• My orchard is bearing well this year.今年我的果园果实累累。
• Each bamboo house was surrounded by a thriving orchard.每座竹楼周围都是茂密的果园。

2 vivacious   

adj.活泼的，快活的

参考例句：

• She is an artless,vivacious girl.她是一个天真活泼的女孩。
• The picture has a vivacious artistic conception.这幅画气韵生动。

3 squealer   

发出尖叫声的人；雏鸽；小松鸡；小鹌鹑

参考例句：

• Trust us, if you at their pictures long enough, you're bound to become another squealer. 相信我们，如果你盯着这些照片看上一段时间，必定会成为另一个尖叫粉丝。 来自互联网

4 shrill   

adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫

参考例句：

• Whistles began to shrill outside the barn.哨声开始在谷仓外面尖叫。
• The shrill ringing of a bell broke up the card game on the cutter.刺耳的铃声打散了小汽艇的牌局。

5 persuasive   

adj.有说服力的，能说得使人相信的

参考例句：

• His arguments in favour of a new school are very persuasive.他赞成办一座新学校的理由很有说服力。
• The evidence was not really persuasive enough.证据并不是太有说服力。

6 expounded   

论述，详细讲解( expound的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He expounded his views on the subject to me at great length. 他详细地向我阐述了他在这个问题上的观点。
• He warmed up as he expounded his views. 他在阐明自己的意见时激动起来了。