A grand debate at the general assembly of the Houyhnhnms, and how it was determined. The learning of the Houyhnhnms. Their buildings. Their manner of burials. The defectiveness of their language. “慧骃”全国代表大会进行大辩论，辩论结果如何；“慧骃”的学术；他们的建筑；他们葬礼的风俗；他们的语言缺陷。
One of these grand assemblies was held in my time, about three months before my departure, whither my master went as the representative of our district. In this council was resumed their old debate, and indeed the only debate that ever happened in their country; whereof my master, after his return, gave me a very particular account. 在我离开这个国家三个月之前，它召开了一次全国大会，主人作为我们这个地区的代表参加了大会。在这次会议上，它们对一个老问题进行辩论，这也是这个国家仅有过的辩论。我的主人回来后把辩论的详情告诉了我。
The question to be debated was "whether the Yahoos should be exterminated from the face of the earth." One of the members for the affirmative offered several arguments of great strength and weight, alleging, "that as the Yahoos were the most filthy, noisome, and deformed animals which nature ever produced, so they were the most restive and indocible, mischievous and malicious; they would privately suck the teats of the Houyhnhnms' cows, kill and devour their cats, trample down their oats and grass, if they were not continually watched, and commit a thousand other extravagancies." He took notice of a general tradition, "that Yahoos had not been always in their country;but that many ages ago, two of these brutes appeared together upon a mountain;whether produced by the heat of the sun upon corrupted mud and slime, or from the ooze and froth of the sea, was never known; that these Yahoos engendered, and their brood, in a short time, grew so numerous as to overrun and infest the whole nation; that the Houyhnhnms, to get rid of this evil, made a general hunting, and at last enclosed the whole herd; and destroying the elder, every Houyhnhnm kept two young ones in a kennel, and brought them to such a degree of tameness, as an animal, so savage by nature, can be capable of acquiring, using them for draught and carriage; that there seemed to be much truth in this tradition, and that those creatures could not be yinhniamshy (or aborigines of the land), because of the violent hatred the Houyhnhnms, as well as all other animals, bore them, which, although their evil disposition sufficiently deserved, could never have arrived at so high a degree if they had been aborigines, or else they would have long since been rooted out; that the inhabitants, taking a fancy to use the service of the Yahoos, had, very imprudently, neglected to cultivate the breed of asses, which are a comely animal, easily kept, more tame and orderly, without any offensive smell, strong enough for labour, although they yield to the other in agility of body, and if their braying be no agreeable sound, it is far preferable to the horrible howlings of the Yahoos." 辩论的问题是：要不要把“雅虎”从地面上消灭干净。一位主张消灭的代表提出了几个很有力并且很有分量的论点。他认为，“雅虎”是世上最肮脏、最有害、最丑陋的动物；它们最倔强、最不可驯、最爱捣乱、最恶毒。如果不时刻加以看管，它们就会偷吃“慧骃”母牛的奶，把猫弄死吞吃掉，踩踏燕麦和青草，还会干出许多别的放肆无礼的事来。他注意到了这么一个流行的传说：“雅虎”在这个国家并不是一向就有的，而是许多年前忽然有这样的一对畜生在一座山上出现了；至于它们是太阳晒着烂泥生出来的还是海里的淤泥和渣滓变来的，则永远无从知晓。后来这一对“雅虎”开始繁殖，短时间内后代就越来越多，以致遍布和侵扰全国。“慧骃”为了除此一害，曾举行过一次大狩猎，终于将整个族群的“雅虎”包围了起来；它们将老的杀死，每个“慧骃”只留两只小”雅虎“养在窝里，驯养它们拉或者背东西；本性这么野蛮的动物能驯服到这地步也算是难得的了。这一传说貌似很近情理，而且那些动物不可能是当地的，因为“慧骃”和所有其他的动物对它们十分痛恨；虽说它们生性恶毒，完全应当受到痛恨，但如果它们是土生土长的动物，大家也绝不会恨它们到这样的地步，否则早就把它们给消灭了。当地居民还忽发奇想，想用“雅虎”来为自己服务，结果忽略了对驴族的培养。驴这种动物文雅、容易养、更加温顺、规矩，也没有任何难闻的气味，虽然身体不如“雅虎”那么灵活，但干活还是有足够的力气的。如果说它们的叫声不大好听，可比起“雅虎”那可怕的嚎叫来，总还是要讨喜得多。
Several others declared their sentiments to the same purpose, when my master proposed an expedient to the assembly, whereof he had indeed borrowed the hint from me. "He approved of the tradition mentioned by the honourable member who spoke before, and affirmed, that the two Yahoos said to be seen first among them, had been driven thither over the sea; that coming to land, and being forsaken by their companions, they retired to the mountains, and degenerating by degrees, became in process of time much more savage than those of their own species in the country whence these two originals came. The reason of this assertion was, that he had now in his possession a certain wonderful Yahoo (meaning myself ) which most of them had heard of, and many of them had seen. He then related to them how he first found me; that my body was all covered with an artificial composure of the skins and hairs of other animals; that I spoke in a language of my own, and had thoroughly learned theirs; that I had related to him the accidents which brought me thither; that when he saw me without my covering, I was an exact Yahoo in every part, only of a whiter colour, less hairy, and with shorter claws. He added, how I had endeavoured to persuade him, that in my own and other countries, the Yahoos acted as the governing, rational animal, and held the Houyhnhnms in servitude; that he observed in me all the qualities of a Yahoo, only a little more civilized by some tincture of reason, which, however, was in a degree as far inferior to the Houyhnhnm race, as the Yahoos of their country were to me; that, among other things, I mentioned a custom we had of castrating Houyhnhnms when they were young, in order to render them tame;that the operation was easy and safe; that it was no shame to learn wisdom from brutes, as industry is taught by the ant, and building by the swallow (for so I translate the word lyhannh, although it be a much larger fowl); that this invention might be practised upon the younger Yahoos here, which besides rendering them tractable and fitter for use, would in an age put an end to the whole species, without destroying life; that in the mean time the Houyhnhnms should be exhorted to cultivate the breed of asses, which, as they are in all respects more valuable brutes, so they have this advantage, to be fit for service at five years old, which the others are not till twelve." 另外几个代表也表示了相同的看法。这时我的主人就向大会提出一个权宜之计，实际上他是受了我的暗示才提出这个办法的。他同意前面发言的那位高贵的代表所说的传说，并且肯定传说中最早看到的“雅虎”是由海上漂到这儿来的；它们被同伴遗弃来到陆上，后来又到山里，逐渐退化，年深日久就变得远比它们在祖国的同类更野蛮。他之所以提出这样的看法是因为现在就有这么一只神奇的“雅虎”（指的就是我自己），这是大多数代表都听说过的，很多代表也都亲眼见过。他接着向大家叙述最初怎样发现了我；我的全身都用别的动物的毛皮制成的罩子遮盖着；我会说自己的语言，并且学会了他们的语言；我也对他说过我来到这里的种种奇遇；他看到我身上没有遮盖物的时候，每个地方都完完全全像一只“雅虎”，只是皮肤更白，毛发更少，爪子也短些罢了。他又说我曾经想努力说服他，使他相信在我的祖国和别的一些国家里，“雅虎”是处在统治地位的理性动物，“慧骃”却受到奴役。他说他发现我身上有“雅虎”的全部特性，不过略有几分理性而比较文明罢了，然而和“慧骃”相比就差得很远了，就像它们国家的“雅虎”远不如我一样。在其他事情中，我还曾提到过我们的一种习惯做法，为了使“慧骃”变得温顺，它们小的时候就被我们阉割了——那手术是既简单又安全。他说向畜生学习智慧也不是什么丢脸的事；蚂蚁不是教我们勤劳、燕子不是教我们筑窝吗？（我把“利航赫”这个词译作燕子，其实它比燕子大多了）；这种方法可以应用到年轻的“雅虎”身上，这样不但使他们变得温驯可用，也不用伤害他们的生命，一代之后就可以将所有“雅虎”全都灭绝。同时还应该鼓励“慧骃”养驴。总体上说，驴是一种更有价值的兽类，此外还有一种好处——养到五岁就可以用了，别的兽类却要养到十二岁。
This was all my master thought fit to tell me, at that time, of what passed in the grand council. But he was pleased to conceal one particular, which related personally to myself, whereof I soon felt the unhappy effect, as the reader will know in its proper place, and whence I date all the succeeding misfortunes of my life. 这就是主人认为适合告诉我的关于全国代表大会的所有情况。可是他却隐瞒了关于我个人的一件事，这事的不幸后果我后来感受到了，而且我生命中随之而来的所有不幸由此而始。读者会在适当的地方知道的。
The Houyhnhnms have no letters, and consequently their knowledge is all traditional. But there happening few events of any moment among a people so well united, naturally disposed to every virtue, wholly governed by reason, and cut off from all commerce with other nations, the historical part is easily preserved without burdening their memories. I have already observed that they are subject to no diseases, and therefore can have no need of physicians. However, they have excellent medicines, composed of herbs, to cure accidental bruises and cuts in the pastern or frog of the foot, by sharp stones, as well as other maims and hurts in the several parts of the body. “慧骃”没有自己的文字，所以他们的知识全部是口传的。但是几乎没有什么重大事件发生在一个这样的民族中——它们十分团结、天生拥有各种美德、完全受理性支配，而且跟别的国家毫无往来的。有关历史不用烦脑子去苦记就可以很容易地保存下来。我已经在前面提到过，他们不会生病，因此也不需要医生。可他们倒是有用药草配制的良药，用来治疗蹄(骨交)或蹄楔上偶尔因尖利的石头造成的伤害，也可以用来治疗身体其他各部分的损伤。
They calculate the year by the revolution of the sun and moon, but use no subdivisions into weeks. They are well enough acquainted with the motions of those two luminaries, and understand the nature of eclipses; and this is the utmost progress of their astronomy. 他们根据日月的周转运行来计算一年的时间，但不再细分到星期。他们对这日月的运行情况十分了解，也明白日蚀和月蚀的道理，这些就是他们在天文学方面的最高发展。
In poetry, they must be allowed to excel all other mortals; wherein the justness of their similes, and the minuteness as well as exactness of their descriptions, are indeed inimitable. Their verses abound very much in both of these, and usually contain either some exalted notions of friendship and benevolence or the praises of those who were victors in races and other bodily exercises. Their buildings, although very rude and simple, are not inconvenient, but well contrived to defend them from all injuries of cold and heat. They have a kind of tree, which at forty years old loosens in the root, and falls with the first storm; it grows very straight, and being pointed like stakes with a sharp stone (for the Houyhnhnms know not the use of iron), they stick them erect in the ground, about ten inches asunder, and then weave in oat straw, or sometimes wattles, between them.The roof is made after the same manner, and so are the doors. 在诗歌方面，必须承认他们超过了其他全部有生命的动物。他们的诗歌比喻贴切、描写细致、恰如其分，实在是无与伦比的。他们的韵文富于比喻和描写，内容一般不是写友谊和仁慈的崇高观念，就是歌颂赛跑和其他体力运动中的优胜者。他们的建筑虽然十分简陋，却还是很便利，设计巧妙，可以抵御寒暑的侵袭。他们有一种树，长四十年树根就松动了，风暴一刮就倒。这种树长得很直，“慧骃”就是用尖利的石头把它们削成木桩（它们不知道用铁器），每隔十英寸左右就摘一根到地上，然后在木桩与木桩之间编上燕麦秸，有时也用枝条。屋顶和门就是这么做成的。
The Houyhnhnms use the hollow part, between the pastern and the hoof of their fore-foot, as we do our hands, and this with greater dexterity than I could at first imagine. I have seen a white mare of our family thread a needle (which I lent her on purpose) with that joint. They milk their cows, reap their oats, and do all the work which requires hands, in the same manner. They have a kind of hard flints, which, by grinding against other stones, they form into instruments, that serve instead of wedges, axes, and hammers. With tools made of these flints, they likewise cut their hay, and reap their oats, which there grow naturally in several fields; the Yahoos draw home the sheaves in carriages, and the servants tread them in certain covered huts to get out the grain, which is kept in stores. They make a rude kind of earthen and wooden vessels, and bake the former in the sun. “慧骃”利用前足的蹄骸和蹄子中间那块中空的地方拿东西，就像我们用手拿东西一样，起初我不能想象到它们的蹄子会这样灵巧。我曾经看到过家里的一匹白色母马用那个关节穿针（我特意把针线借给它用的）。他们挤牛奶，收割燕麦，所做的一切需要用手的劳动都是用这种方法进行的。他们用坚硬的打火石互相摩擦，就能制成可以代替楔子、斧子、锤子等的工具。他们同样也用这种打火石制成的工具切割干草，收燕麦；燕麦是天然从地里长出来的，“雅虎”把燕麦一捆捆运到家里，接着由仆人们在某间茅屋里踩碎，踩出的麦粒收进粮仓。他们也制造粗糙的陶器和木器，陶器是放在阳光下烘晒而成的。
If they can avoid casualties, they die only of old age, and are buried in the obscurest places that can be found, their friends and relations expressing neither joy nor grief at their departure; nor does the dying person discover the least regret that he is leaving the world, any more than if he were upon returning home from a visit to one of his neighbours. I remember my master having once made an appointment with a friend and his family to come to his house, upon some affair of importance; on the day fixed, the mistress and her two children came very late; she made two excuses, first for her husband, who, as she said, happened that very morning to shnuwnh. The word is strongly expressive in their language, but not easily rendered into English; it signifies, "to retire to his first mother." Her excuse for not coming sooner, was, that her husband dying late in the morning, she was a good while consulting her servants about a convenient place where his body should be laid; and I observed, she behaved herself at our house as cheerfully as the rest. She died about three months after. 如果不发生意外伤亡，他们只有老死，死后尽可能埋葬在最偏僻的地方。亲友们对他们的离开既不表示高兴也不表示悲伤，临死的“慧骃”也丝毫不会因为自己要告别这个世界而感到遗憾，他只是像刚访问过的一位邻居要回家了似的。我记得主人有一次曾约了一位朋友及其家属到家里来商量什么重要情况。到了约定的日子，女客人和两个孩子很晚才赶到，她表示了两番歉意，首先是代丈夫致歉，说是碰巧他今天早上“西归”了。这个词在它们的语言中含义很深，可是很难译成英语，意思是：“回到他的第一个母亲那儿去了。”她又为自己没能早点来致歉，说是丈夫早上死晚了，她和仆人们商量了好半天该怎样去找个方便的地方来安葬丈夫。我发现她后来在我们家同别的人一样愉快。大约三个月之后，她也死了。
They live generally to seventy, or seventy-five years, very seldom to fourscore. Some weeks before their death, they feel a gradual decay; but without pain. During this time they are much visited by their friends, because they cannot go abroad with their usual ease and satisfaction. However, about ten days before their death, which they seldom fail in computing, they return the visits that have been made them by those who are nearest in the neighbourhood, being carried in a convenient sledge drawn by Yahoos; which vehicle they use, not only upon this occasion, but when they grow old, upon long journeys, or when they are lamed by any accident; and therefore when the dying Houyhnhnms return those visits, they take a solemn leave of their friends, as if they were going to some remote part of the country, where they designed to pass the rest of their lives. 他们一般都活到七十或者七十五岁，很少有活到八十岁的。他们死的前几个星期能感到自己渐渐地衰弱下去，可是并没有痛苦。这时候朋友们常常来看望，因为他们不能像往常那样安闲舒适地外出了。不过在他们死前十天左右（这个他们很少算错），他们会坐在方便舒适的雪橇里由“雅虎”拉着去回拜那些住在附近的最亲近的朋友。他们不只是这种时候才坐“雅虎”这种交通工具，上了年纪、出远门、不小心跌折了腿的时候都要用。临死的“慧骃”回拜朋友的时候，都要向他们郑重告别，好像自己要去这个国家某个遥远的地方，并打算在那儿度过自己的余年。
I know not whether it may be worth observing, that the Houyhnhnms have no word in their language to express any thing that is evil, except what they borrow from the deformities or ill qualities of the Yahoos. Thus they denote the folly of a servant, an omission of a child, a stone that cuts their feet, a continuance of foul or unseasonable weather, and the like, by adding to each the epithet of Yahoo. For instance, hhnm Yahoo; whnaholm Yahoo, ynlhmndwihlma Yahoo, and an ill-contrived house ynholmhnmrohlnw Yahoo. 我不知道这是不是值得一提：“慧骃”自己的语言中没有可以表达邪恶这个意思的词汇，仅有几个这样的词还是从“雅虎”的丑陋形象和恶劣品性那儿借来的。因此，当他们要表示仆人荒诞、小孩懒惰、石头割伤了脚、连绵不断的恶劣天气等等一类意思的时候，总要在每一个上面加上“雅虎”一词。例如，“仆人·雅虎”、“小孩·雅虎”、“石头·雅虎”，一幢盖得不好的房子就叫做“坏房子·雅虎”。
I could, with great pleasure, enlarge further upon the manners and virtues of this excellent people; but intending in a short time to publish a volume by itself, expressly upon that subject, I refer the reader thither; and, in the mean time, proceed to relate my own sad catastrophe. 我非常喜欢继续叙述这个优秀民族的种种习俗和美德，但是我打算不久以后就出版一本书专门来谈这个问题，请读者到时去参考那本书。这里我要继续叙述我自己的悲惨结局。