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。