He thought about the world history: now, in 1984 (if it really was 1984), Oceania was at war with Eurasia and in alliance with Eastasia. Before that, it was different, but the Party did not allow anyone to remember the past. The Party controlled the past and, this way, controlled the future too. This frightened Winston: could the Party make him believe in anything – or erase it from his memory?
Winston tried to remember when Big Brother first appeared – but he couldn't. According to the Party, Big Brother started his legendaryachievements many years ago. And when did the Party first appear? Winston knew that there was no Party when he was little. Yet, there was no way of proving it: whatever the Party said was the truth.
“Smith!” a loud voice screamed from the telescreen. “Work harder!”
Winston started sweating. He knew he couldn't show any shock or irritation, so he continued the exercise.
according to [ə'kɔ:dɪŋtu:] – prep согласно
ache [eɪk] – v болеть
achievement [ə'tʃi:vmənt] – n достижение
alliance [ə'laɪəns] – n союз
erase [ɪ'reɪz] – v стирать
frighten ['fraɪtən] – v пугать
grab [ɡræb] – v хватать
guilty ['ɡɪlti] – adj виноватый
irritation [ˌɪrɪ'teɪʃən] – n раздражение
legendary ['ledʒəndri] – adj легендарный
magnificent [mæɡ'nɪfɪsənt] – adj великолепный
prove [pru:v] – v доказывать
remind [rɪ'maɪnd] – v напоминать
sacrifice ['sækrɪfaɪs] – n жертва
silent ['saɪlənt] – adj тихий, безмолвный
sink [sɪŋk] – v тонуть
sudden ['sʌdən] – adj внезапный
tragedy ['trædʒədi] – n трагедия
whatever [wɒt'evə] – adv всё, что
Chapter 4
Winston sat at his desk, getting ready for work. He put on his glasses to look at the four pieces of paper beside him. Winston's job was to correct old newspaper articles, so they matched what the Party wanted people to believe.
In Winston's office, there were holes in the walls called memory holes. When Winston needed to destroy something, he put it in a memory hole. After that, no one could ever see these papers again.
Winston read the four messages. In one of them, for example, Big Brother made a prediction about the war, but it turned out to be wrong. Winston now had to rewrite the news to make it seem like Big Brother was always right. Another one mentioned the chocolate rations: although the Ministry of Plenty promised to keep the chocolate rations on the same level, they became smaller. Winston had to correct the numbers to make everyone believe the change was planned.
When Winston finished rewriting the news, he sent them through memory holes. Winston believed he wasn't lying – he just replaced one piece of nonsense with another. And he wasn't the only person who did this: his whole department at the Ministry of Truth was changing history. They also corrected books, films, and other records.
Wilson saw a colleague across the hall. Winston didn't know that person at all. In the department, people rarely talked about their jobs. They hardly ever saw each other – unless they were all attending a Hate event. After all, they were too busy writing newspapers, films, books, and everything else.
Winston finally got to the fourth message. It spoke about some Mr Withers, who was now non-existent. Big Brother used to praise him a lot, but now any information about him in Big Brother's speeches had to be different. So, Winston invented a man – Mr Ogilvy, who didn't exist an hour ago, but was now a fact.
The Party wanted to control everything people knew about the past. The Ministry of Truth also produced newspapers and entertainment for the poorer people called “proles.” These were filled with sports, crime stories, and gossip to distract them.
beside [bɪ'saɪd] – prep рядом с
distract [dɪ'strækt] – v отвлекать
entertainment [ˌentə'teɪnmənt] – n развлечение
exist [ɪɡ'zɪst] – v существовать
gossip ['ɡɒsɪp] – n сплетня
mention ['menʃən] – v упоминать
non-existent [ˌnɒnɪɡ'zɪstənt] – adj несуществующий
nonsense ['nɒnsəns] – n чепуха
praise [preɪz] – v хвалить
prediction [prɪ'dɪkʃən] – n предсказание, прогноз
turn out [tɜ:n aʊt] – v оказываться, заканчиваться
unless [ən'les] – conj если не
Chapter 5
Winston was standing in line for lunch in the noisy canteen. He noticed his friend Syme, who was a linguist. He was working on the new Newspeak Dictionary. They sat down at a table, and Winston started eating.
“Did you see the prisoners yesterday?” Syme asked.
“I was busy,” Winston replied, but Syme continued looking at him. “How's the dictionary?”
“We're working slowly, but it's fascinating! When we finish, everyone will have to learn the language again. You may think we're inventing new words, but in fact, we destroy them. It's so beautiful. Of course, it's Big Brother's idea. You see, the aim of Newspeak is to make our thinking narrow. This way, even thinking against the Party will be impossible. Every text will mean the opposite of what it meant before.”
Winston was sure Syme would soon disappear. He was too intelligent and spoke too honestly. He continued eating his bread with cheese and listened to the conversation at the table next to them.
A man was speaking loudly, but Winston couldn't understand a word. Suddenly, he heard one phrase, “We should erase Goldsteinism completely.”