第3期：动物农场Animal Farm 第1章(3)

When Major saw that they had all made themselves comfortable and were waiting attentively, he cleared his throat and began: Comrades, you have already heard about the strange dream that I had last night. But I will come to the dream later.

I have something else to say first. I do not think, comrades, that I shall be with you for many months longer, and before I die, I feel it my duty to pass on to you such wisdom as I have acquired.

I have had a long life, I have had much time for thought as I lay alone in my stall, and I think I may say that I understand the nature of life on this earth as well as any animal now living.

It is about this that I wish to speak to you." Now, comrades, what is the nature of this life of ours?

Let us face it: our lives are miserable, laborious, and short. We are born, we are given just so much food as will keep the breath in our bodies,

and those of us who are capable of it are forced to work to the last atom of our strength; and the very instant that our usefulness has come to an end we are slaughtered with hideous cruelty.

No animal in England knows the meaning of happiness or leisure after he is a year old. No animal in England is free. The life of an animal is misery and slavery: that is the plain truth."

But is this simply part of the order of nature? " Is it because this land of ours is so poor that it cannot afford a decent life to those who dwell upon it?

No, comrades, a thousand times no! The soil of England is fertile, its climate is good, it is capable of affording food in abundance to an enormously greater number of animals than now inhabit it.

This single farm of ours would support a dozen horses, twenty cows, hundreds of sheep and all of them living in a comfort and a dignity that are now almost beyond our imagining.