By the autumn the animals were tired but happy.

直到秋天，动物们都挺累的，却也愉快。

They had had a hard year, and after the sale of part of the hay and corn, the stores of food for the winter were none too plentiful.

说起来他们已经在艰难中熬过整整一年了，并且在卖了部分干草和玉米之后，准备过冬的饲料就根本不够用了。

But the windmill compensated for everything. It was almost half built now.

但是，风车补偿这一切，它这时差不多建到一半了。

After the harvest there was a stretch of clear dry weather, and the animals toiled harder than ever,

秋收以后，天气一直晴朗无雨，动物们干起活来比以前更勤快了。

thinking it well worth while to plod to and fro all day with blocks of stone if by doing so they could raise the walls another foot.

他们整天拖着石块，辛劳地来回奔忙。他们想着这样一来，便能在一天之内把墙又加高一呎了，因而是多么富有意义啊！

Boxer would even come out at nights and work for an hour or two on his own by the light of the harvest moon.

鲍克瑟甚至在夜间也要出来，借着中秋的月光干上一两个小时。

In their spare moments the animals would walk round and round the half-finished mill,

动物们则乐于在工余时间绕着进行了一半的工程走来走去，

admiring the strength and perpendicularity of its walls and marveling that they should ever have been able to build anything so imposing.

对于那墙壁的强度和垂直度赞叹一番，并为他们竟能修建如此了不起的工程而感到惊喜交加。

Only old Benjamin refused to grow enthusiastic about the windmill, though, as usual, he would utter nothing beyond the cryptic remark that donkeys live a long time.

唯独老本杰明对风车毫无热情，他如同往常一样，除了说驴都长寿这句话神乎其神的话之外，就再也无所表示了。

November came, with raging south-west winds.

十二月到了，带来了猛烈的西北风。

Building had to stop because it was now too wet to mix the cement.

这时常常是雨天，没法和水泥，建造工程不得不中断。

Finally there came a night when the gale was so violent that the farm buildings rocked on their foundations and several tiles were blown off the roof of the barn.

后来有一个夜晚，狂风大作，整个庄园里的窝棚从地基上都被摇撼了，大谷仓顶棚的一些瓦片也刮掉了。

The hens woke up squawking with terror because they had all dreamed simultaneously of hearing a gun go off in the distance.

鸡群在恐惧中嘎嘎乱叫着惊醒来，因为他们在睡梦中同时听见远处在打枪。

In the morning the animals came out of their stalls to find that the flagstaff had been blown down and an elm tree at the foot of the orchard had been plucked up like a radish.

早晨，动物们走出窝棚，发现旗杆已被风吹倒，果园边上的一棵榆树也象萝卜一样被连根拔起。

They had just noticed this when a cry of despair broke from every animal's throat.

就在这个时候，所有的动物喉咙里突然爆发出一阵绝望的哭喊。

A terrible sight had met their eyes. The windmill was in ruins.

一幅可怕的景象呈现在他们面前：风车毁了。

With one accord they dashed down to the spot.

他们不约而同地冲向现场。

Napoleon, who seldom moved out of a walk, raced ahead of them all.

很少外出散步的拿破仑，率先跑在最前头。

Yes, there it lay, the fruit of all their struggles, leveled to its foundations,

是的，他们的全部奋斗成果躺在那儿了，全部夷为平地了，

the stones they had broken and carried so laboriously scattered all around.

他们好不容易弄碎又拉来的石头四下散乱着。

Unable at first to speak, they stood gazing mournfully at the litter of fallen stone.

动物们心酸地凝视着倒塌下来的碎石块，一下子说不出话来。

Napoleon paced to and fro in silence, occasionally snuffing at the ground.

拿破仑默默地来回踱着步，偶尔在地面上闻一闻。

His tail had grown rigid and twitched sharply from side to side, a sign in him of intense mental activity.

他的尾巴变得僵硬，并且还忽左忽右急剧地抽动，对他来说，这是紧张思维活动的表现。