Page 79 - Orwell, George - Nineteen eighty-four -bilingüe [pdf]

George Orwell 1 9 8 4 78

it is abuse, applied to someone you agree with, it contradictorios. Aplicada a un contrario, es un
is praise.' insulto; aplicada a alguien con quien estés de
acuerdo, es un elogio.

Unquestionably Syme will be vaporized, Winston No cabía duda, volvió a pensar Winston, a Syme lo
thought again. He thought it with a kind of vaporizarían. Lo pensó con cierta tristeza aunque
sadness, although well knowing that Syme sabía perfectamente que Syme lo despreciaba y era
despised him and slightly disliked him, and was muy capaz de denunciarle como culpable mental.
fully capable of denouncing him as a thought- Había algo de sutilmente malo en Syme. Algo le
criminal if he saw any reason for doing so. There faltaba: discreción, prudencia, algo así como
was something subtly wrong with Syme. There estupidez salvadora. No podía decirse que no fuera
was something that he lacked: discretion, ortodoxo. Creía en los principios del Ingsoc,
aloofness, a sort of saving stupidity. You could veneraba al Gran Hermano, se alegraba de las
not say that he was unorthodox. He believed in victorias y odiaba a los herejes, no sólo sinceramente,
the principles of Ingsoc, he venerated Big sino con inquieto celo hallándose al día hasta un
Brother, he rejoiced over victories, he hated grado que no solía alcanzar el miembro ordinario del
heretics, not merely with sincerity but with a sort Partido. Sin embargo, se cernía sobre él un vago aire
of restless zeal, an up-to-dateness of information, de sospecha. Decía cosas que debía callar, leía
which the ordinary Party member did not demasiados libros, frecuentaba el Café del Nogal,
approach. Yet a faint air of disreputability always guarida de pintores y músicos. No había ley que
clung to him. He said things that would have prohibiera la frecuentación del Café del Nogal. Sin
been better unsaid, he had read too many books, embargo, era sitio de mal agüero. Los antiguos y
he frequented the Chestnut Tree Cafe, haunt of desacreditados jefes del Partido se habían reunido allí
painters and musicians. There was no law, not antes de ser «purgados» definitivamente. Se decía
even an unwritten law, against frequenting the que al mismo Goldstein lo habían visto allí algunas
Chestnut Tree Cafe, yet the place was somehow veces hacía años o décadas. Por tanto, el destino de
ill-omened. The old, discredited leaders of the Syme no era difícil de predecir. Pero, por otra parte,
Party had been used to gather there before they era indudable que si aquel hombre olía sólo por tres
were finally purged. Goldstein himself, it was segundos las opiniones secretas de Winston, lo
said, had sometimes been seen there, years and denunciaría inmediatamente a la Policía del
decades ago. Syme's fate was not difficult to Pensamiento. Por supuesto, cualquier otro lo haría;
foresee. And yet it was a fact that if Syme Syme se daría más prisa. Pero no bastaba con el celo.
grasped, even for three seconds, the nature of his, La ortodoxia era la inconsciencia.
Winston's, secret opinions, he would betray him
instantly to the Thought Police. So would
anybody else, for that matter: but Syme more
than most. Zeal was not enough. Orthodoxy was
unconsciousness.

Syme looked up. 'Here comes Parsons,' he said. Syme levantó la vista:
— Aquí viene Parsons —dijo.

Something in the tone of his voice seemed to add, Algo en el tono de su voz parecía añadir, «ese
'that bloody fool'. Parsons, Winston's fellow- idiota». Parsons, vecino de Winston en las Casas de
tenant at Victory Mansions, was in fact threading la Victoria, se abría paso efectivamente por la
his way across the room—a tubby, middle-sized atestada cantina. Era un individuo de mediana
man with fair hair and a froglike face. At thirty- estatura con cabello rubio y cara de rana. A los
five he was already putting on rolls of fat at neck treinta y cinco años tenía ya una buena cantidad de