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?”