名人一瞥‖（二）乔治奥威尔 A Glimpse of Celebrities︱(2) George Orwell

George Orwell 1903 - 1950 , a renowned British novelist, journalist and social critic. George Orwell's representative works, "Animal Farm" and "1984", are classic anti-authoritarian masterpieces. Among them, "1984" is one of the most influential English novels of the 20th century.

George Orwell's life was short, but he used his acute insight and sharp writing style to examine and record the era he lived in, making many predictions that transcended the times. He was called "the cold conscience of a generation".

My acquaintance with George Orwell began through his novel "1984". As soon as I got it, I fell in love with this book. His simple yet profound narrative style and high generalization ability were eye-opening.

I still remember one sentence from the beginning of the novel: Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled into his breast in an effort to escape the vile wind, slipped quickly through the glass doors of Victory Mansions, though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering along with him. It's truly very interesting and very real.

After reading Orwell's introduction, which mentioned that he had a work called "Why I Write", I suddenly felt a sense of familiarity. I had seen it somewhere before. I quickly flipped through my copy of "A Study and A Reader" by Li Shaoming, published by Shandong University Press , and found his excerpted article "Politics and the English Language". It turns out that I had already known Orwell long ago, but I just didn't pay attention to it. In the preface of this article, there is such a sentence that I think is very appropriate: " No English writers of the twentieth century wrote humbug more rarely than did Orwell."

In the book "1984", Orwell mentioned China or Chinese people several times. I guess his attitude towards China and socialism at that time was skeptical, but it changed later. Of course, this is just my personal opinion and may not be correct. Here are several places in the novel "1984" where China or Chinese people are mentioned:

He Winston took down from the shelf a bottle of colourless liquid with a plain white label marked VICTORY GIN. It gave off a sickly, oily smell, as of Chinese rice-spirit. page 5

He O’Brien’s servant was a small, dark-haired man in a white jacket, with a diamond-shaped, completely expressionless face which might have been that of a Chinese. page 179

In Oceania the preveiling philosophy is called Ingsoc, in Eurasia it is called Neo-Bolshevism, and in Eastasia it is called by a Chinese name usually translated as Death-Worship, but perhaps better rendered as Obliteration of the Self. page 208

All round the world, in London and New York, in Africa and Brazil, and in the mysterious, forbidden lands beyond the frontiers, in the streets of Paris and Berlin, in the villages of the endless Russian plain, in the bazaars of China and Japan-everywhere stood the same solid unconquerable figure, made monstrous by work and childbearing, toiling from birth to death and still singing. page 233

“It was a common punishment in Imperial China,” said O’Brien as didactically as ever. page 302

I don't want to comment too much. I'll just leave it to the readers to understand for themselves.

After Orwell's death, he was buried in the All Saints' Churchyard of Sutton Courtenay Village in Oxfordshire, England.

Orwell's tombstone is very thin, less than one square meter in size, without any design, and extremely simple. The text on the tombstone is also very simple:

Here lies

Eric Arthur Blair

Born 25 June 1903

Died 21 January 1950

In the celestial sky of history, there are always some shooting stars streaking across the heavens, although their existence is brief, they still shine with an incomparably brilliant light.

乔治•奥威尔（George Orwell，1903—1950年），英国著名小说家、记者和社会评论家。

乔治•奥威尔的代表作《动物庄园》和《一九八四》是反极权主义的经典名著，其中《一九八四》是20世纪影响最大的英语小说之一。

乔治•奥威尔一生短暂，但其以敏锐的洞察力和犀利的文笔审视和记录着他所生活的那个时代，做出了许多超越时代的预言，被称为“一代人的冷峻良知”。

我与乔治奥威尔的相识是通过他的那本小说《1984》，一拿到手，我就喜欢上了这本书。他的浅易却又深刻的叙述方式、高度概括力，令人眼前一亮。

我还记得小说开头其中的一句：Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled into his breast in an effort to escape the vile wind, slipped quickly through the glass doors of Victory Mansions, though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering along with him.

真的是太有趣了，也很真实。

看到奥威尔的介绍，讲到他有部作品Why I Write，我忽然似曾相识，在哪里见过。我忙翻阅我的那本《大学英文写作》（李绍明著，山东大学出版社），竟找到了他的节选文章“Politics and the English Language”。原来我与奥威尔早就相识，只是没有引起我的注意了。在这篇文章的编者按中，有这样的一句话，我认为恰如其分：No English writers of the twentieth century wrote humbug more rarely than did Orwell.

奥威尔在《1984》一书中，有几次提到中国或者和中国人，我猜想，他那时的态度是对中国以及社会主义的怀疑，不过后来发生了变化。当然，这只是我的一家之言，未必正确。

以下是《1984》小说中提到中国或者中国人的几个地方：

He Winston took down from the shelf a bottle of colourless liquid with a plain white label marked VICTORY GIN. It gave off a sickly, oily smell, as of Chinese rice-spirit. 第5页

He O’Brien’s servant was a small, dark-haired man in a white jacket, with a diamond-shaped, completely expressionless face which might have been that of a Chinese. 第179页

In Oceania the preveiling philosophy is called Ingsoc, in Eurasia it is called Neo-Bolshevism, and in Eastasia it is called by a Chinese name usually translated as Death-Worship, but perhaps better rendered as Obliteration of the Self. 第208页

All round the world, in London and New York, in Africa and Brazil, and in the mysterious, forbidden lands beyond the frontiers, in the streets of Paris and Berlin, in the villages of the endless Russian plain, in the bazaars of China and Japan-everywhere stood the same solid unconquerable figure, made monstrous by work and childbearing, toiling from birth to death and still singing. 第233页

“It was a common punishment in Imperial China,” said O’Brien as didactically as ever. 第302页

我不想过多评论，只好由读者自我理解了。

奥威尔死后葬于英国牛津郡萨顿考特尼村（Sutton Courtenay）的诸圣教堂公墓（All Saints' Churchyard）。

奥威尔的墓碑很薄，大小不到一平方米，没有任何设计，朴素之极。墓碑文字也极为简单：

Here lies

Eric Arthur Blair

Born 25 June 1903

Died 21 January 1950

（艾瑞克•阿瑟•布莱尔在此安眠，生于一九〇三年六月二十五日，卒于一九五〇年一月二十一日）

历史的星空总有一些流星划过天际，虽然短暂，但却闪烁着无比耀眼的光芒。