219.英文正文（219）

「haveyoueverseenthosebones，winston？ofcoursenot。***nineteenth-centurybiologistsinventedthem。beforemantherewasnothing。afterman，ifhecouldcometoanend，therewouldbenothing。outsidemanthereisnothing。」

「butthewholeuniverseisoutsideus。lookatthestars！someofthemareamillionlight-yearsaway。theyareoutofourreachforever。」

「whatarethestars？」saido』brienindifferently。「theyarebitsoffireafewkilometresaway。wecouldreachthemifwewantedto。orwecouldblotthemout。theearthisthecentreoftheuniverse。thesunandthestarsgoroundit。」winstonmadeanotherconvulsivemovement。thistimehedidnotsayanything。o』briencontinuedasthoughansweringaspokenobjection：

「forcertainpurposes，ofcourse，thatisnottrue。whenwenavigatetheocean，orwhenwepredictaneclipse，weoftenfinditconvenienttoassumethattheearthgoesroundthesunandthatthestarsaremillionsuponmillionsofkilometresaway。butwhatofit？doyousupposeitisbeyondustoproduceadualsystemofastronomy？thestarscanbenearordistant，accordingasweneedthem。doyousupposeourmathematiciansareunequaltothat？haveyouforgottendoublethink？」

winstonshrankbackuponthebed。whateverhesaid，theswiftanswercrushedhimlikeabludgeon。andyetheknew，heknew，thathewasintheright。thebeliefthatnothingexistsoutsideyourownmind—surelytheremustbesomewayofdemonstratingthatitwasfalse？haditnotbeenexposedlongagoasafallacy？therewasevenanameforit，whichhehadforgotten。afaintsmiletwitchedthecornersofo』brien』smouthashelookeddownathim。