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: