動物農(nóng)場Animal Farm 第8章(1)

A few days later, when the terror caused by the executions had died down, some of the animals remembered--

幾天以后，這次行刑引起的恐慌已經(jīng)平息下來后，有些動物才想起了

or thought they remembered--that the Sixth Commandment decreed "No animal shall kill any other animal."

第六條誡律中已經(jīng)規(guī)定："任何動物不得傷害其他動物"，至少他們自以為記得有這條規(guī)定。

And though no one cared to mention it in the hearing of the pigs or the dogs, it was felt that the killings which had taken place did not square with this.

盡管在提起這個話題時，誰也不愿讓豬和狗聽見，但他們還是覺得這次殺戮與這一條誡律不相符。

Clover asked Benjamin to read her the Sixth Commandment, and when Benjamin, as usual, said that he refused to meddle in such matters, she fetched Muriel.

克拉弗請求本杰明給她念一下第六條誡律，而本杰明卻像往常一樣說他不愿介入這類事情。她又找來穆麗爾。

Muriel read the Commandment for her.

穆麗爾就給她念了這條誡律。

It ran: "No animal shall kill any other animal WITHOUT CAUSE."

上面寫著："任何動物不得傷害其他動物而無緣無故"。

Somehow or other, the last two words had slipped out of the animals' memory.

對后面這五個字，動物們不知怎么回事就是不記得了。

But they saw now that the Commandment had not been violated; for clearly there was good reason for killing the traitors who had leagued themselves with Snowball.

但他們現(xiàn)在卻清楚地看到，殺掉那些與斯諾鮑串通一氣的叛徒是有充分根據(jù)的，它并沒有違犯誡律。

Throughout the year the animals worked even harder than they had worked in the previous year.

整整這一年，動物們比前些年干得更加賣力。

To rebuild the windmill, with walls twice as thick as before, and to finish it by the appointed date, together with the regular work of the farm, was a tremendous labor.

重建風車，不但要把墻筑得比上一次厚一倍，還要按預定日期完成;再加上莊園里那些日常性活計，這兩項合在一起，任務十分繁重。

There were times when it seemed to the animals that they worked longer hours and fed no better than they had done in Jones's day.

對動物來說，他們已經(jīng)不止一次感覺到，現(xiàn)在干活時間比瓊斯時期長，吃得卻并不比那時強。

On Sunday mornings Squealer, holding down a long strip of paper with his trotter,

每到星期天早上，斯奎拉蹄子上就捏著一張長紙條，

would read out to them lists of figures proving that the production of every class offoodstuff had increased by two hundred per cent, three hundred per cent,

向他們發(fā)布各類食物產(chǎn)量增加的一系列數(shù)據(jù)，根據(jù)內(nèi)容分門別類，有的增加了百分之二百，

or five hundred per cent, as the case might be.

有的增加了百分之三百或者百分之五百。

The animals saw no reason to disbelieve him, especially as they could no longer remember very clearly what conditions had been like before the Rebellion.

動物們覺得沒有任何理由不相信他，尤其是因為他們再也記不清楚起義前的情形到底是什么樣了。

All the same, there were days when they felt that they would sooner have had less figures and more food.

不過，他們常常覺得，寧愿要這些數(shù)字少一些，而吃得更多些。