1984

«Of course if Tom was home he’d put it right (исправил) in a moment,» she said. «He loves anything like that. He’s ever so good with his hands, Tom is.»

Parsons was Winston’s fellow-employee (коллега) at the Ministry of Truth. He was a fattish (толстоватый) but active man of paralyzing stupidity (тупость), a mass of imbecile (слабоумный) enthusiasms – one of those completely unquestioning (глупость), devoted drudges (тяжелая работа) on whom, more even than on the Thought Police, the stability of the Party depended. At thirty-five he had just (только что) been unwillingly (неохотно) evicted (исключил) from the Youth League, and before graduating (перейти) into the Youth League he had managed to stay on in the Spies for a year beyond the statutory age (установленного законом возраста). At the Ministry he was employed in some subordinate post for which intelligence was not required (требовался), but on the other hand he was a leading figure on the Sports Committee and all the other committees engaged (занимающийся) in organizing community hikes (походы), spontaneous (стихийный) demonstrations, savings campaigns, and voluntary activities generally. He would inform you with quiet pride (гордость), between whiffs (затяжки) of his pipe (трубка), that he had put in an appearance (появлялся) at the Community Centre every evening for the past four years. An overpowering (невыносимый) smell (запах) of sweat (пота), a sort of unconscious (бессознательное) testimony (свидетельство) to the strenuousness (напряженность) of his life, followed him about wherever he went, and even remained behind him after he had gone. 11

«Have you got a spanner (гаечный ключ)?» said Winston, fiddling (вертя) with the nut (гайка) on the angle-joint (угловое соединение).

«A spanner,» said Mrs Parsons, immediately becoming invertebrate (беспозвоночный). «I don’t know, I’m sure. Perhaps the children —»

There was a trampling (раздался топот) of boots (сапоги) and another blast (удар) on the comb (расческа) as the children charged into (ворвался) the living-room. Mrs Parsons brought the spanner. Winston let out (выпустил) the water and disgustedly (с отвращением) removed the clot (комок) of human hair that had blocked up the pipe. He cleaned his fingers as best he could in the cold water from the tap (кран) and went back into the other room.

«Up with your hands!» («Руки вверх!») yelled (заорал) a savage (свирепый) voice.

A handsome (красивый), tough-looking (крепкий) boy of nine had popped up (выскочил) from behind the table and was menacing (угрожал) him with a toy (игрушечный) automatic pistol, while his small sister, about two years younger, made the same gesture (жест) with a fragment of wood (деревяшка). Both of them were dressed in the blue shorts, grey shirts (рубашки), and red neckerchiefs (шейные платки) which were the uniform of the Spies. Winston raised his hands above his head, but with an uneasy feeling, so vicious (порочный) was the boy’s demeanour (поведение), that it was not altogether (не совсем) a game.

«You’re a traitor (предатель)!» yelled (завопил) the boy. «You’re a thought-criminal! You’re a Eurasian spy (шпион)! I’ll shoot (застрелю) you, I’ll vaporize (испарю) you, I’ll send you to the salt mines (копи)!»

Suddenly they were both leaping (запрыгал) round him, shouting «Traitor!» and «Thought-criminal!» the little girl imitating her brother in every movement. It was somehow (как-то) slightly (слегка) frightening (пугающе), like the gambolling (резвость) of tiger cubs (детеныши) which will soon grow up into man-eaters (людоеды). There was a sort of calculating ferocity (свирепость) in the boy’s eye, a quite evident desire (желание) to hit (ударить) or kick (пинать) Winston and a consciousness (сознание) of being very nearly big enough to do so. It was a good job (хорошо) it was not a real pistol (пистолет) he was holding, Winston thought.

Mrs Parsons’ eyes flitted (перебегал) nervously from Winston to the children, and back again. In the better light of the livingroom (гостиная) he noticed with interest that there actually was dust (пыль) in the creases (складки) of her face.

«They do get (становиться) so noisy,» she said. «They’re disappointed (разочарован) because they couldn’t go to see the hanging (повешение), that’s what it is. I’m too busy to take them and Tom won’t be back from work in time.»

«Why can’t we go and see the hanging?» roared (взревел) the boy in his huge (громкий) voice.

«Want to see the hanging! Want to see the hanging!» chanted (пропел) the little girl, still capering (скача) round.

Some Eurasian prisoners, guilty (виновный) of war crimes, were to be hanged (повешен) in the Park that evening, Winston remembered. This happened about (примерно) once (раз) a month, and was a popular spectacle. Children always clamoured (требовал) to be taken to see it. He took his leave (покидать) of Mrs Parsons and made for the door. But he had not gone six steps down the passage (коридор) when something hit (ударить) the back of his neck (шея) an agonizingly painful (болезненный) blow (удар). It was as though a red-hot wire (провод) had been jabbed (воткнул) into him. He spun round (обернулся) just in time to see Mrs Parsons dragging (тащит) her son back into the doorway (дверной проем) while the boy pocketed (прятал) a catapult.

«Goldstein!» bellowed (заорал) the boy as the door closed on him. But what most struck (поразил) Winston was the look of helpless fright (испуг) on the woman’s greyish (сероватый) face.

Back in the flat he stepped quickly past the telescreen and sat down at the table again, still rubbing (потирая) his neck. The music from the telescreen had stopped. Instead (вместо этого), a clipped (отрывистый) military voice was reading out, with a sort of brutal relish (смак), a description of the armaments of the new Floating Fortress which had just been anchored (встал на якорь) between Iceland and the Faroe lslands.

With those children, he thought, that wretched (несчастный) woman must lead a life of terror. Another year, two years, and they would be watching her night and day for symptoms of unorthodoxy. Nearly all children nowadays were horrible. What was worst of all was that by means (с помощью) of such organizations as the Spies they were systematically turned into ungovernable little savages (дикари), and yet this produced in them no tendency whatever to rebel (бунтовать) against the discipline of the Party. On the contrary, they adored the Party and everything connected with it. The songs, the processions, the banners, the hiking (походы), the drilling (учения) with dummy (муляжи) rifles, the yelling (выкрикивание) of slogans, the worship (поклонение) of Big Brother – it was all a sort of glorious game to them. All their ferocity (свирепость) was turned outwards, against the enemies of the State, against foreigners, traitors, saboteurs, thought-criminals. It was almost normal for people over thirty to be frightened (бояться) of their own children. And with good reason (и на то были веские причины), for hardly a week (не проходило и недели) passed in which «The Times’ did not carry a paragraph describing how some eavesdropping (подслушивающий) little sneak (проныра) —’child hero’ was the phrase generally used – had overheard (подслушал) some compromising remark and denounced (донес) its parents to the Thought Police.

The sting (жало) of the catapult bullet (пуля) had worn off (прошло). He picked up (взял) his pen half-heartedly (нерешительно), wondering (удивляясь) whether (ли) he could find something more to write in the diary. Suddenly he began thinking of O’Brien again.

Years ago – how long was it? Seven years it must be – he had dreamed that he was walking through a pitch-dark (кромешно-темный) room. And someone sitting to one side of him had said as he passed: «We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness.» It was said very quietly, almost casually (небрежно) – a statement (утверждение), not a command. He had walked on without pausing. What was curious (любопытно) was that at the time, in the dream, the words had not made much impression on him. It was only later and by degrees (постепенно) that they had seemed to take on significance (значение). He could not now remember whether it was before or after having the dream that he had seen O’Brien for the first time, nor could he remember when he had first identified the voice as O’Brien’s. But at any rate (во всяком случае) the identification existed. It was O’Brien who had spoken to him out of the dark.

Winston had never been able to feel sure – even after this morning’s flash (вспышка) of the eyes it was still impossible to be sure whether O’Brien was a friend or an enemy. Nor did it even seem to matter greatly. There was a link (связь) of understanding between them, more important than affection (привязанность) or partisanship. «We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness,» he had said. Winston did not know what it meant, only that in some way or another it would come true (это сбудется).

The voice from the telescreen paused. A trumpet (трубный) call, clear and beautiful, floated (разнесся) into the stagnant (застоявшийся) air. The voice continued raspingly (хрипло):

() () () () «Attention! Your attention, please! A newsflash новость has this moment arrived from the Malabar front. Our forces in South India have won a glorious victory. I am authorized уполномочен to say that the action we are now reporting may well bring приблизить the war within measurable ощутимый distance of its end. Here is the newsflash —»

Bad news coming, thought Winston. And sure enough, following on a gory description (описание) of the annihilation of a Eurasian army, with stupendous (огромный) figures of killed and prisoners, came the announcement that, as from next week, the chocolate ration would be reduced (снижен) from thirty grammes to twenty. 12

Winston belched (рыгнул) again. The gin was wearing off (заканчивался), leaving a deflated (сдутый) feeling. The telescreen – perhaps to celebrate the victory, perhaps to drown (заглушить) the memory of the lost chocolate – crashed (врезался) into «Oceania, «tis for thee’ (это для тебя). You were supposed to stand to attention. However, in his present position he was invisible (невидимый). 13

«Oceania, «tis for thee’ gave way to lighter music. Winston walked over to the window, keeping his back to the telescreen. The day was still cold and clear. Somewhere far away (где-то вдалеке) a rocket (реактивный) bomb exploded (взорвался) with a dull (глухой), reverberating (раскатистый) roar (грохот). About twenty or thirty of them a week were falling on London at present.

Down (внизу) in the street the wind flapped (трепал) the torn (разорванный) poster to and fro (туда-сюда), and the word INGSOC fitfully (прерывисто) appeared and vanished (исчезал). Ingsoc. The sacred principles of Ingsoc. Newspeak, doublethink, the mutability (изменчивость) of the past. He felt (казалось) as though he were wandering (блуждает) in the forests of the sea bottom, lost (затерянный) in a monstrous world where he himself was the monster. He was alone. The past was dead, the future was unimaginable (невообразимо). What certainty (уверенность) had he that a single human creature (существо) now living was on his side? And what way of knowing that the dominion (господство) of the Party would not endure (терпеть) FOR EVER? Like an answer, the three slogans on the white face of the Ministry of Truth came back to him:

He took a twenty-five cent piece (монета) out of his pocket. There, too, in tiny clear lettering, the same slogans were inscribed, and on the other face of the coin the head of Big Brother. Even from the coin the eyes pursued (преследовал) you. On coins, on stamps (марки), on the covers (обложки) of books, on banners, on posters, and on the wrappings (обертки) of a cigarette packet (пачка) – everywhere. Always the eyes watching you and the voice enveloping (обволакивающий) you. Asleep (спит) or awake (бодрствует), working or eating, indoors or out of doors, in the bath or in bed – no escape (спасения нет). Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimetres inside your skull (череп).

The sun had shifted (повернулся) round, and the myriad (мириады) windows of the Ministry of Truth, with the light no longer shining (сияющий) on them, looked grim (мрачно) as the loopholes (бойницы) of a fortress (крепость). His heart quailed (затрепетал) before the enormous (огромный) pyramidal shape (форма). It was too strong, it could not be stormed (штурмовать). A thousand rocket bombs would not batter (разрушить) it down. He wondered (задался вопросом) again for whom he was writing the diary. For the future, for the past – for an age that might be imaginary (воображаемый). And in front of him there lay not death but annihilation. The diary would be reduced (превратился) to ashes (пепел) and himself to vapour (пар). Only the Thought Police would read what he had written, before they wiped it out of existence and out of memory. How could you make appeal to the future when not a trace of you, not even an anonymous word scribbled on a piece of paper, could physically survive?

The telescreen struck (пробил) fourteen. He must leave in ten minutes. He had to be back at work by fourteen-thirty.

Curiously (любопытно), the chiming (звон) of the hour seemed to have put new heart into him. He was a lonely (одинокий) ghost (призрак) uttering (изрекающий) a truth that nobody would ever hear. But so long as he uttered (произносил) it, in some obscure (непонятный) way the continuity (непрерывность) was not broken (не нарушался). It was not by making yourself heard but by staying sane that you carried on the human heritage (наследие). He went back to the table, dipped (обмакнул) his pen, and wrote: 14

To the future or to the past, to a time when thought is free, when men are different from one another and do not live alone – to a time when truth exists and what is done cannot be undone:

единообразиеодиночествоприветствую From the age of uniformity ( ), from the age of solitude ( ), from the age of Big Brother, from the age of doublethink – greetings ( )!

He was already dead, he reflected ( It seemed to him that it was only now, when he had begun to be able to formulate his thoughts, that he had taken the decisive () step. The consequences () of every act are included in the act itself. He wrote: размышлял). решающий последствия

Thoughtcrime does not entail (влечет) death: thoughtcrime IS death.

Now he had recognized himself as a dead man it became important to stay alive (в живых) as long as possible. Two fingers of his right hand were inkstained (испачкан чернилами). It was exactly (именно) the kind of detail that might betray (выдать) you. Some nosing (любопытный) zealot (фанатик) in the Ministry (a woman, probably: someone like the little sandy-haired woman or the dark-haired girl from the Fiction Department) might start wondering (удивляться) why he had been writing during the lunch interval, why he had used an old-fashioned (старомодный) pen, WHAT he had been writing – and then drop (оставить) a hint (подсказка) in the appropriate quarter. He went to the bathroom and carefully scrubbed (смыл) the ink away with the gritty (песчаный) darkbrown (темно-коричневый) soap which rasped (скрипучий) your skin like sandpaper (наждачная бумага) and was therefore (поэтому) well adapted (подходил) for this purpose. 15

He put the diary away in the drawer (ящик стола). It was quite useless to think of hiding (прятать) it, but he could at least make sure whether or not its existence had been discovered. A hair laid (проложенный) across the page-ends was too obvious. With the tip (кончик) of his finger he picked up (подобрал) an identifiable grain (крупинка) of whitish (беловатый) dust (пыль) and deposited (отложил) it on the corner of the cover (обложка), where it was bound to be shaken off if the book was moved. 16

WAR IS PEACEFREEDOM IS SLAVERYIGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

Chapter 3

Winston was dreaming of his mother. He must, he thought, have been ten or eleven years old when his mother had disappeared. She was a tall (высокий), statuesque, rather silent woman with slow movements and magnificent (великолепный) fair (светлый) hair. His father he remembered more vaguely (смутно) as dark and thin (худощавый), dressed always in neat (аккуратный) dark clothes (Winston remembered especially the very thin soles (подошвы) of his father’s shoes) and wearing (носивший) spectacles. The two of them must evidently have been swallowed up (поглощенный) in one of the first great purges (чистки) of the fifties.

At this moment his mother was sitting in some place deep down beneath him, with his young sister in her arms. He did not remember his sister at all, except as a tiny (крошечный), feeble (слабый) baby, always silent, with large, watchful (настороженный) eyes. Both of them were looking up at him. They were down in some subterranean (подземный) place – the bottom (дно) of a well (колодец), for instance, or a very deep grave (могила) – but it was a place which, already far below him, was itself moving downwards (вниз). They were in the saloon (салон) of a sinking (тонущий) ship, looking up at him through the darkening water. There was still air in the saloon, they could still see him and he them, but all the while they were sinking down (погружался), down into the green waters which in another moment must hide (скрыть) them from sight for ever. He was out in the light and air while they were being sucked down (засасывать) to death, and they were down there because he was up here. He knew it and they knew it, and he could see the knowledge in their faces. There was no reproach (упрек) either in their faces or in their hearts, only the knowledge that they must die in order that he might remain alive, and that this was part of the unavoidable (неизбежный) order of things.

He could not remember what had happened, but he knew in his dream that in some way (каким-то образом) the lives of his mother and his sister had been sacrificed to his own. It was one of those dreams which, while retaining (сохраняя) the characteristic dream scenery (сновидения), are a continuation (продолжение) of one’s intellectual life, and in which one becomes aware of (знать о) facts and ideas which still seem new and valuable after one is awake (пробуждение). The thing that now suddenly struck (поразил) Winston was that his mother’s death, nearly thirty years ago, had been tragic and sorrowful (прискорбный) in a way (в том смысле) that was no longer possible. Tragedy, he perceived (воспринял), belonged to the ancient time, to a time when there was still privacy, love, and friendship, and when the members of a family stood (поддерживал) by one another without needing to know the reason. His mother’s memory tore (разрывал) at his heart because she had died loving him, when he was too young and selfish (эгоистичный) to love her in return (в ответ), and because somehow (каким-то образом), he did not remember how, she had sacrificed herself to a conception of loyalty that was private and unalterable (неизменный). Such things, he saw, could not happen today. Today there were fear, hatred, and pain (боль), but no dignity (достоинство) of emotion, no deep or complex sorrows (печаль). All this he seemed to see in the large eyes of his mother and his sister, looking up at him through the green water, hundreds of fathoms (сажени) down and still sinking (все еще погружавшихся). 17

Suddenly he was standing on short springy (пружинистый) turf (газон), on a summer evening when the slanting (косой) rays (лучи) of the sun gilded (золотил) the ground. The landscape that he was looking at recurred (повторялся) so often in his dreams that he was never fully certain whether or not he had seen it in the real world. In his waking (наяву) thoughts he called it the Golden Country. It was an old, rabbit-bitten (обглоданный кроликами) pasture (пастбище), with a foot-track (тропинка) wandering (тянулся) across it and a molehill (кротовая нора) here and there. In the ragged (неровный) hedge (живая изгородь) on the opposite side of the field the boughs (ветви) of the elm (вяз) trees were swaying (покачивался) very faintly (слабо) in the breeze (ветер), their leaves just (просто) stirring (шевелился) in dense (плотный) masses like women’s hair. Somewhere near at hand (где-то совсем рядом), though out of sight (вне поля зрения), there was a clear, slow-moving stream (течение) where dace (плотва) were swimming in the pools (пруды) under the willow (ивы) trees.

The girl with dark hair was coming towards them across the field. With what seemed a single movement she tore off (сорвал) her clothes and flung (отбросил) them disdainfully (презрительно) aside. Her body was white and smooth (гладкий), but it aroused (вызывал) no desire in him, indeed he barely (едва) looked at it. What overwhelmed (ошеломил) him in that instant (момент) was admiration (восхищение) for the gesture (жест) with which she had thrown her clothes aside. With its grace (изящество) and carelessness it seemed to annihilate a whole culture, a whole system of thought, as though Big Brother and the Party and the Thought Police could all be swept (сметены) into nothingness by a single splendid (великолепный) movement of the arm. That too was a gesture (жест) belonging to the ancient time. Winston woke up (проснулся) with the word «Shakespeare’ on his lips.

The telescreen was giving forth an ear-splitting (оглушительный) whistle (свист) which continued on the same note for thirty seconds. It was nought (ноль) seven fifteen, getting-up time for office workers. Winston wrenched (рывком поднял) his body out of bed – naked (голый), for a member of the Outer (внешний) Party received only 3,000 clothing coupons (купоны) annually, and a suit of pyjamas was 600 – and seized (схватил) a dingy (грязный) singlet (майка) and a pair of shorts that were lying across a chair. The Physical Jerks (толчки) would begin in three minutes. The next moment he was doubled up (согнулся пополам) by a violent coughing (приступ) fit (кашель) which nearly always attacked him soon after waking up (пробуждение). It emptied his lungs (легкие) so completely that he could only begin breathing (дышать) again by lying on his back and taking a series of deep gasps (вдохи). His veins had swelled (вздулся) with the effort of the cough (кашель), and the varicose ulcer (варикозная язва) had started itching (зудеть).

«Thirty to forty group!» yapped (тявкнул) a piercing (пронзительный) female voice. «Thirty to forty group! Take your places, please. Thirties to forties!»

Winston sprang (вскочил) to attention in front of the telescreen, upon which the image of a youngish woman, scrawny (тощий) but muscular, dressed in tunic and gym-shoes, had already appeared.

«Arms bending (сгибаются) and stretching (растягиваются)!» she rapped (выкрикнула) out. «Take your time by me. ONE, two, three, four! ONE, two, three, four! Come on, comrades, put a bit (частичка) of life into it! ONE, two, three four! ONE two, three, four!…»

The pain (боль) of the coughing (приступ) fit (кашель) had not quite driven out (вытеснил) of Winston’s mind the impression made by his dream, and the rhythmic movements of the exercise restored it somewhat (в какой-то степени). As he mechanically shot his arms back and forth, wearing (утомление) on his face the look of grim (мрачный) enjoyment (удовольствие) which was considered proper (уместный) during the Physical Jerks, he was struggling to think his way backward into the dim (смутный) period of his early childhood. It was extraordinarily difficult. Beyond the late fifties everything faded (померк). When there were no external (внешний) records that you could refer (сослаться) to, even the outline (очертание) of your own life lost its sharpness (острота). You remembered huge (огромный) events which had quite probably not happened, you remembered the detail of incidents without being able to recapture (вернуть) their atmosphere, and there were long blank (пустой) periods to which you could assign (приписать) nothing. Everything had been different (иначе) then. Even the names of countries, and their shapes (очертания) on the map, had been different. Airstrip (взлетно-посадочная полоса) One, for instance, had not been so called in those days: it had been called England or Britain, though London, he felt (чувствовал) fairly (весьма) certain, had always been called London.