Orwell: Animal farm – 17


The reading and writing classes, however, were a great success. By the autumn almost every animal on the farm was literate in some degree.

As for the pigs, they could already read and write perfectly. The dogs learned to read fairly well, but were not interested in reading anything except the Seven Commandments. Muriel, the goat, could read somewhat better than the dogs, and sometimes used to read to the others in the evenings from scraps of newspaper which she found on the rubbish heap. Benjamin could read as well as any pig, but never exercised his faculty. So far as he knew, he said, there was nothing worth reading. Clover learnt the whole alphabet, but could not put words together. Boxer could not get beyond the letter D. He would trace out A, B, C, D, in the dust with his great hoof, and then would stand staring at the letters with his ears back, sometimes shaking his forelock, trying with all his might to remember what came next and never succeeding. On several occasions, indeed, he did learn E, F, G, H, but by the time he knew them, it was always discovered that he had forgotten A, B, C, and D. Finally he decided to be content with the first four letters, and used to write them out once or twice every day to refresh his memory. Mollie refused to learn any but the six letters which spelt her own name. She would form these very neatly out of pieces of twig, and would then decorate them with a flower or two and walk round them admiring them.

 

autumn jesień
literate piśmienny, umiejący czytać i pisać
in some degree w pewnym stopniu
perfectly doskonale
fairly dość, dosyć
well dobrze
but were not interested in reading anything except ale nie były zainteresowane czytaniem niczego poza
goat koza, kozioł
somewhat nieco
sometimes used to read to the others czsami czytał innym
scrap skrawek
rubbish heap stos, sterta śmieci
faculty zdolność
to exercise wykazywać
worth warty
could not put words together nie potrafił złożyć wyrazów
beyond poza
letter litera
to trace out odrysować
dust kurz, pył
to shake trząść
forelock przednia noga
might moc
succeeding następny
finally w końcu, ostatecznie
to refresh his memory odświeżać pamięć
to refuse odmawiać
to spell literować
neatly starannie
piece kawałek
twig gałązka
to decorate ozdabiać, dekorować
flower kwiat
to admire podziwiać