1984. Книга для чтения на английском языке

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. 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. The hallway smelt of boiled cabbage and old rag mats. At one end of it a coloured poster, too large for indoor display, had been tacked to the wall. It depicted simply an enormous face, more than a metre wide: the face of a man of about forty-five, with a heavy black moustache and ruggedly handsome features. Winston made for the stairs[1].

The hallway smelt of boiled cabbage and old rag mats.

He sat back. A sense of complete helplessness had descended upon him. To begin with, he did not know with any certainty that this was 1984. It must be round about that date, since he was fairly sure that his age was thirty-nine, and he believed that he had been born in 1944 or 1945; but it was never possible nowadays to pin down any date within a year or two. For whom, it suddenly occurred to him to wonder, was he writing this diary? For the future, for the unborn. His mind hovered for a moment round the doubtful date on the page, and then fetched up with a bump

aware that there was no food in the kitchen except a hunk

chin nuzzled into his breast in an effort to escape

enormous face, more than a metre wide: the face

. If you kept the small rules, you could break the big ones.

street level another poster, torn at one corner, flapped fitfully in the wind, alternately covering and

It depicted simply an enormous face,

though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering along with him.