The author's great love of his native country. His master's observations upon the constitution and administration of England, as described by the author, with parallel cases and comparisons. His master's observations upon human nature. 作者对祖国的热爱；主人根据作者的叙述对英国的宪法和行政发表看法，并提出相似事例加以比较；主人对人性的看法。
The reader may be disposed to wonder how I could prevail on myself to give so free a representation of my own species, among a race of mortals who are already too apt to conceive the vilest opinion of humankind, from that entire congruity between me and their Yahoos. But I must freely confess, that the many virtues of those excellent quadrupeds, placed in opposite view to human corruptions, had so far opened my eyes and enlarged my understanding, that I began to view the actions and passions of man in a very different light, and to think the honour of my own kind not worth managing; which, besides, it was impossible for me to do, before a person of so acute a judgment as my master, who daily convinced me of a thousand faults in myself, whereof I had not the least perception before, and which, with us, would never be numbered even among human infirmities. I had likewise learned, from his example, an utter detestation of all falsehood or disguise; and truth appeared so amiable to me, that I determined upon sacrificing every thing to it. 读者也许会感到奇怪，我怎么能在这种对人类最厌恶的生物面前如此坦率地揭露自己的同类呢？他们可是认为我和他们的“雅虎”完全一致。但是我必须坦白承认，这些杰出的四足动物的许多美德与人类的腐化堕落形成了鲜明的对照；至此它们使我睁开了眼睛，也扩大了认识领域，因此我用另一种眼光对待人类的行为和感情，同时也让我觉得毫不值得设法来保存同类的尊严；再者说，在主人那样判断敏锐的“慧骃”面前，我也没有办法保住我们的尊严；他天天都让我觉得自己身上有许多种错误，这些错误我以前丝毫都没有觉察到，而在我们看来这甚至根本就算不上是人类的缺点。我同时倒是从他这个榜样身上学会了彻底憎恨一切的虚假和伪装；真理，在我看来是那么可爱，我决心为了真理而牺牲一切。
Let me deal so candidly with the reader as to confess that there was yet a much stronger motive for the freedom I took in my representation of things. I had not yet been a year in this country before I contracted such a love and veneration for the inhabitants, that I entered on a firm resolution never to return to humankind, but to pass the rest of my life among these admirable Houyhnhnms, in the contemplation and practice of every virtue, where I could have no example or incitement to vice. But it was decreed by fortune, my perpetual enemy, that so great a felicity should not fall to my share. However, it is now some comfort to reflect, that in what I said of my countrymen, I extenuated their faults as much as I durst before so strict an examiner; and upon every article gave as favourable a turn as the matter would bear. For, indeed, who is there alive that will not be swayed by his bias and partiality to the place of his birth? 让我向读者说得坦率一点吧，我这么大胆地揭露那些事还有一个更为强有力的动机。我到这个国家还不到一年就十分热爱和尊敬当地的居民了，决心不再回到人类中来，而要在这些可敬的“慧骃”中间度我的余生，对他们的每一种美德进行认真的考虑并付诸实践。在那儿，我没有坏榜样，也不会受罪恶的引诱。但是命运永远是我的敌人，它注定不会把这么好的福气落在我身上。不过，现在回想起来多少还得到点安慰，因为在那样一位严厉的考问者面前谈到自己的同胞时，我敢于尽量为他们的错误掩饰，只要情况允许，每件事情上我都是尽可能地说好话。因为，说实话，活在世上的人谁不对自己的家乡有几分偏心呢？
I have related the substance of several conversations I had with my master during the greatest part of the time I had the honour to be in his service; but have, indeed, for brevity sake, omitted much more than is here set down. 我侍奉主人的大部分时间里都在和主人进行交谈，谈话的主要内容前面已经说过了。可是，为了简洁，我省掉的内容比记在这里的要多得多。
When I had answered all his questions, and his curiosity seemed to be fully satisfied, he sent for me one morning early, and commanded me to sit down at some distance (an honour which he had never before conferred upon me). He said, "he had been very seriously considering my whole story, as far as it related both to myself and my country; that he looked upon us as a sort of animals, to whose share, by what accident he could not conjecture, some small pittance of reason had fallen, whereof we made no other use, than by its assistance, to aggravate our natural corruptions, and to acquire new ones, which nature had not given us; that we disarmed ourselves of the few abilities she had bestowed; had been very successful in multiplying our original wants, and seemed to spend our whole lives in vain endeavours to supply them by our own inventions; that, as to myself, it was manifest I had neither the strength nor agility of a common Yahoo; that I walked infirmly on my hinder feet;had found out a contrivance to make my claws of no use or defence, and to remove the hair from my chin, which was intended as a shelter from the sun and the weather; lastly, that I could neither run with speed, nor climb trees like my brethren," as he called them, "the Yahoos in his country. 他提出的问题我一一给了答复，他的好奇心似乎已完全得到了满足，一天清早把我叫去，吩咐我坐在离他不远的地方（这样的恩典他以前从来还没有给过我）。他说自己一直在十分认真地考虑我说过的关于我和我祖国的一切事情。他认为我们是碰巧得到一点儿理性的一种动物，至于我们怎么偶然得到了那点理性，他是无法想明白的。我们的那点理性没有其他用处，只是学到了腐败和其他天性中没有的堕落。我们将造物赋予我们的很少的几种本领弃之不用，原有的欲望倒一直在十分顺利地增多，而且似乎枉费毕生的精力，通过自己的种种发明企图来满足这些欲望。很显然，至于我本人，力气和行动的敏捷上都不如一只普通的“雅虎”。两只后脚走起路来就很不稳当，还想出办法使自己的爪子既无用处又不能防卫，下巴上那本是用来防御太阳和恶劣天气的毛发也给拔掉了。最后还有，我既不能快速奔跑，又不能爬树，和我在这个国家的“雅虎”弟兄们（他这么称呼它们）就是不一样。
"That our institutions of government and law were plainly owing to our gross defects in reason, and by consequence in virtue; because reason alone is sufficient to govern a rational creature; which was, therefore, a character we had no pretence to challenge, even from the account I had given of my own people; although he manifestly perceived, that, in order to favour them, I had concealed many particulars, and often said the thing which was not. 我们有行政和司法机构，显然是因为我们的理性上的缺点以及因此在道德上的严重缺点，因为约束一只理性动物仅仅靠理性就可以了。所以即使我为自己的同胞说了一番好话，我们还是没有资格自以为就有了理性。他看得很清楚，因为我袒护他们，因而许多事情我都避而不谈，还常常说一些乌有之事。
"He was the more confirmed in this opinion, because, he observed, that as I agreed in every feature of my body with other Yahoos, except where it was to my real disadvantage in point of strength, speed, and activity, the shortness of my claws, and some other particulars where nature had no part; so from the representation I had given him of our lives, our manners, and our actions, he found as near a resemblance in the disposition of our minds." He said, "the Yahoos were known to hate one another, more than they did any different species of animals; and the reason usually assigned was, the odiousness of their own shapes, which all could see in the rest, but not in themselves. He had therefore begun to think it not unwise in us to cover our bodies, and by that invention conceal many of our deformities from each other, which would else be hardly supportable. But he now found he had been mistaken, and that the dissensions of those brutes in his country were owing to the same cause with ours, as I had described them. For if," said he, "you throw among five Yahoos as much food as would be sufficient for fifty, they will, instead of eating peaceably, fall together by the ears, each single one impatient to have all to itself; and therefore a servant was usually employed to stand by while they were feeding abroad, and those kept at home were tied at a distance from each other; that if a cow died of age or accident, before a Houyhnhnm could secure it for his own Yahoos, those in the neighbourhood would come in herds to seize it, and then would ensue such a battle as I had described, with terrible wounds made by their claws on both sides, although they seldom were able to kill one another, for want of such convenient instruments of death as we had invented. 他就更确信自己的看法是对的了，因为他认为我身体上每个特征都与“雅虎”一样，真正赶不上它们的地方是我力气小、速度慢、动作笨、爪子短，还有一些缺点那是跟造物毫无关系的。所以从我向他叙述的有关我们的生活、风俗和行为来看，他发现我们的性情也跟“雅虎”相似。他说，大家都知道“雅虎”同类之间的仇恨要胜过它们对异类的仇恨；一般认为这是因为它们的相貌太可怕，而这种可怕的样子，“雅虎”们都只能在同类身上看到，却看不到自身其实也同样可怕。他因此开始觉得我们发明衣服把身体遮盖起来倒不失为一种聪明的方法，这样，我们就看不到彼此之间的许多缺陷，要不然我们真还难以忍受。但是他现在发现他以前弄错了，他们国家里的这些畜生之间的种种不和，原因和我们的都一样，正像我说的那样。他说，如果把五十只“雅虎”吃的食物扔到五只“雅虎”中间，它们就不会本本分分地吃；每只“雅虎”都迫不及待地要想独占全部，这样它们就会扭打起来。所以，它们在室外吃东西的时候，通常还得派一名仆人站在一旁监视；关在屋里的那些则必须用绳子拴住，彼此隔开。如果有一头母牛因年老或者意外事故死了，“慧骃”还没来得及把它弄给自己的“雅虎”吃，附近的“雅虎”便已经成群地来争夺了，这样就会像我描述的那样引来一场战争，双方被爪子抓得一塌糊涂。不过因为它们没有我们发明的那种方便的杀人武器，倒是很难会互相残杀。
At other times, the like battles have been fought between the Yahoos of several neighbourhoods, without any visible cause; those of one district watching all opportunities to surprise the next, before they are prepared. But if they find their project has miscarried, they return home, and, for want of enemies, engage in what I call a civil war among themselves. 有时候，附近几处的“雅虎”没有任何明显的原因也会这样打架；一个地区的“雅虎”瞅准一切机会，趁另一个地区的“雅虎”还没有准备好就向对方发起突然袭击。但是要是他们发现偷袭计划失败就跑回家去，敌人没有了，就进行一场我所说的那种内战。
"That in some fields of his country there are certain shining stones of several colours, whereof the Yahoos are violently fond; and when part of these stones is fixed in the earth, as it sometimes happens, they will dig with their claws for whole days to get them out;then carry them away, and hide them by heaps in their kennels; but still looking round with great caution, for fear their comrades should find out their treasure." My master said, "he could never discover the reason of this unnatural appetite, or how these stones could be of any use to a Yahoo; but now he believed it might proceed from the same principle of avarice which I had ascribed to mankind. That he had once, by way of experiment, privately removed a heap of these stones from the place where one of his Yahoos had buried it; whereupon the sordid animal, missing his treasure, by his loud lamenting brought the whole herd to the place, there miserably howled, then fell to biting and tearing the rest, began to pine away, would neither eat, nor sleep, nor work, till he ordered a servant privately to convey the stones into the same hole, and hide them as before; which, when his Yahoo had found, he presently recovered his spirits and good humour, but took good care to remove them to a better hiding place, and has ever since been a very serviceable brute." 在他的国家，某些地方的田野里出产一种不同颜色、闪闪发光的石头，“雅虎”们极其喜爱；有时这些石头的一部分在土里埋着，它们就会整天整天地用爪子把石头挖出来；然后运回去成堆地埋藏在自己的窝里；可是一边藏，一边还要十分小心地东张西望，生怕伙伴们会发现它们的宝贝。主人说他始终都不明白它们怎么会有这么一种违反天性的欲望，这些石头对“雅虎”根本没什么用处。但是他现在相信，这也许是由于我归于的人类那种贪婪的习性。他说自己曾经做过一次试验，悄悄地将一只“雅虎”埋藏在某处的一堆这样的石头搬走。那贪婪的畜生见自己的宝贝丢了，就放声哀号起来，招得所有的“雅虎”都跑到这地方来，它在那里惨叫着，对别的“雅虎”又是撕又是咬，这之后便日见消瘦，不吃不睡也不干活。直到主人命令一个仆人私下里将这些石头运回原来的坑里并照原样埋好；这只“雅虎”发现后，精神立刻就恢复，脾气也变好了。只是小心地将石头埋到了另一个更安全的地方，从此以后这畜生一直十分听话。
My master further assured me, which I also observed myself, "that in the fields where the shining stones abound, the fiercest and most frequent battles are fought, occasioned by perpetual inroads of the neighbouring Yahoos." 主人还告诉我，当然我自己也看出来了，在有很多这种闪闪发光的石头的田地里，由于邻近的“雅虎”不断入侵，往往会发生最激烈、最频繁的战争。
He said, "it was common, when two Yahoos discovered such a stone in a field, and were contending which of them should be the proprietor, a third would take the advantage, and carry it away from them both;" which my master would needs contend to have some kind of resemblance with our suits at law;wherein I thought it for our credit not to undeceive him;since the decision he mentioned was much more equitable than many decrees among us;because the plaintiff and defendant there lost nothing beside the stone they contended for; whereas our courts of equity would never have dismissed the cause, while either of them had any thing left. 他说，两只“雅虎”在地里发现了这样的一块石头正在争夺谁应该是所有者时，第三者占了便宜将石头拿走了，这样的事也是常有的。主人偏要认为这跟我们在法庭上打官司有点相似；我则觉得我们最好还是不要让他蒙在鼓里；因为他提到的那种裁决的方法比起我们的许多法律来要公平得多；因为在那里，原告和被告除了失去它们争夺的那块石头外，并没有别的损失；可在我们的法庭上，不把原告和被告整得一无所有，法庭是决不会结案的。
My master, continuing his discourse, said, "there was nothing that rendered the Yahoos more odious, than their undistinguishing appetite to devour every thing that came in their way, whether herbs, roots, berries, the corrupted flesh of animals, or all mingled together; and it was peculiar in their temper, that they were fonder of what they could get by rapine or stealth, at a greater distance, than much better food provided for them at home. If their prey held out, they would eat till they were ready to burst; after which, nature had pointed out to them a certain root that gave them a general evacuation. 主人接着说了下去，他说“雅虎”最叫人厌恶的是它们不分好歹，遇见什么就吃什么，草也好，根也好，浆果也好，腐烂的兽肉也好，统统都吃，有时还把这些东西拌在一起吞吃下去。它们还有一种怪脾气，家里给它们准备的好好的食物放着不吃，却更喜欢从老远的地方去偷或者去抢。弄来的东西如果一时吃不完，它们还是吃，直吃到肚子要炸了，之后本能会指引它们去吃一种草根，吃下去肚子就会拉得干干净净。
"There was also another kind of root, very juicy, but somewhat rare and difficult to be found, which the Yahoos sought for with much eagerness, and would suck it with great delight; it produced in them the same effects that wine has upon us. It would make them sometimes hug, and sometimes tear one another; they would howl, and grin, and chatter, and reel, and tumble, and then fall asleep in the mud." 还有另一种草根，汁很多，可是比较稀罕，不容易找到，“雅虎”们找起这种草根来劲头很大，一找到就兴味盎然地吮吸一阵。这种草根在它们身上产生的作用与我们喝酒产生的作用非常相似。这种草根使它们一会儿搂搂抱抱，一会儿又互相厮打，嚎叫，狞笑，喋喋不休，发晕，打滚，最后在烂泥地里酣然睡去。
I did indeed observe that the Yahoos were the only animals in this country subject to any diseases; which, however, were much fewer than horses have among us, and contracted, not by any ill-treatment they meet with, but by the nastiness and greediness of that sordid brute. Neither has their language any more than a general appellation for those maladies, which is borrowed from the name of the beast, and called hnea-yahoo, or Yahoo's evil; and the cure prescribed is a mixture of their own dung and urine, forcibly put down the Yahoo's throat. This I have since often known to have been taken with success, and do here freely recommend it to my countrymen for the public good, as an admirable specific against all diseases produced by repletion. 在这个国家里，我发现只有“雅虎”这种动物才会生病，不过它们生的病比我们的马生的病还是要少许多，他们生病不是因为受了什么虐待，而是由这种下贱畜生又脏又馋而引起的。所有这些病在它们的语言中也只有一个总的名称，那是从这畜生的名字上借来的，叫做“赫尼·雅虎”，或者叫雅虎病。治疗这病的方法，就是将“雅虎”自己的屎和尿混到一起，再强行从喉咙里灌下去。据我所知，这种疗法总是非常有效的。为了公众的利益，在此我愿免费向同胞们推荐，治疗因饮食过度而引起的一切疾病，这确实是一种值得推崇的有效疗法。
"As to learning, government, arts, manufactures, and the like," my master confessed, "he could find little or no resemblance between the Yahoos of that country and those in ours; for he only meant to observe what parity there was in our natures. He had heard, indeed, some curious Houyhnhnms observe, that in most herds there was a sort of ruling Yahoo (as among us there is generally some leading or principal stag in a park), who was always more deformed in body, and mischievous in disposition, than any of the rest; that this leader had usually a favourite as like himself as he could get, whose employment was to lick his master's feet and posteriors, and drive the female Yahoos to his kennel;for which he was now and then rewarded with a piece of ass's flesh. This favourite is hated by the whole herd, and therefore, to protect himself, keeps always near the person of his leader. He usually continues in office till a worse can be found; but the very moment he is discarded, his successor, at the head of all the Yahoos in that district, young and old, male and female, come in a body, and discharge their excrements upon him from head to foot. But how far this might be applicable to our courts, and favourites, and ministers of state, my master said I could best determine." 在学术、政治、艺术等方面，我的主人承认自己在它们国家的“雅虎”和我们之间找不到什么相同之处，因为他注意的只是我们在性情上的共同点。他也曾听几位好奇的“慧骃”说过，在大多数“雅虎”群落当中都有居于统治地位的“雅虎”（正如在我们公园里的群鹿也有一只领头鹿一样），它的样子比一般“雅虎”还要难看，性情也更刁顽。这领头的一般总要有只很像自己的宠儿。它的差事就是给主人舔脚和臀部，并且将母“雅虎”赶到主人窝里去；他们因此会时不时地赏得一块驴肉吃。大家都恨这个宠儿，因此为了保护自己它只好一步不离的跟着主人。在找到比它还要恶劣的“雅虎”之前，它一般是不会被解职的；可它一被蹬开，继任它的“雅虎” 就会率领这一地区的男女老幼们一齐赶来，对它从头到脚撒尿拉屎。我的主人说，这种现象与我们这里的朝廷、宠臣和大臣到底有几分相像，只有我最能说得准了。
I durst make no return to this malicious insinuation, which debased human understanding below the sagacity of a common hound, who has judgment enough to distinguish and follow the cry of the ablest dog in the pack, without being ever mistaken. 对它这种恶意的嘲讽我简直不敢反驳，在他眼中人类还不如一头普通的猎犬聪明；就是猎犬也能够准确无误地分辨猎队中最有本领的并跟随它狂吠。
My master told me, "there were some qualities remarkable in the Yahoos, which he had not observed me to mention, or at least very slightly, in the accounts I had given of humankind." He said, "those animals, like other brutes, had their females in common; but in this they differed, that the she Yahoo would admit the males while she was pregnant; and that the hes would quarrel and fight with the females, as fiercely as with each other; both which practices were such degrees of infamous brutality, as no other sensitive creature ever arrived at. 主人告诉我，“雅虎”还有几种很突出的特性，在我谈人类的特性时他倒没有听我提起过，就是提起，至多也只是轻描淡写一下。他说，这些畜生跟别的动物一样，有共用的母“雅虎”；但是下面这一点上它们跟别的畜生很不同，就是，母的怀了孕还照样和公的交配；另外，公的和母的也会像两头公的一样激烈地争吵、打架。这两件事都达到了极其无耻残暴的地步，这实在是任何别的有感情的动物做不出来的。
"Another thing he wondered at in the Yahoos, was their strange disposition to nastiness and dirt; whereas there appears to be a natural love of cleanliness in all other animals." As to the two former accusations, I was glad to let them pass without any reply, because I had not a word to offer upon them in defence of my species, which otherwise I certainly had done from my own inclinations. But I could have easily vindicated humankind from the imputation of singularity upon the last article, if there had been any swine in that country (as unluckily for me there were not), which, although it may be a sweeter quadruped than a Yahoo, cannot, I humbly conceive, in justice, pretend to more cleanliness; and so his honour himself must have owned, if he had seen their filthy way of feeding, and their custom of wallowing and sleeping in the mud. “雅虎”身上还有一点令他觉得不明白，那就是它们对肮脏污秽奇怪的喜爱；而别的动物似乎都有爱好清洁的天性。我对前面那两项责难不作答复，搪塞过去就好，因为我实在想不出来什么话为自己的同类辩。如果不是这样，我倒是喜欢为他们辩护一番的。但是我本可以很容易地为人类辩解最后那一条独特的恶名，如果这个国家有猪的话（可惜它们没有）；猪这种四足动物虽然可能比“雅虎”要来得温顺，可是说句公道话，在下以为猪比“雅虎”更脏。要是主人亲眼看到猪那脏兮兮的吃相，看到猪在烂泥中打滚、睡觉的习惯，他一定会承认我说的话是对的。
My master likewise mentioned another quality which his servants had discovered in several Yahoos, and to him was wholly unaccountable. He said, "a fancy would sometimes take a Yahoo to retire into a corner, to lie down, and howl, and groan, and spurn away all that came near him, although he were young and fat, wanted neither food nor water, nor did the servant imagine what could possibly ail him. And the only remedy they found was, to set him to hard work, after which he would infallibly come to himself." To this I was silent out of partiality to my own kind; yet here I could plainly discover the true seeds of spleen, which only seizes on the lazy, the luxurious, and the rich; who, if they were forced to undergo the same regimen, I would undertake for the cure. 主人还提到了另外一个特性，那是仆人在几只“雅虎”身上发现的，在他看来却完全不能理解。他说“雅虎”有时不知怎么会想到要躲进一个角落里躺下去，又是嚎叫又是呻吟，谁走近它都把人家一脚踢开，虽然年轻体胖，却可以不吃不喝，仆人们也想不出它可能哪里会不舒服。后来发现，唯一的治疗方法是让它去干重活，重活一干，肯定恢复正常。由于我偏向自己的同类，所以听了这话只好默不作声，这倒也使我找到了坏脾气的病源，也只有懒惰、奢侈的人以及有钱人才得这种病。如果强迫他们接受同样方法的治疗，我可以保证他们病马上就会好。
His honour had further observed, "that a female Yahoo would often stand behind a bank or a bush, to gaze on the young males passing by, and then appear, and hide, using many antic gestures and grimaces, at which time it was observed that she had a most offensive smell; and when any of the males advanced, would slowly retire, looking often back, and with a counterfeit show of fear, run off into some convenient place, where she knew the male would follow her. 主人阁下接着说，一只母“雅虎”常常会站在一个土堆或者一丛灌木的后面，眼巴巴地看着过往的年轻公“雅虎”躲躲藏藏地作出种种丑态和鬼脸，据说这时候她身上会发出一种极其难闻的气味。要是有一只公“雅虎”这时走上前来，她就会慢慢往后退，时常回过头来看看，装出一副很害怕的样子，接着就跑进一个可以方便行事的地方；因为她知道那公的一定会尾随而至。
"At other times, if a female stranger came among them, three or four of her own sex would get about her, and stare, and chatter, and grin, and smell her all over; and then turn off with gestures, that seemed to express contempt and disdain." 有时不知从哪来了一只陌生的母“雅虎”，三四只母的就会团团围着她又是打量又是议论，一会儿冷笑，一会儿将她浑身上下闻个遍，然后就会装腔作势地走开了，似乎表示她们非常瞧不起她。
Perhaps my master might refine a little in these speculations, which he had drawn from what he observed himself, or had been told him by others; however, I could not reflect without some amazement, and much sorrow, that the rudiments of lewdness, coquetry, censure, and scandal, should have place by instinct in womankind. 这些都是主人自己的观察所得，或者也可能是别人告诉他的；当然话也许可以再说得文雅一点，不过我想起来倒不免有几分惊讶，同时也很悲哀——在女性的本能中竟都可以找到淫荡、风骚、苛刻和造谣的萌芽。
I expected every moment that my master would accuse the Yahoos of those unnatural appetites in both sexes, so common among us. But nature, it seems, has not been so expert a school-mistress; and these politer pleasures are entirely the productions of art and reason on our side of the globe. 我每时每刻都在等着主人来指责我们中间极为普通的男女“雅虎”身上这些违反自然的欲望。可是自然似乎还不是一位手段非常高明的教师；在地球的这一边，我们这些较为文雅的嗜好却完全是艺术和理性的产物。