It was only that one day I happened to be walking behind them, and the curious up-and-down motion of a load of wood drew my attention to the human being beneath it. Then for the first time I noticed the poor old earth-coloured bodies, bodies reduced to bones and leathery skin, bent double under the crushing weight. Yet I suppose I had not been five minutes on Moroccan soil before I noticed the overloading of the donkeys and was infuriated by it.There is no question that the donkeys are damnably treated. The Moroccan donkey is hardly bigger than a St. Bernard dog, it carries a load which in the British Army would be considered too much for a fifteen-hands mule, and very often its packsaddle is not taken off its back for weeks together. But what is peculiarly pitiful is that it is the most willing creature on earth, it follows its master like a dog and does not need either bridle or halter . After a dozen years of devoted work it suddenly drops dead, whereupon its master tips it into the ditch and the village dogs have torn its guts out before it is cold.
我所看见的是一捆捆的柴草从屋外掠过。直到有一天我碰巧走在她们身后时，堆柴草奇异的起伏动作才使我注意到原来下面有人。这才第一次看见那些与泥土同色的可怜老妪的躯体-枯瘦的只剩下皮包骨头、被沉重的负荷压得弯腰驼背的躯体。然而，我踏上摩洛哥国土还不到五分钟就已注意到驴子的负荷过重，并为此感到愤怒。驴子遭到荷虐，这是无疑的事实。摩洛哥的驴子不过如一只瑞士雪山救人犬一般大小，可它驮负的货物重量在英国军队里让一头五英尺高的大骡子来驮都嫌过重。而且，它还常常是一连几个星期不卸驮鞍。尤其让人觉得可悲的是，它是世上最驯服听话的牲畜。不需要鞍辔会僵绳。它便会像狗一样更随着自己的主人。为主人拼命干上十几年活后，它便猝然倒地死去，这时，主人就把它仍进沟里，尸体未寒，其五脏六腑便被村狗扒出来吃掉。
This kind of thing makes one's blood boil, whereas-on the whole-the plight of the human beings does not. I am not commenting, merely pointing to a fact. People with brown skins are next door to invisible. Anyone can be sorry for the donkey with its galled back, but it is generally owing to some kind of accident if one even notices the old woman under her load of sticks.
这种事情当然令人发指，可是，一般说来，人的苦难却没人理会。我并非在乱发议论，只不过是指出一个事实而已。这种人简直就是一种无影无行之物。一头背上被磨得皮破肉烂的驴子人人见了都会同情，而那驮着大捆柴草的老妇人则往往要有某种偶然因素才会受到注意。