动物农场Animal Farm 第7章(11)

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　　这就是她所想的，尽管她还一下说不清。

　　At last, feeling this to be in some way a substitute for the words she was unable to find, she began to sing 'Beasts of England'.

　　最后，她觉得实在找不到什么合适的措词，而只能换个方式来表达，于是便开始唱"英格兰兽"。

　　The other animals sitting round her took it up, and they sang it three times over--very tunefully, but slowly and mournfully, in a way they had never sung it before.

　　围在她周围的动物跟着唱起来，他们唱了三遍，唱得十分和谐，但却缓慢而凄然，他们以前还从没有用这种唱法唱过这支歌。

　　They had just finished singing it for the third time when Squealer², attended by two dogs, approached them with the air of having something important to say.

　　他们刚唱完第三遍，斯奎拉就在两条狗的陪同下，面带着要说什么大事的神情向他们走过来。

　　He announced that, by a special decree of Comrade Napoleon, 'Beasts of England' had been abolished.

　　他宣布，遵照拿破仑同志的一项特别命令，"英格兰兽"已被废止了。

　　From now onwards it was forbidden to sing it.

　　从今以后禁止再唱这首歌。

　　The animals were taken aback.

　　动物们怔住了。

　　"Why?" cried Muriel.

　　"为什么？穆丽尔囔道。

　　"It's no longer needed, comrade," said Squealer stiffly.

　　"不需要了，同志们，"斯奎拉冷冷地说到。

　　"'Beasts of England' was the song of the Rebellion.

　　'英格兰兽'是起义用的歌。

　　But the Rebellion is now completed.

　　但起义已经成功。

　　The execution of the traitors³ this afternoon was the final act.

　　今天下午对叛徒的处决就是最后的行动。

　　The enemy both external and internal has been defeated.

　　内患仇敌已经全部打垮了。

　　In 'Beasts of England' we expressed our longing⁴ for a better society in days to come.

　　我们在'英格兰兽'中表达的是在当时对未来美好社会的渴望。

　　But that society has now been established.

　　但这个社会现在已经建立。

　　Clearly this song has no longer any purpose."

　　这首歌明显不再有任何意义了。"

　　Frightened though they were, some of the animals might possibly have protested, but at this moment the sheep set up their usual bleating⁵ of "Four legs good, two legs bad,"

　　他们感到害怕，可是，恐怕还是有些动物要提出抗议。但就在这时，羊大声地咩咩叫起那套老调子来："四条腿好，两条腿坏。"

　　which went on for several minutes and put an end to the discussion.

　　持续了好几分钟，也就结束了这场争议。

　　So 'Beasts of England' was heard no more.

　　于是再也听不到"英格兰兽"这首歌了。

　　In its place Minimus, the poet, had composed another song which began:

　　取而代之的，是善写诗的梅尼缪斯写的另外一首歌，它是这样开头的：

　　Animal Farm, Animal Farm, never through me shall thou come to harm!

　　动物庄园，动物庄园，我永远不会损害您！

　　And this was sung every Sunday morning after the hoisting⁶ of the flag.

　　从此，每个星期天早晨升旗之后就唱这首歌。

　　But somehow neither the words nor the tune¹ ever seemed to the animals to come up to 'Beasts of England'.

　　但不知怎么搞的，对动物们来说，无论是词还是曲，这首歌似乎都不再能和"英格兰兽"相提并论了。

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