186.英文正文（186）

winstonrousedhirnselfalittlefromhislethargy。hemustspeaktoampleforth，andrisktheyellfromthetelescreen。itwasevenconceivablethatampleforthwasthebeareroftherazorblade。

“ampleforth，”hesaid。

therewasnoyellfromthetelescreen。ampleforthpaused，mildlystartled。hiseyesfocusedthemselvesslowlyonwinston。

“ah，smith！”hesaid。“youtoo！”

“whatareyouinfor？”

“totellyouthetruth—”hesatdownawkwardlyonthebenchoppositewinston。“thereisonlyoneoffence，istherenot？”hesaid。

“andhaveyoucommittedit？”

“apparentlyihave。”

heputahandtohisforeheadandpressedhistemplesforamoment，asthoughtryingtoremembersomething。

“thesethingshappen，”hebeganvaguely。“ihavebeenabletorecalloneinstance—apossibleinstance。itwasanindiscretion，undoubtedly。wewereproducingadefinitiveeditionofthepoemsofkipling。iallowedtheword‘god’toremainattheendofaline。icouldnothelpit！”headdedalmostindignantly，raisinghisfacetolookatwinston。“itwasimpossibletochangetheline。therhymewas‘rod’。doyourealizethatthereareonlytwelverhymesto‘rod’intheentirelanguage？fordaysihadrackedmybrains。therewasnootherrhyme。”

theexpressiononhisfacechanged。theannoyancepassedoutofitandforamomenthelookedalmostpleased。asortofintellectualwarmth，thejoyofthepedantwhohasfoundoutsomeuselessfact，shonethroughthedirtandscrubbyhair。

“hasiteveroccurredtoyou，”hesaid，“thatthewholehistoryofenglishpoetryhasbeendeterminedbythefactthattheenglishlanguagelacksrhymes？”