chapter 1-002

大谷仓的一角有一块地势较高的平台，上面铺着稻草垫子，老上校已经舒服地坐在那里，头上的横梁挂着一盏马灯。老上校已经十二岁了，最近身材有些走样，但看上去仍然威严不减。虽然獠牙未曾修剪过，但他的面容并不凶狠，反而透露出智慧和仁爱。没多久，伙伴们陆续到达谷仓，并且各自找了个舒服的位置落座。最先到的是狗狗三兄弟（布鲁贝尔、杰西和品彻），然后是猪猪们，他们刚到就迅速趴在平台前的稻草垫子上。母鸡匍匐在窗沿，鸽子扑棱着飞到屋椽，绵羊和母牛则躺卧在猪猪身后开始消化食物。还有两位马车伙夫兄弟（布克瑟和克莱弗）拖着缓慢的步伐结伴前来，他们每次都小心翼翼地踏下毛茸茸的大脚，生怕踩到哪位藏在草垫里的小伙伴。年近中年的克莱弗是一匹已受孕的发福母马，自从她怀上第四胎宝宝后身形就再也没有恢复过来。而体型健壮的布克瑟有近两米高的个头，看上去有两匹马加起来这么壮。鼻子周围的一圈白色纹路让他看起来很傻，的确他并不是特别聪明，但是他却凭借坚毅的性格和卖力的劳作为众人尊重。随后到达的是白山羊穆里尔和傻驴本杰明。本杰明在整个庄园里年纪最长，同时是脾气最差的那位。他寡言少语，一旦开口又多是对他人评头论足的讥讽之语，比如他会说上帝赋予他一条尾巴以驱赶飞蝇，但他宁肯啥也不要。他也是庄园里唯一一个从未开口笑过的，每当问及原因，他总说无事可笑。不过他对布克瑟却情有独钟，虽未公开表态过，但他俩总是相约周日去果园后的小牧场，在那一言不发地挨着对方吃草。

At one end of the big barn, on a sort of raised platform, Major was already ensconced on his bed of straw, under a lantern which hung from a beam. Hewas twelve years old and had lately grown rather stout, but he was still a majestic-looking pig, with a wise and benevolent appearance in spite of the fact that his tushes had never been cut. Before long the other animals began to arrive and make themselves comfortable after their different fashions. Firstcame the three dogs, Bluebell, Jessie and Pincher, and then the pigs, who settled down in the straw immediately in front of the platform. The hens perched themselves on the window-sills, the pigeons fluttered up to the rafters, the sheep and cows lay down behind the pigs and began to chew thecud. The two cart-horses, Boxer and Clover, came in together, walking veryslowly and setting down their vast hairy hoofs with great care lest there should be some small animal concealed in the straw. Clover was a stout motherly mare approaching middle life, who had never quite got her figure back after her fourth foal. Boxer was an enormous beast, nearly eighteen hands high, and as strong as any two ordinary horses put together. A white stripe down his nose gave him a somewhat stupid appearance, and in fact hewas not of first-rate intelligence, but he was universally respected for his steadiness of character and tremendous powers of work. After the horses came Muriel, the white goat, and Benjamin the donkey. Benjamin was the oldest animal on the farm, and the worst tempered. He seldom talked, and when he did it was usually to make some cynical remark－for instance he would say that God had given him a tail to keep the flies off, but that he would sooner have had no tail and no flies. Alone among the animals on the farm he never laughed. If asked why, he would say that he saw nothing tolaugh at. Nevertheless, without openly admitting it, he was devoted to Boxer; the two of them usually spent their Sundays together in the small paddock beyond the orchard, grazing side by side and never speaking.