动物农场Animal Farm 第6章(2)

Transporting the stone when it was once broken was comparatively simple.

这样一来，运送的事倒显得相对简一些了。

The horses carried it off in cart-loads, the sheep dragged single blocks,

马驾着满载的货车运送，羊则一块一块地拖，

even Muriel and Benjamin yoked themselves into an old governess-cart and did their share.

就连穆丽尔和本杰明也套上一辆旧两轮座车，贡献出了他们的力量。

By late summer a sufficient store of stone had accumulated, and then the building began, under the superintendence of the pigs.

这样到了夏末，备用的石头便积累足了，接着，在猪的监督下，工程就破土动工了。

But it was a slow, laborious process.

但是，整个采石过程在当时却进展缓慢，历尽艰辛。

Frequently it took a whole day of exhausting effort to drag a single boulder to the top of the quarry,

把一块圆石拖到矿顶，常常要竭尽全力干整整一天，

and sometimes when it was pushed over the edge it failed to break.

有些时候，石头从崖上推下去了，却没有摔碎。

Nothing could have been achieved without Boxer, whose strength seemed equal to that of all the rest of the animals put together.

要是没有鲍克瑟，没有他那几乎能与所有其他动物合在一起相匹敌的力气，恐怕什么事都干不成。

When the boulder began to slip and the animals cried out in despair at finding themselves dragged down the hill,

每逢动物们发现圆石开始往下滑，他们自己正被拖下山坡而绝望地哭喊时，

it was always Boxer who strained himself against the rope and brought the boulder to a stop.

总是多亏鲍克瑟拉住了绳索才稳了下来。

To see him toiling up the slope inch by inch, his breath coming fast,

看着他蹄子尖紧扣着地面，一吋一吋吃力地爬着坡;

the tips of his hoofs clawing at the ground, and his great sides matted with sweat, filled everyone with admiration.

看着他呼吸急促，巨大的身躯浸透了汗水，动物们无不满怀钦佩和赞叹。

Clover warned him sometimes to be careful not to overstrain himself, but Boxer would never listen to her.

克拉弗常常告诫他小心点，不要劳累过度了，但他从不放在心上。

His two slogans, "I will work harder" and "Napoleon is always right," seemed to him a sufficient answer to all problems.

对他来说，“我要更加努力工作”和“拿破仑同志永远正确”这两句口头禅足以回答所有的难题。

He had made arrangements with the cockerel to call him three-quarters of an hour earlier in the mornings instead of half an hour.

他已同那只小公鸡商量好了，把原来每天早晨提前半小时叫醒他，改为提前三刻钟。

And in his spare moments, of which there were not many nowadays, he would go alone to the quarry,

同时，尽管近来业余时间并不多，但他仍要在空闲时间里，独自到采石场去，在没有任何帮手的情况下，

collect a load of broken stone, and drag it down to the site of the windmill unassisted.

装上一车碎石，拖去倒在风车的地基里。

The animals were not badly off throughout that summer, in spite of the hardness of their work.

这一夏季，尽管动物们工作得十分辛苦，他们的境况还不算太坏。

If they had no more food than they had had in Jones's day, at least they did not have less.

虽然他们得到的饲料不比琼斯时期多，但至少也不比那时少。

The advantage of only having to feed themselves, and not having to support five extravagant human beings as well,

除了自己食用外，动物们不必去并供养那五个骄奢淫逸的人，