Two days later the animals were called together for a special meeting in the barn. They were struck dumb with surprise when Napoleon announced that he had sold the pile of timber to Frederick. Tomorrow Frederick’s wagons would arrive and begin carting it away. Throughout the whole period of his seeming friendship with Pilkingdon，Napoleon had really been secret agreement with Frederick.
两天后，动物们被召集到谷仓里开了一个特别会议。当拿破仑宣布他已把那堆木材卖给弗雷德里克时，他们惊得目瞪口呆。明天弗雷德里克的马车就会来，开始把它运走。在整个与皮尔金顿表面上的友谊期间，拿破仑实际上是与弗雷德里克达成了秘密协议。
All relations with Foxwood had been broken off；insulting messages had been sent to Pilkingdon. The pigeons had been told to avoid Pinchfield Farm and to alter their slogan from“Death to Frederick” to “Death to Pilkingdon.” At the same time Napoleon assured the animals that the stories of an impending attack on Animal Farm were completely untrue，and that the tales about Frederick's cruelty to his own animals had been greatly exaggerated. All these rumours had probably originated with Snowball and his agents. It now appeared that Snowball was not，after all，hiding on Pinchfield Farm，and in fact had never been there in his life：he was living—in considerable luxury，so it was said—at Foxwood，and had in reality been a pensioner【n. 领养老金者；领取抚恤金者】 of Pilkingdon for years past.
与福克斯伍德庄园的一切关系都断绝了，还向皮尔金顿发了侮辱性的信息。鸽子被告知要避开平彻菲尔德庄园，并把他们的口号从“打倒弗雷德里克”改为“打倒皮尔金顿”。与此同时，拿破仑向动物们保证，有关动物庄园即将遭到袭击的传闻是完全不真实的，有关弗雷德里克虐待动物的传闻是被极大地夸大了的。所有这些谣言很可能都是斯诺鲍和他的手下发的。现在看来，斯诺鲍毕竟并没有躲在平彻菲尔德庄园，而且事实上他生平从未到过那儿。据说，他住在福克斯伍德庄园，过着相当奢侈的生活。事实上，多年前他就住在皮尔金顿庄园了。
The pigs were in ecstasies over Napoleon’s cunning【adj. 狡猾的；巧妙的；可爱的】.
猪们为拿破仑的狡猾而狂喜。
网友评论