登陆注册
5257900000077

第77章 英文(46)

She must have slipped into some shop in the proletarian quarters and bought herself a complete set of make-up materials. Her lips were deeply reddened, her cheeks rouged, her nose powdered; there was even a touch of something under the eyes to make them brighter. It was not very skillfully done, but Winston’s standards in such matters were not high. He had never before seen or imagined a woman of the Party with cosmetics on her face. The improvement in her appearance was startling. With just a few dabs of colour in the right places she had become not only very much prettier, but, above all, far more feminine. Her short hair and boyish overalls merely added to the effect. As he took her in his arms a wave of synthetic violets flooded his nostrils. He remembered the half-darkness of a basement kitchen, and a woman’s cavernous mouth. It was the very same scent that she had used; but at the moment it did not seem to matter.

“Scent too!” he said.

“Yes, dear, scent too. And do you know what I’m going to do next? I’m going to get hold of a real woman’s frock from somewhere and wear it instead of these bloody trousers. I’ll wear silk stockings and high-heeled shoes! In this room I’m going to be a woman, not a Party comrade.”

They flung their clothes off and climbed into the huge mahogany bed. It was the first time that he had stripped himself naked in her presence. Until now he had been too much ashamed of his pale and meagre body, with the varicose veins standing out on his calves and the discoloured patch over his ankle. There were no sheets, but the blanket they lay on was threadbare and smooth, and the size and springiness of the bed astonished both of them. “It’s sure to be full of bugs, but who cares?” said Julia. One never saw a double bed nowadays, except in the homes of the proles. Winston had occasionally slept in one in his boyhood: Julia had never been in one before, so far as she could remember.

Presently they fell asleep for a little while. When Winston woke up the hands of the clock had crept round to nearly nine. He did not stir, because Julia was sleeping with her head in the crook of his arm. Most of her make-up had transferred itself to his own face or the bolster, but a light stain of rouge still brought out the beauty of her cheekbone. A yellow ray from the sinking sun fell across the foot of the bed and lighted up the fireplace, where the water in the pan was boiling fast. Down in the yard the woman had stopped singing, but the faint shouts of children floated in from the street. He wondered vaguely whether in the abolished past it had been a normal experience to lie in bed like this, in the cool of a summer evening, a man and a woman with no clothes on, making love when they chose, talking of what they chose, not feeling any compulsion to get up, simply lying there and listening to peaceful sounds outside. Surely there could never have been a time when that seemed ordinary? Julia woke up, rubbed her eyes, and raised herself on her elbow to look at the oilstove.

“Half that water’s boiled away,” she said. “I’ll get up and make some coffee in another moment. We’ve got an hour. What time do they cut the lights off at your flats?”

“Twenty-three thirty.”

“It’s twenty-three at the hostel. But you have to get in earlier than that, because — Hi! Get out, you filthy brute!”She suddenly twisted herself over in the bed, seized a shoe from the floor, and sent it hurtling into the corner with a boyish jerk of her arm, exactly as he had seen her fling the dictionary at Goldstein, that morning during the Two Minutes Hate.

“What was it?” he said in surprise.

“A rat. I saw him stick his beastly nose out of the wainscoting. There’s a hole down there. I gave him a good fright, anyway.”

“Rats!” murmured Winston. “In this room!”

“They’re all over the place,” said Julia indifferently as she lay down again. “We’ve even got them in the kitchen at the hostel. Some parts of London are swarming with them. Did you know they attack children? Yes, they do. In some of these streets a woman daren’t leave a baby alone for two minutes. It’s the great huge brown ones that do it. And the nasty thing is that the brutes always—”

“Don’t go on!” said Winston, with his eyes tightly shut.

“Dearest! You’ve gone quite pale. What’s the matter? Do they make you feel sick?”

“Of all horrors in the world — a rat!”

She pressed herself against him and wound her limbs round him, as though to reassure him with the warmth of her body. He did not reopen his eyes immediately. For several moments he had had the feeling of being back in a nightmare which had recurred from time to time throughout his life. It was always very much the same. He was standing in front of a wall of darkness, and on the other side of it there was something unendurable, something too dreadful to be faced. In the dream his deepest feeling was always one of self-deception, because he did in fact know what was behind the wall of darkness. With a deadly effort, like wrenching a piece out of his own brain, he could even have dragged the thing into the open. He always woke up without discovering what it was: but somehow it was connected with what Julia had been saying when he cut her short.

“I’m sorry,” he said, “it’s nothing. I don’t like rats, that’s all.”

“Don’t worry, dear, we’re not going to have the filthy brutes in here. I’ll stuff the hole with a bit of sacking before we go. And next time we come here I’ll bring some plaster and bung it up properly.”

同类推荐
  • 美人温雅 独家典藏套装(全四册)

    美人温雅 独家典藏套装(全四册)

    父亲入狱,家欠巨债,柳婧跌下云端。为了救父出狱,她乔装而出,不料重逢皇后亲弟邓九郎。他权倾一时,对柳婧千般报复,却百般眷恋,爱恨纠结中与她成就一段患难情。与此同时,未婚夫婿顾呈蚀骨成伤,爱恨难分心沦陷。柳婧步步为营,对顾呈有念,却被他利用。顾呈冷魅阴险,终却为她而死。邓九郎温暖如玉,情意激缠,终随皇后一纸婚约,命运转舵。母亲家世曝光,她以为世间独她沉沦。未曾想朝堂风云变幻,邓氏一族正处于生死存亡之中,邓九郎不得不放弃柳婧。怎料柳婧摇身一变,成了公主,想要纳邓九郎为驸马。只是,他们终究把一切想得太过美好——皇帝驾崩,皇后掌权,柳婧被迫远走他乡,两人再度错过……
  • 侧身官场

    侧身官场

    本书讲述的是秘书们的故事。他们辛辛苦苦,忙忙碌碌,办文、办会、办事,什么都办;公事私事、明事暗事、该办的事不该办的事,也难免都得办……官场历来是一个是非之地,亦是个众说纷纭的所在。身处其中各有各的体会,各有各的处世方式。本书选择了一个独特的视角,将目标锁定在那些不是官员却身在官场的秘书身上,告诉你他们究竟是怎么一个侧身法。
  • 黑心

    黑心

    故事以一次矿难为背景,刑警支队长海小安牵头破案,通过对一具无头尸源的寻找,意外遇上了潜逃多年的人贩子宋雅杰,被杀的郭德学正是她的男人,她还借卵给海小安的继母生了一个女孩。鬼脸砬子煤矿卐井透水事故发生,黑心矿主为掩盖矿难真相策划了炸井……刘宝库替真正的矿主幕后老板当矿长,直到最后老板才走到前台来……本书表现了人民警察伟大的品质,和为正义做出个人牺牲的精神。
  • 陈楚歌进步记

    陈楚歌进步记

    “穷二代”陈楚歌六亲无靠,毕业后回到老家当教师,阴差阳错成了乡党委书记牛大伟儿子的班主任。牛大伟在和乡长的权力争斗中,党政办主任倒戈,陈楚歌被火速借调乡里,开始了小吏生涯。各种各样的打击接锺而来,牛大伟和女下属暗渡陈仓,在他升迁时遭遇举报,陈楚歌替他背了黑锅。牛大伟平安无事了,而他却被退回到原来的中学当教书匠,陈楚歌一时思想上难以接受,差点自杀。然后牛大伟没有忘记他,很快将他调入《龙山报》社,后来随着牛大伟调离宣传部,陈楚歌在报社的地位一落千丈,甚至连他自己都不知道是谁在幕后整他。
  • 国家血脉

    国家血脉

    深切哀悼汶川大地震、玉树大地震中遇难的同胞们,希望你们一路走好,灵魂得到安息。 此书为5.12汶川大地震三周年纪[1]念日而作,献给那些经历过地震灾难的同胞、关心帮助过地震灾区人民的社会各界友人、想了解地震灾难过去几年以后,灾区人民生活的所有爱心人士。
热门推荐
  • 妖鬼子

    妖鬼子

    妖鬼子,非人非妖,非仙非鬼,生于三界之外,不堕六道轮回。她,袭夭,是妖鬼所生,眉如翠羽,肌如白雪,绝代倾城,遗世独立。十八岁踏入修罗,眉心妖魂渐显,冰蓝色妖瞳摄人心魄,渐生千年修为,千千年不老,万万岁不死。她,淳襄,本是死胎帝女,却得妖鬼子三分之一情魄还魂人世,死生为谁,至死难知。浮尘浊世,难把清风送月明,愿只愿求仁得仁,闲时煮酒,续那时烟月桃花。全新的神仙系统,不一样的玄幻体验。(姊妹篇《仙衣妙善,半面妆》已上线作者棠梨妗号青枯散人)
  • 大侠赵九

    大侠赵九

    赵九是个普通到尘埃里的人,他可以姓赵可以姓钱可以姓孙还可以姓李。此人原名唤作阿狗,但他听得许多大侠传里的人物都不这么叫,比如萧十一、燕十三、段七,所以他决定给自己改名叫做赵九。赵九可以是你,可以是我,可以是他,可以是大千世界里的任何一人。凡人有梦,除却天道,还要看世道。大侠赵九,讲述小人物的大侠梦。
  • 相思谋:妃常难娶

    相思谋:妃常难娶

    某日某王府张灯结彩,婚礼进行时,突然不知从哪冒出来一个小孩,对着新郎道:“爹爹,今天您的大婚之喜,娘亲让我来还一样东西。”说完提着手中的玉佩在新郎面前晃悠。此话一出,一府宾客哗然,然当大家看清这小孩与新郎如一个模子刻出来的面容时,顿时石化。此时某屋顶,一个绝色女子不耐烦的声音响起:“儿子,事情办完了我们走,别在那磨矶,耽误时间。”新郎一看屋顶上的女子,当下怒火攻心,扔下新娘就往女子所在的方向扑去,吼道:“女人,你给本王站住。”一场爱与被爱的追逐正式开始、、、、、、、
  • 幻想酒仙坊

    幻想酒仙坊

    我只想当条咸鱼,不过既然穿越了,那就当去异世界旅游吧。开个酒店赚赚钱,只希望紫姐姐别老是来偷酒,幽幽姐别跑来我这吃饭,魔理沙别别来偷书,灵梦别来蹭饭就行。没想到《玄阴诀》居然有永保青春的功效,坑爹啊,这样我就不成了万年小loli了么,WTF!
  • 古佛

    古佛

    生我之前我是谁,生我之后谁是我。古佛拈花方一笑,痴人说梦已三生。……从此以后,三藏去侯,永不冠姓!仙路苍茫,我自会争出一个通天大道,何用他人相扶!渭城侯府,苍穹夕阳。十三岁的少年话语铿锵,响彻天际。千年后,三界洪荒,无上古佛!…………澄观和尚的,逆天路……
  • 永恒之墟

    永恒之墟

    凡人想成仙,仙人想成圣,圣人欲不朽。修道三秘:成仙、命星、永恒,谁人能证道?不朽何处?永恒便是罪,谁人敢证道?你若永恒,我为其墟,覆灭永生。
  • 闲来无事做

    闲来无事做

    无聊时看着河的故事
  • 湖之小屋

    湖之小屋

    静静的小湖,简单的小屋,一道孤傲的背影,满目疮痍,却隐含着绝世的依恋和不舍。在心里、在脚下,可触摸,却永远无法再回去,一行清泪,滴入了湖底......
  • 左目神尊

    左目神尊

    一个不为人知的血脉传承,一个变化无常的神目灵蛇,一段惊心动魄的求索,一场翻天覆地的大劫,一个个隐藏的秘密。且看一个琳琅城的小小少年,如何踏上巅峰之路......(新书,求收藏,求推荐,打滚求啊*^_^*)
  • 浮沉纪

    浮沉纪

    仙魔不仁,众生刍狗。问天地间,谁主沉浮。我本无心,奈何天意。舍生未死,浴火重生。一个原本平凡的快递员,因身世被卷入一场惊天事故中。身陷绝境灰飞湮灭之际,灵魂穿越到一个完全不同的世界。神魂萎靡身体孱弱又如何,这一生我绝不甘于平凡庸碌。且看我如何逆天改命,于乱世中一步步踏上强者之路。