Classics﹕Animal Farm - George Orwell

【明報專訊】The novel is about a group of farm animals that had become tired of their servitude to man. They started a revolution and established their own community in the belief that ''all animals are equal''. However, they were betrayed by their leaders, the pigs, who put them into worse servitude.

The pigs fell into humans' evil habits and changed the original commandments (which were designed to keep order and unite animals against humans). This book is regarded as a satire on the communist philosophy of the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin (斯大林).

Do you know how the commandments had been changed? Here are some of them. (The words in orange are those the pigs added!)

''Four legs are good, two legs better!.''

''No animals shall sleep in a bed with sheets.''

''No animals shall drink alcohol to excess.''

''No animals shall kill any other animal without cause.''

''All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.''

■Glossary

servitude (n) 奴隸處境

commandment (n) 戒條

satire (n) 諷刺作品