The last night, I finished reading the ANIMAL FARM, which broadened and enlightened my mind. It is the first time I have read a whole book written by foreigners. The experience is thoroughly different from the book written in Chinese, my mother tongue.

This book points out a fundamental principle of the world's running: the superior and exclusive life indulged by someone is built up on the exploitation of others. I clearly remember a video that was shot during the course of Obama's visit to Australia. In that video, Obama said, "If the billions of Chinese live the same life as American and Australians, it will be a catastrophe for the world" it could be readily understood that nobody will refuse the cheap service and workforce provided by the subservient and stupid animal(as the last Chapter described).

And I could find common ground between the story of Animal and my real life: people who are genuine and aspiring (such as snowball) easily to be persecuted and smeared by people who are manipulative, vicious, and evil. In the later part of the story, the whereabouts of snowball doesn't matter anymore, but the maintenance of the leadership of Napoleon is of the most significance. Social stability is essential, not the welfare of the people and what the truth is.

Our cognition and mind are indirectly influenced by the information we get. Therefore, when the information we accept(mainly referring to the news from official media) is strictly manipulated, supervised, and censored, our minds and behavior are merely the performance that the people who control the authority of information need or want.

After the proletarians broke the shackles, what was waiting for them seemed to be the new shackles(rather than, as Karl Marx said, the whole world), and maybe heavier than before. As the book says, the animals don't care about whether their life is better or worse than they owned before. They have forgotten it.

Under the leadership of Napoleon, with the advancement of Animal Farm, they lead an even worse life than before, but they don't care about that. They work harder because of the so-called better life in the future. In comparison with my country, it is widely accepted that sacrifice is one kind of virtue, in the name of "for the next generation." Still, the real life I face is the same with Animal Farm--they envisage that after the toil of the foundation of the windmill, life will be better. We have indeed become prosperous and thriving in many aspects, but how is life nowadays? For the majority, it is endless labor. In our traditional culture, pampering ourselves is deemed guilty, and savouring life is the slothful and indolent people will do(or the priority and privilege of the minority, like pigs on the farm, are privileged). Joie de vivre doesn't exist in our culture.

For people, participation in the affair is tightly associated with their benefit. It is ridiculous for us to conceive that others will crusade for us.