若要了解一个国家的社会氛围，军队的阅兵游行就是一种快速而有效的指南。军事阅兵就是一种仪式性舞蹈，像芭蕾一样，表达了某种生活哲学。比方说，正步走是世界上最为丑陋的景象之一，甚至比俯冲轰炸机还更令人感到恐怖。这就是一个赤裸裸的权力宣言，相当明确而刻意的存在其中的，是靴子直冲着脸而来的景象。它的丑陋，是其中的一部分，因为它正在宣称的就是：“是的，我很丑陋，但你不敢嘲笑我”，就如同那向着他的受害者扮鬼脸的恃强凌弱者一般。英国为什么不用正步走？天晓得有多少军队的军官想引进这种东西，不采用正步走是应为路上的行人会发笑。除非某些特殊情况外，军事阅兵只能在哪些普通民众不敢嘲笑军队的国家才行得通。意大利人只有在德国人的控制之下时，才采用了正步走，而且你可以想象，他们没有德国人做的好。维希政府如果能幸存下去，必然会把一种更为僵化的阅兵纪律引入现有的法国军队。在英国军队中，军事训练严格且复杂，充满了十八世纪的记忆，但并没有限定要昂首阔步，队形很少有形式化的正步。毫无疑问，它属于一个由剑统治的社会，不过是一支从未出鞘的剑。
（One rapid but fairly sure guide to the social atmosphere of a country is the parade-step of its army. A military parade is really a kind of ritual dance, something like a ballet, expressing a certain philosophy of life. The goose-step, for instance, is one of the most horrible sights in the world, far more terrifying than a dive-bomber. It is simply an affirmation of naked power; contained in it, quite consciously and intentionally, is the vision of a boot crashing down on a face. Its ugliness is part of its essence, for what it is saying is ‘Yes, I am ugly, and you daren’t laugh at me’, like the bully who makes faces at his victim. Why is the goose-step not used in England? There are, heaven knows, plenty of army officers who would be only too glad to introduce some such thing. It is not used because the people in the street would laugh. Beyond a certain point, military display is only possible in countries where the common people dare not laugh at the army. The Italians adopted the goose-step at about the time when Italy passed definitely under German control, and, as one would expect, they do it less well than the Germans. The Vichy government, if it survives, is bound to introduce a stiffer parade-ground discipline into what is left of the French army. In the British army the drill is rigid and complicated, full of memories of the eighteenth century, but without definite swagger; the march is merely a formalized walk. It belongs to a society which is ruled by the sword, no doubt, but a sword which must never be taken out of the scabbard.）
————在此，奥威尔只是从审美的角度谈阅兵，恐怕还没想象到随之而来的工厂停工、医院停诊、菜市场关门等等，我想在动物庄园这一切也是顺理成章的。