186.英文正文(186)
winstonrousedhirnselfalittlefromhislethargy。hemustspeaktoampleforth,andrisktheyellfromthetelescreen。itwasevenconceivablethatampleforthwasthebeareroftherazorblade。
「ampleforth,」hesaid。
therewasnoyellfromthetelescreen。ampleforthpaused,mildlystartled。hiseyesfocusedthemselvesslowlyonwinston。
「ah,smith!」hesaid。「youtoo!」
「whatareyouinfor?」
「totellyouthetruth—」hesatdownawkwardlyonthebenchoppositewinston。「thereisonlyoneoffence,istherenot?」hesaid。
「andhaveyoucommittedit?」
「apparentlyihave。」
heputahandtohisforeheadandpressedhistemplesforamoment,asthoughtryingtoremembersomething。
「thesethingshappen,」hebeganvaguely。「ihavebeenabletorecalloneinstance—apossibleinstance。itwasanindiscretion,undoubtedly。wewereproducingadefinitiveeditionofthepoemsofkipling。iallowedtheword『god』toremainattheendofaline。icouldnothelpit!」headdedalmostindignantly,raisinghisfacetolookatwinston。「itwasimpossibletochangetheline。therhymewas『rod』。doyourealizethatthereareonlytwelverhymesto『rod』intheentirelanguage?fordaysihadrackedmybrains。therewasnootherrhyme。」
theexpressiononhisfacechanged。theannoyancepassedoutofitandforamomenthelookedalmostpleased。asortofintellectualwarmth,thejoyofthepedantwhohasfoundoutsomeuselessfact,shonethroughthedirtandscrubbyhair。
「hasiteveroccurredtoyou,」hesaid,「thatthewholehistoryofenglishpoetryhasbeendeterminedbythefactthattheenglishlanguagelacksrhymes?」