《Animal Farm》,与《The Shawshank Redemption》等五部著作并称反乌托邦六书,没有花哨的词藻,只有平实有力的文风,将作者所在的那个时代中人心浮动的半个地球,纳入书中,国内外读者在书中感受体会,并在历史上找到逐一的象征对应,甚至能照见读者所处时代的生活百态。故事人物形象丰满立体,语言生动,是老少皆宜的童话故事,是历史研究横断面重大事件的索引和形象概况,也是一面人类社会的明镜,究竟什么是社会发展追求的天际?不忘初心,方得始终。<br>
该书以叙述为主,但不论是首章老少校的激愤宣讲,还是文章对自然环境的寓意深刻的描写手法,仍都是双语学习者的良好素材。如:<br>
The knoll where they were lying gave them a wide prospect across the countryside. Most of Animal Farm was within their view — the long pasture stretching down to the main road, the hayfield, the spinney, the drinking pool, the ploughed fields where the young wheat was thick and green, and the red roofs of the farm buildings with the smoke curling from the chimneys. It was a clear spring evening. The grass and the bursting hedges were gilded by the level rays of the sun. Never had the farm — and with a kind of surprise they remembered that it was their own farm, every inch of it their own property — appeared to the animals so desirable a place. <br>
(他们趴聚在上面的那个小山丘,给了他们纵目骋怀饱览乡村景色的广阔视野。动物农场的绝大部分他们都可以尽收眼底——一直伸展到大路的长形牧草地、草料田、小树丛、饮水池、翻耕后栽种不久长得又密又绿的小麦地、农场房舍的红屋顶以及从烟囱里袅袅升起的缕缕炊烟。这是一个天朗气清的早春傍晚。来自水平方向的脉脉斜晖在草地和苍翠欲滴的树篱上抹了一层金色。动物们带着几分惊异的心情猛然想起,这是他们自己的农场,每一寸土地都是他们自己拥有的财产。此刻展现在他们眼前的正是大家心向往之的地方。)