By the evening,however,Napoleon appeared to be somewhat better,and the following morning Squealer was able to tell them that he was well on the way to recovery. By the evening of that day Napoleon was back at work,and on the next day It was a leaned that he had instructed Whymper to purchase in Wilmington some booklets on brewing and distilling. A week later Napoleon gave orders that the small paddock beyond the orchard,which it had previously been intended to set aside as a grazing-ground for animals who were past work,was to be ploughed up. It was given out the pasture was exhausted and needed receding;but it soon became known that Napoleon intended to sow it with barley.
不过,到了晚上,拿破仑似乎有所好转。第二天早上,斯奎拉能够告诉他们,他的病情正在好转。那天晚上,拿破仑又开始工作了。第二天,有消息称,他已指示温普尔在威尔明顿购买一些关于酿造和蒸馏的小册子。一个星期后,拿破仑下令将果园那边的那块小牧场翻耕起来,这块牧场原先是打算留给已过工期的动物放牧的。牧场已经用完了,需要退场了,但不久人们就知道,拿破仑打算在那儿种大麦。
About this time there occurred a strange incident which hardly anyone was able to understand. One night at about twelve o'clock there was a loud crash in the yard,and the animals rushed out of their stalls. It was a moonlit night. At the foot of the end wall of the big barn,where the Seven Commandments were written,there lay a ladder broken into pieces. Squealer, temporarily stunned,was sprawling beside it,and near at hand there there lay a lantern,a paintbrush,and an overturned pot of write paint. The dogs immediately made a ring round Squealer,and escorted him back to the farmhouse as soon as he was able to walk.
就在这个时候,发生了一件几乎没有人能理解的怪事。一天晚上12点左右,院子里传来一声很响的撞击声,动物们都冲出了马厩。那是一个月光皎洁的夜晚。在大谷仓一端写着“七诫”的墙角下,躺着一架断成了碎片的梯子。斯奎拉一时昏了过去,四肢伸开躺在柜子旁边,旁边放着一盏灯、一支画笔和一罐翻倒的颜料。狗立刻把斯奎拉团团围住,等他一能够走路,就把他送回庄主院去。
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