1984. A2

tragedy ['trædʒədi] – n трагедия

whatever [wɒt'evə] – adv всё, что

Chapter 4

Winston sat at his desk, getting ready for work. He put on his glasses to look at the four pieces of paper beside him. Winston's job was to correct old newspaper articles, so they matched what the Party wanted people to believe.

In Winston's office, there were holes in the walls called memory holes. When Winston needed to destroy something, he put it in a memory hole. After that, no one could ever see these papers again.

Winston read the four messages. In one of them, for example, Big Brother made a prediction about the war, but it turned out to be wrong. Winston now had to rewrite the news to make it seem like Big Brother was always right. Another one mentioned the chocolate rations: although the Ministry of Plenty promised to keep the chocolate rations on the same level, they became smaller. Winston had to correct the numbers to make everyone believe the change was planned.

When Winston finished rewriting the news, he sent them through memory holes. Winston believed he wasn't lying – he just replaced one piece of nonsense with another. And he wasn't the only person who did this: his whole department at the Ministry of Truth was changing history. They also corrected books, films, and other records.

Wilson saw a colleague across the hall. Winston didn't know that person at all. In the department, people rarely talked about their jobs. They hardly ever saw each other – unless they were all attending a Hate event. After all, they were too busy writing newspapers, films, books, and everything else.

Winston finally got to the fourth message. It spoke about some Mr Withers, who was now non-existent. Big Brother used to praise him a lot, but now any information about him in Big Brother's speeches had to be different. So, Winston invented a man – Mr Ogilvy, who didn't exist an hour ago, but was now a fact.

The Party wanted to control everything people knew about the past. The Ministry of Truth also produced newspapers and entertainment for the poorer people called “proles.” These were filled with sports, crime stories, and gossip to distract them.

Glossary

beside [bɪ'saɪd] – prep рядом с

distract [dɪ'strækt] – v отвлекать

entertainment [ˌentə'teɪnmənt] – n развлечение

exist [ɪɡ'zɪst] – v существовать

gossip ['ɡɒsɪp] – n сплетня

mention ['menʃən] – v упоминать

non-existent [ˌnɒnɪɡ'zɪstənt] – adj несуществующий

nonsense ['nɒnsəns] – n чепуха

praise [preɪz] – v хвалить

prediction [prɪ'dɪkʃən] – n предсказание, прогноз

turn out [tɜ:n aʊt] – v оказываться, заканчиваться

unless [ən'les] – conj если не

Chapter 5

Winston was standing in line for lunch in the noisy canteen. He noticed his friend Syme, who was a linguist. He was working on the new Newspeak Dictionary. They sat down at a table, and Winston started eating.

“Did you see the prisoners yesterday?” Syme asked.

“I was busy,” Winston replied, but Syme continued looking at him. “How's the dictionary?”

“We're working slowly, but it's fascinating! When we finish, everyone will have to learn the language again. You may think we're inventing new words, but in fact, we destroy them. It's so beautiful. Of course, it's Big Brother's idea. You see, the aim of Newspeak is to make our thinking narrow. This way, even thinking against the Party will be impossible. Every text will mean the opposite of what it meant before.”

Winston was sure Syme would soon disappear. He was too intelligent and spoke too honestly. He continued eating his bread with cheese and listened to the conversation at the table next to them.

A man was speaking loudly, but Winston couldn't understand a word. Suddenly, he heard one phrase, “We should erase Goldsteinism completely.” The woman sitting next to him agreed. Syme compared their conversation to the sounds ducks made. Winston now knew Syme would disappear.

Mr Parsons walked in the canteen with a loud greeting. He found Winston, apologised for his sons' behaviour, and reminded Winston he was collecting money for another Hate event. Mr Parsons was actually proud of his children – they were trained to watch and report any signs of disloyalty, even from their parents.

Winston nodded politely, but he felt fear. The idea that the Party could limit thoughts made him panic. He looked around. Everyone was dressed in blue uniforms and looked ugly.

After lunch, Winston walked back to his desk, thinking about the Party. When he saw someone, he could tell who would survive and who would disappear. As Winston sat down at his desk, he looked up and saw the girl with dark hair. She didn't look at him, but Winston felt his heart race. He still couldn't decide if she was an enemy or someone who, like him, hated the Party but was too afraid to say it.

Glossary

aim [eɪm] – n цель

canteen [kæn'ti:n] – n столовая

compare [kəm'peə] – v сравнивать

disloyalty [dɪs'lɔɪəlti] – n неверность

enemy ['enəmi] – n враг

fascinating ['fæsɪneɪtɪŋ] – adj увлекательный

honestly ['ɒnɪstli] – adv честно

limit ['lɪmɪt] – v ограничивать

linguist ['lɪŋɡwɪst] – n лингвист

narrow ['nærəʊ] – adj узкий

prisoner ['prɪzənə] – n заключенный

proud [praʊd] – adj гордый

race [reɪs] – v колотиться (о сердце)

sign [saɪn] – n признак

survive [sə'vaɪv] – v выживать

Chapter 6