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As winter drew on, Mollie became more and more troublesome. She was late for work every morning and excused herself by saying that she had overslept. And she complained of mysterious pains, although her appetite was excellent.
冬天快要到了，莫丽变得越来越讨厌。她每天早上干活总要迟到，而且总为自己开脱说她睡过头了。她还诉说一些不可思议的病痛，不过，她的食欲却很旺盛。
On every kind of pretext she would run away from work and go to the drinking pool, where she would stand foolishly gazing at her own reflection in the water. But there were also rumors of something more serious. One day, as Mollie strolled blithely into the yard, flirting her long tail and chewing at a stalk of hay, Clover took her aside.
她会找出种种借口逃避干活而跑到饮水池边，呆呆地站在那儿，凝视着她在水中的倒影。但还有一些传闻，说起来比这更严重一些。有一天，当莫丽边晃悠着她的长尾巴边嚼着一根草根，乐悠悠的闲逛到院子里时，克拉弗把她拉到一旁。
"Mollie," she said, "I have something very serious to say to you. This morning I saw you looking over the hedge that divides Animal Farm from Foxwood. One of Mr. Pilkington's men was standing on the other side of the hedge. And--I was a long way away, but I am almost certain I saw this--he was talking to you and you were allowing him to stroke your nose. What does that mean, Mollie?"
“莫丽”，她说，“我有件非常要紧的事要对你说。今天早晨，我看见你在查看那段隔开动物庄园和福克斯伍德庄园的树篱。有一个皮尔金顿先生的伙计正站在树篱的另一边。嗯……尽管我离得很远，但我敢肯定我看见他在对你说话，你还让他摸你的鼻子。这是怎么回事，莫丽？”
"He didn't! I wasn't! It isn't true!" cried Mollie, beginning to prance about and paw the ground. "Mollie! Look me in the face. Do you give me your word of honor that that man was not stroking your nose?"
“他没摸！我没让！这不是真的！”莫丽大声嚷着，抬起前蹄子搔着地。“莫丽！看着我。你能向我发誓，那人不是在摸你的鼻子。”
"It isn't true!" repeated Mollie, but she could not look Clover in the face, and the next moment she took to her heels and galloped away into the field. A thought struck Clover. Without saying anything to the others, she went to Mollie's stall and turned over the straw with her hoof.
“这不是真的！”莫丽重复道，但却不敢正视克拉弗。然后，她朝着田野飞奔而去，逃之夭夭。克拉弗心中闪过一个念头。谁也没有打招呼，她就跑到莫丽的厩棚里，用蹄子翻开一堆草。
Hidden under the straw was a little pile of lump sugar and several bunches of ribbon of different colors. Three days later Mollie disappeared. For some weeks nothing was known of her whereabouts, then the pigeons reported that they had seen her on the other side of Willingdon.
草下竟藏着一堆方糖和几条不同颜色的饰带。三天后，莫丽不见了。好几个星期下落不明，后来鸽子报告说他们曾在威灵顿那边见到过她。
She was between the shafts of a smart dogcart painted red and black, which was standing outside a public-house. A fat red-faced man in check breeches and gaiters, who looked like a publican, was stroking her nose and feeding her with sugar.
当时，她正被驾在一辆单驾马车上，那辆车很时髦，漆得有红有黑，停在一个客栈外面。有个红脸膛的胖子，身穿方格子马裤和高筒靴，象是客栈老板，边抚摸着她的鼻子边给她喂糖。
Her coat was newly clipped and she wore a scarlet ribbon round her forelock. She appeared to be enjoying herself, so the pigeons said. None of the animals ever mentioned Mollie again.
她的毛发修剪一新，额毛上还佩戴着一条鲜红的饰带。所以鸽子说，她显得自鸣得意。从此以后，动物们再也不提她了。
In January there came bitterly hard weather. The earth was like iron, and nothing could be done in the fields. Many meetings were held in the big barn, and the pigs occupied themselves with planning out the work of the coming season.
一月份，天气极其恶劣。田地好象铁板一样，什么活都干不成。倒是在大谷仓里召开了很多会议，猪忙于筹划下一季度的工作。
It had come to be accepted that the pigs, who were manifestly cleverer than the other animals, should decide all questions of farm policy, though their decisions had to be ratified by a majority vote.
他们明显比其它动物聪明，也就自然而然地该对庄园里所有的大政方针做出决定，尽管他们的决策还得通过大多数表决同意后才有效。
This arrangement would have worked well enough if it had not been for the disputes between Snowball and Napoleon. These two disagreed at every point where disagreement was possible. If one of them suggested sowing a bigger acreage with barley, the other was certain to demand a bigger acreage of oats.
本来，要是斯诺鲍和拿破仑相互之间不闹别扭，整个程序会进行得很顺利。可是在每一个论点上，他们俩一有可能便要抬杠。如果其中一个建议用更大面积播种大麦，另一个则肯定要求用更大面积播种燕麦。
And if one of them said that such and such a field was just right for cabbages, the other would declare that it was useless for anything except roots. Each had his own following, and there were some violent debates.
如果一个说某某地方最适宜种卷心菜，另一个就会声称那里非种薯类不可，不然就是废地一块。他们俩都有自己的追随者，相互之间还有一些激烈的争辩。
At the Meetings Snowball often won over the majority by his brilliant speeches, but Napoleon was better at canvassing support for himself in between times. He was especially successful with the sheep.
在大会议上，斯诺鲍能言善辩，令绝大多数动物心诚口服，而拿破仑更擅长在会议上休息时为争取到支持游说拉票。在羊那儿，他尤其成功。
Of late the sheep had taken to bleating "Four legs good, two legs bad" both in and out of season, and they often interrupted the Meeting with this. It was noticed that they were especially liable to break into "Four legs good, two legs bad" at crucial moments in Snowball's speeches.
后来，不管适时不适时，羊都在咩咩地叫着“四条腿好，两条腿坏”，并经常借此来捣乱大会议。大家还注意到了，越是斯诺鲍的讲演讲到关键处，他们就越有可能插进“四条腿好，两条腿坏”的咩咩声。
