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quot;1984", by George Orwell

"How is the Dictionary getting on?" said Winston, raising his voice to be heard over the noise. "Slowly," said Syme. "I'm working on the adjectives. It's fascinating." He had cheered up immediately when Winston mentioned Newspeak. He picked up his piece of bread with one hand and his cheese with the other, and leaned across the table so he could speak without shouting.

"The Eleventh Edition is the final edition," he said. "We're getting the language into its final shape — the shape it's going to have when nobody speaks anything else. When we've finished with it, people like you will have to learn it all over again. You think that our main job is inventing new words. But it's not! We're destroying words — hundreds of them, every day. We're cutting the language down to the bone. The Eleventh Edition won't contain a single word that will stop being used before the year 2050."

He bit hungrily into his bread and swallowed a couple of mouthfuls, then continued speaking. "It's a beautiful thing, the destruction of words. Of course, we are getting rid of many verbs and adjectives, but there are hundreds of nouns that can be got rid of as well. It isn't only the synonyms; there are also the antonyms. After all, why have a word which is simply the opposite of some other word? Take 'good', for instance. If you have a word like 'good', why do you need a word like 'bad'? 'Ungood' is just as good — better, in fact, because it's an exact opposite. Or again, if you want a stronger version of 'good', why have lots of unclear, useless words like 'excellent' and 'splendid' and all the rest of them? 'Plusgood' covers the meaning, or 'doubleplusgood' if you want something stronger still. Of course, we use those forms already, but in the final version of Newspeak there'll be nothing else. In the end, the whole idea of goodness and badness will be covered by only six words. Don't you see the beauty of that, Winston? It was Big Brother's idea originally, of course," he added.

A sort of dull eagerness passed quickly across Winston's face at the mention of Big Brother. At this, Syme said, almost sadly, "You don't really appreciate Newspeak, Winston. Even when you write it you're still thinking in Oldspeak. I've read some of those pieces that you write in The Times occasionally. They're good enough, but they're translations. In your heart you'd prefer to keep Oldspeak. You don't understand the beauty of the destruction of words. Do you know that Newspeak is the only language in the world whose vocabulary gets smaller every year?" Winston did know that, of course. He smiled, sympathetically he hoped, not trusting himself to speak.

Syme went on: "Don't you see that in the end we shall make thoughtcrime impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it. Every idea that can ever be needed will be expressed by exactly one word, with its meaning extremely clear and all other meanings rubbed out and forgotten. Already, in the Eleventh Edition, we're not far from that point. But the process will still be continuing long after you and I are dead. Every year fewer and fewer words, and the range of consciousness always a little smaller. Even now, of course, there's no reason or excuse for committing thoughtcrime. It's simply a question of self-discipline. But in the end there won't be any need even for that. The Revolution will be complete when the language is perfect. Has it ever occurred to you, Winston, that by the year 2050, at the very latest, not a single human being will be alive who could understand the conversation we are having now?"




Date: 2016-01-03; view: 1544


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III. Write the dates from the box. | G. Yes, it is, Ted. And that problem presents a somewhat larger challenge to the governments and their agencies.
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