动物庄园简介
Since its publication in 1946, George Orwell's fable of a workers' revolution gone wrong has rivaled Hem ingway's The Old Man and the Sea as the Shortest Serious Novel It's OK to Write a Book Report About. (The latter is three pages longer and less fun to read.) Fueled by Orwell's intense disillusionment with S oviet Communism, Animal Farm is a nearly perfect piece of writing, both an engaging story and an alleg ory that actually works.
When the downtrodden beasts of Manor Farm oust their drunken human master and take over manage ment of the land, all are awash in collectivist zeal. Everyone willingly works overtime, productivity soars, and for one brief, glorious season, every belly is full. The animals' Seven Commandment credo is painte d in big white letters on the barn. All animals are equal. No animal shall drink alcohol, wear clothes, slee p in a bed, or kill a fellow four-footed creature. Those that go upon four legs or wings are friends and the two-legged are, by definition, the enemy. Too soon, however, the pigs, who have styled themselves lea ders by virtue of their intelligence, succumb to the temptations of privilege and power. "We pigs are brai nworkers. The whole management and organisation of the farm depend on us. Day and night, we are w atching over your welfare. It is for your sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples." While this swi nish brotherhood sells out the revolution, cynically editing the Seven Commandments to excuse their vio lence and greed, the common animals are once again left hungry and exhausted, no better off than in th e days when humans ran the farm. Satire Animal Farm may be, but it's a stony reader who remains unm oved when the stalwart workhorse, Boxer, having given his all to his comrades, is sold to the glue factor y to buy booze for the pigs
. Orwell's view of Communism is bleak indeed, but given the history of the Russian people since 1917, h is pessimism has an air of prophecy. --Joyce Thompson --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
内容简介 Book Description
Mr Jones of Manor Farm is so lazy and drunken that one day he forgets to feed his livestock. The ensuing rebellion under the leadership of the pigs Napoleon and Wellington leads to the animals taking over the farm. Vowing to eliminate the terrible inequities of the farmyard, the renamed Animal Farm is organized to benefit all who walk on four legs. But as time passes, the ideals of the rebellion are corrupted, then forgotten. And something ne w and unexpected emerges …
《动物农场》中的一群动物成功地进行了一场“革命”，将压榨他们的人类东家赶出农场，建立起一个
平等的动物社会。
然而，动物领袖，那些聪明的猪们最终却篡夺了革命的果实，成为比人类东家更加独裁
和极权的统治者。
“多一个人看奥威尔，就多了一分自由的保障，”有论家如是说。
农场里的一头猪（Old Major）在提出了“人类剥削牲畜，牲畜须革命”的理论之后死去，若干年后农场里掀起了一场由猪领导的革命，原来的剥削者——农场主被赶走，牲畜
们实现了“当家作主”的愿望，尝到了革命果实的甘美，农场更名为“动物庄园”并且制定了庄园的宪法——七诫。
但不久领导革命的猪们发生了分裂，一头猪被宣布为革命的敌人，此后，获取了领导
权的猪拥有了越来越大的权力和越来越多的特别待遇，逐渐脱离了其他动物，最终蜕
变成为和人类完全一样的牲畜剥削者，动物庄园的名字也被放弃。
Having got rid of their human master, the animals of Manor Farm look forward to a life of freedom and pl enty. But as a clever, ruthless elite among them takes control, the other animals find themselves hopele ssly ensnared in the old ways. Orwell's chilling story of the betrayal of idealism through tyranny and corr uption, is as fresh and relevant today as when it was first published in 1945.。