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。