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: