260.英文正文（260）

fromtheforegoingaccountitwillbeseenthatinnewspeaktheexpressionofunorthodoxopinions，aboveaverylowlevel，waswell-nighimpossible。itwasofcoursepossibletoutterheresiesofaverycrudekind，aspeciesofblasphemy。itwouldhavebeenpossible，forexample，tosaybigbrotherisungood。butthisstatement，whichtoanorthodoxearmerelyconveyedaself-evidentabsurdity，couldnothavebeensustainedbyreasonedargument，becausethenecessarywordswerenotavailable。ideasinimicaltoingsoccouldonlybeentertainedinavaguewordlessform，andcouldonlybenamedinverybroadtermswhichlumpedtogetherandcondemnedwholegroupsofheresieswithoutdefiningthemindoingso。onecould，infact，onlyusenewspeakforunorthodoxpurposesbyillegitimatelytranslatingsomeofthewordsbackintooldspeak。forexample，allmansareequalwasapossiblenewspeaksentence，butonlyinthesamesenseinwhichallmenareredhairedisapossibleoldspeaksentence。itdidnotcontainagrammaticalerror，butitexpressedapalpableuntruth-i。e。thatallmenareofequalsize，weight，orstrength。theconceptofpoliticalequalitynolongerexisted，andthissecondarymeaninghadaccordinglybeenpurgedoutofthewordequal。in1984，whenoldspeakwasstillthenormalmeansofcommunication，thedangertheoreticallyexistedthatinusingnewspeakwordsonemightremembertheiroriginalmeanings。inpracticeitwasnotdifficultforanypersonwellgroundedindoublethinktoavoiddoingthis，butwithinacoupleofgenerationseventhepossibilityofsuchalapsewouldhavevanished。apersongrowingupwithnewspeakashissolelanguagewouldnomoreknowthatequalhadoncehadthesecondarymeaningof“politicallyequal”，orthatfreehadoncemeant“intellectuallyfree”，thanforinstance，apersonwhohadneverheardofchesswouldbeawareofthesecondarymeaningsattachingtoqueenandrook。therewouldbemanycrimesanderrorswhichitwouldbebeyondhispowertocommit，simplybecausetheywerenamelessandthereforeunimaginable。anditwastobeforeseenthatwiththepassageoftimethedistinguishingcharacteristicsofnewspeakwouldbecomemoreandmorepronounced—itswordsgrowingfewerandfewer，theirmeaningsmoreandmorerigid，andthechanceofputtingthemtoimproperusesalwaysdiminishing。