213.英文正文（213）

“youdonotexist，”saido’brien。

onceagainthesenseofhelplessnessassailedhim。heknew，orhecouldimagine，theargumentswhichprovedhisownnonexistence；buttheywerenonsense，theywereonlyaplayonwords。didnotthestatement，“youdonotexist”，containalogicalabsurdity？butwhatusewasittosayso？hismindshrivelledashethoughtoftheunanswerable，madargumentswithwhicho’brienwoulddemolishhim。

“ithinkiexist，”hesaidwearily。“iamconsciousofmyownidentity。iwasbornandishalldie。ihavearmsandlegs。ioccupyaparticularpointinspace。noothersolidobjectcanoccupythesamepointsimultaneously。inthatsense，doesbigbrotherexist？”

“itisofnoimportance。heexists。”

“willbigbrothereverdie？”

“ofcoursenot。howcouldhedie？nextquestion。”

“doesthebrotherhoodexist？”

“that，winston，youwillneverknow。ifwechoosetosetyoufreewhenwehavefinishedwithyou，andifyoulivetobeninetyyearsold，stillyouwillneverlearnwhethertheanswertothatquestionisyesorno。aslongasyouliveitwillbeanunsolvedriddleinyourmind。”

winstonlaysilent。hisbreastroseandfellalittlefaster。hestillhadnotaskedthequestionthathadcomeintohismindthefirst。hehadgottoaskit，andyetitwasasthoughhistonguewouldnotutterit。therewasatraceofamusementino’brien’sface。evenhisspectaclesseemedtowearanironicalgleam。heknows，thoughtwinstonsuddenly，heknowswhatiamgoingtoask！atthethoughtthewordsburstoutofhim：