202.英文正文(202)
hesteppedacrosstheroom。therewasamemoryholeintheoppositewall。o’brienliftedthegrating。unseen,thefrailslipofpaperwaswhirlingawayonthecurrentofwarmair;itwasvanishinginaflashofflame。o'brienturnedawayfromthewall。
“ashes,”hesaid。“notevenidentifiableashes。dust。itdoesnotexist。itneverexisted。”
“butitdidexist!itdoesexist!itexistsinmemory。irememberit。yourememberit。”
“idonotrememberit,”saido’brien。
winston’sheartsank。thatwasdoublethink。hehadafeelingofdeadlyhelplessness。ifhecouldhavebeencertainthato’brienwaslying,itwouldnothaveseemedtomatter。butitwasperfectlypossiblethato'brienhadreallyforgottenthephotograph。andifso,thenalreadyhewouldhaveforgottenhisdenialofrememberingit,andforgottentheactofforgetting。howcouldonebesurethatitwassimpletrickery?perhapsthatlunaticdislocationinthemindcouldreallyhappen:thatwasthethoughtthatdefeatedhim。
o’brienwaslookingdownathimspeculatively。morethaneverhehadtheairofateachertakingpainswithawaywardbutpromisingchild。
“thereisapartyslogandealingwiththecontrolofthepast,”hesaid。“repeatit,ifyouplease。”
“whocontrolsthepastcontrolsthefuture:whocontrolsthepresentcontrolsthepast,”repeatedwinstonobediently。“whocontrolsthepresentcontrolsthepast,”saido’brien,noddinghisheadwithslowapproval。“isityouropinion,winston,thatthepasthasrealexistence?”