动物农场 Animal Farm 第1章(2)

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　　鲍克瑟身材高大，有近两米高的个头，强壮得赛过两匹普通马相加。

　　A white stripe down his nose gave him a somewhat stupid appearance,

　　不过，他脸上长了一道直到鼻子的白毛，多少显得有些戆相。

　　and in fact he was not of first-rate intelligence, but he was universally respected for his steadiness of character and tremendous powers of work.

　　实际上，他确实不怎么聪明，但他坚韧不拔的个性和干活时那股十足的劲头，使他赢得了普遍的尊敬。

　　After the horses came Muriel, the white goat, and Benjamin, the donkey.

　　跟着马后面到的是白山羊穆丽尔，还有那头驴，本杰明。

　　Benjamin was the oldest animal on the farm, and the worst tempered.

　　本杰明是庄园里年龄最老的动物，脾气也最糟。

　　He seldom talked, and when he did, it was usually to make some cynical² remark--for instance,

　　他沉默寡言，不开口则已，一开口就少不了说一些风凉话。譬如，

　　he would say that God had given him a tail to keep the flies off, but that he would sooner have had no tail and no flies.

　　他会说上帝给了他尾巴是为了驱赶苍蝇，但他却宁愿没有尾巴也没有苍蝇。

　　Alone among the animals on the farm he never laughed.

　　庄园里的动物中，唯有他从来没有笑过。

　　If asked why, he would say that he saw nothing to laugh at.

　　要问为什么，他会说他没有看见什么值得好笑的。

　　Nevertheless, without openly admitting it, he was devoted³ to Boxer;

　　然而他对鲍克瑟却是真诚相待，只不过没有公开承认罢了。

　　the two of them usually spent their Sundays together in the small paddock beyond the orchard⁴, grazing side by side and never speaking.

　　通常，他俩总是一起在果园那边的小牧场上消磨星期天，肩并着肩，默默地吃草。

　　The two horses had just lain down when a brood of ducklings, which had lost their mother, filed into the barn,

　　这两匹马刚躺下，一群失去了妈妈的小鸭子排成一溜进了大谷仓，

　　cheeping feebly and wandering from side to side to find some place where they would not be trodden on.

　　吱吱喳喳，东张西望，想找一处不会被踩上的地方。

　　Clover made a sort of wall round them with her great foreleg, and the ducklings nestled down inside it and promptly⁵ fell asleep.

　　克拉弗用她粗壮的前腿象墙一样地围住他们，小鸭子偎依在里面，很快就入睡了。

　　At the last moment Mollie, the foolish, pretty white mare⁶ who drew Mr. Jones's trap, came mincing⁷ daintily in, chewing at a lump of sugar.

　　莫丽来得很晚，这个愚蠢的家伙，长着一身白生生的毛，是一匹套琼斯先生座车的母马。她扭扭捏捏地走进来，一颠一颠地，嘴里还嚼着一块糖。

　　She took a place near the front and began flirting⁸ her white mane, hoping to draw attention to the red ribbons it was plaited with.

　　她占了个靠前的位置，就开始抖动起她的白鬃毛，试图炫耀一番那些扎在鬃毛上的红饰带。

　　Last of all came the cat, who looked round, as usual, for the warmest place, and finally squeezed herself in between Boxer and Clover;

　　猫是最后一个来的，她象往常一样，到处寻找最热乎的地方，最后在鲍克瑟和克拉弗当中挤了进去。

　　there she purred contentedly⁹ throughout Major's speech without listening to a word of what he was saying.

　　在麦哲讲演时，她在那儿自始至终都得意地发出“咕咕噜噜”的声音，压根儿没听进麦哲讲的一个字。

　　All the animals were now present except Moses, the tame raven¹⁰, who slept on a perch¹¹ behind the back door.

　　那只驯顺了的乌鸦摩西睡在庄主院后门背后的架子上，除他之外，所有的动物都已到场。

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