Nineteen Eighty-Four 一九八四 Part 3, Chapter 4

He was much better. He was growing fatter and stronger every day, if it was proper to speak of days., ,The white light and the humming sound were the same as ever, but the cell was a little more comfortable than the others he had been in. There was a pillow and a mattress ¹ on the plank ² bed, and a stool to sit on. They had given him a bath, and they allowed him to wash himself fairly frequently in a tin basin. They even gave him warm water to wash with. They had given him new underclothes and a clean suit of overalls ³. They had dressed his varicose ulcer ⁴ with soothing ⁵ ointment ⁶. They had pulled out the remnants of his teeth and given him a new set of dentures., ,Weeks or months must have passed. It would have been possible now to keep count of the passage of time, if he had felt any interest in doing so, since he was being fed at what appeared to be regular intervals ⁷. He was getting, he judged, three meals in the twenty-four hours; sometimes he wondered dimly whether he was getting them by night or by day. The food was surprisingly good, with meat at every third meal. Once there was even a packet of cigarettes. He had no matches, but the never-speaking guard who brought his food would give him a light. The first time he tried to smoke it made him sick, but he persevered ⁸, and spun ⁹ the packet out for a long time, smoking half a cigarette after each meal., , ,By degrees he came to spend less time in sleep, but he still felt no impulse to get off the bed. All he cared for was to lie quiet and feel the strength gathering ¹⁶ in his body. He would finger himself here and there, trying to make sure that it was not an illusion that his muscles were growing rounder and his skin tauter ¹⁷. Finally it was established beyond a doubt that he was growing fatter; his thighs ¹⁹ were now definitely thicker than his knees. After that, reluctantly at first, he began exercising himself regularly. In a little while he could walk three kilometres, measured by pacing the cell, and his bowed shoulders were growing straighter. He attempted more elaborate exercises, and was astonished and humiliated ²⁰ to find what things he could not do. He could not move out of a walk, he could not hold his stool out at arm's length, he could not stand on one leg without falling over. He squatted ²¹ down on his heels, and found that with agonizing ²² pains in thigh ¹⁸ and calf ²³ he could just lift himself to a standing ²⁴ position. He lay flat on his belly ²⁵ and tried to lift his weight by his hands. It was hopeless, he could not raise himself a centimetre. But after a few more days -- a few more mealtimes -- even that feat ²⁶ was accomplished ²⁷. A time came when he could do it six times running. He began to grow actually proud of his body, and to cherish an intermittent ²⁸ belief that his face also was growing back to normal. Only when he chanced to put his hand on his bald scalp did he remember the seamed, ruined face that had looked back at him out of the mirror., ,His mind grew more active. He sat down on the plank bed, his back against the wall and the slate on his knees, and set to work deliberately ²⁹ at the task of re-educating himself., ,The new mattress I bought sags in the middle.我买的新床垫中间陷了下去。,The plank was set against the wall.木板靠着墙壁 。