Animal Farm by George Orwell - Versión en Ingles

Part 7

It was a bitter winter. The stormy weather was followed by sleet and snow, and

then by a hard frost which did not break till well into February. The animals

carried on as best they could with the rebuilding of the windmill, well knowing

that the outside world was watching them and that the envious human beings

would rejoice and triumph if the mill were not nished on time.

Out of spite, the human beings pretended not to believe that it was Snowball

who had destroyed the windmill: they said that it had fallen down because the

walls were too thin. The animals knew that this was not the case. Still, it had

been decided to build the walls three feet thick this time instead of eighteen

inches as before, which meant collecting much larger quantities of stone. For a

long time the quarry was full of snowdrifts and nothing could be done. Some

progress was made in the dry frosty weather that followed, but it was cruel work,

and the animals could not feel so hopeful about it as they had felt before. They

were always cold, and usually hungry as well. Only Boxer and Clover never lost

heart. Squealer made excellent speeches on the joy of service and the dignity of

labour, but the other animals found more inspiration in Boxer's strength and

his never-failing cry of 'I will work harder!'

In January food fell short. The corn ration was drastically reduced, and it

was announced that an extra potato ration would be issued to make up for it.

Then it was discovered that the greater part of the potato crop had been frosted

in the clamps, which had not been covered thickly enough. The potatoes had

become soft and discoloured, and only a few were edible. For days at a time the

animals had nothing to eat but cha and mangels. Starvation seemed to stare

them in the face.

It was vitally necessary to conceal this fact from the outside world. Embold-

ened by the collapse of the windmill, the human beings were inventing fresh lies

about Animal Farm. Once again it was being put about that all the animals

were dying of famine and disease, and that they were continually ghting among

themselves and had resorted to cannibalism and infanticide. Napoleon was well

aware of the bad results that might follow if the real facts of the food situation

were known, and he decided to make use of Mr. Whymper to spread a contrary

impression. Hitherto the animals had had little or no contact with Whymper

on his weekly visits: now, however, a few selected animals, mostly sheep, were

instructed to remark casually in his hearing that rations had been increased. In

addition, Napoleon ordered the almost empty bins in the store-shed to be lled

nearly to the brim with sand, which was then covered up with what remained

of the grain and meal. On some suitable pretext Whymper was led through the