“Man is the only creature that consumes without producing.He does not give milk,he does not lay eggs,he is too weak to pull the plough,he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals. He sets them to work,he gives back to them the bare minimum【n. 最小值;最低限度;最小化;最小量】 that will prevent them from starving,and the rest he keeps for himself.
Our labor tills the soil,our dung fertilises it,and yet there is not one of us that owns more than his bare skin.
You cows that I see before me,how many thousands of gallons of milk have you given during this last year? And what was happened to that milk which should have been breeding up sturdy calves? Every drop of it has gone down the throats of our enemies. And you hens,how many eggs have you laid in this last year,and how many of those eggs ever hatched into chickens? The rest have all gone to market to bring in money for Jones and his men. And you,Clover,where are those four foals you bore,who should have been the support and pleasure of your old age? Each was sold at a year old—you will never see one of them again. In return for your four confinements【n. 限制;监禁;分娩】 and all your labor in the fields,what have ever had except your bare rations and a stall?
【翻泽】在我面前的母牛,在过去的一年里,你们曾经挤出多少千加仑的牛奶?但这些本来应该用来喂养健壮小牛的牛奶怎么样了呢?每一滴都滴入了我们敌人的喉咙。还有你们母鸡,在过去的一年里,你们下了多少个蛋?又有多少个蛋被孵化成小鸡?那些剩下的都被拿去市场为琼斯和他的人类换成钱。而你,克洛弗,你生的四个小驹哪去了?他们本应赡养你,让你安度晚年的。但每一只都在一岁的时候被卖掉了,你再也看不到他们。作为对你四次分娩,还在土地劳作的回报,除了仅有的口粮和一间马厩之外,你还有什么?
“And even the miserable lives we lead are not allowed to reach their natural span. For myself I do not grumble,for I am one of the lucky ones,I am twelve years old and have had over four hundred children.
网友评论