1984
Nineteen Eighty-Four (mostly written 1984) is a 1948 dystopian(反面乌托邦的, 反面假想国的, 可怕的) novel written by George Orwell, about an oligarchical(寡头政治的, 主张寡头政治的), collectivist(集体主义的) society. Life in the Oceanian(大洋洲的) province of Airstrip((飞机紧急降落用的)临时跑道) One is a world of perpetual(永久的, 永恒的, 一再往复的) war, pervasive(普遍的, 渗透的, 遍布的) government surveillance, and incessant( 不断的, 无尽的) public mind control. The individual is always subordinated(次级的, 从属的) to the state, and it is in part this philosophy which allows the Party to manipulate and control humanity. In the Ministry of Truth, protagonist(主角, 支持者) Winston Smith is a civil servant responsible for perpetuating(使永存, 使不朽) the Party's propaganda(宣传, 宣传的内容 ) by revising historical records to render the Party omniscient(全知的, 无所不知的) and always correct, yet his meager(贫乏的, 不足的, 瘦的) existence disillusions(醒悟, 使幻想破灭) him to the point of seeking rebellion(叛乱, 反抗) against Big Brother. As literary political fiction, Nineteen Eighty-Four is considered a classic novel of the social science fiction subgenre. Since its publication in 1949, many of its terms and concepts, such as Big Brother, doublethink, thoughtcrime, Newspeak, and Memory hole, have become contemporary vernacular(本地话, 方言). In addition, the novel popularised the adjective Orwellian, which refers to lies, surveillance, and manipulation of the past in the service of a totalitarian agenda. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Nineteen Eighty-Four 13th on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. Nineteen Eighty-Four occurs in Oceania, one of three intercontinental super-states who divided the world among themselves after a global war. Most of the action takes place in London, the "chief city of Airstrip One", the Oceanic province that "had once been called England or Britain". Posters of the Party leader, Big Brother, bearing the caption BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU adorn the landscape, while the telescreen (transceiving television) ubiquitously monitors the private and public lives of the populace. The social class system is threefold: (I) the upper-class Inner Party, (II) the middle-class Outer Party, and (III) the lower-class Proles (from Proletariat), who make up 85% of the population and represent the working class. As the government, the Party controls the population via four government ministries: the Ministry of Peace, Ministry of Plenty, Ministry of Love, and the Ministry of Truth, where protagonist Winston Smith (a member of the Outer Party), works as an editor revising historical records to concord（和睦, 协约,和谐, 一致 ） the past to the contemporary party line orthodoxy（正统说法, 正教, 信奉正教）—that changes daily—and deletes the official existence of people identified as unpersons（被整肃的领导者, 被冷落的人）. Winston Smith's story begins on 4 April "1984": "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen"; yet the exact date is uncertain, given the regime's continual historical revisionism. Winston's memories and his reading of the proscribed book, The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism, by Emmanuel Goldstein, reveal that after the Second World War, the United Kingdom fell to civil war and then was integrated into Oceania. Simultaneously, the USSR's annexation of continental Europe established the second superstate of Eurasia. The third superstate, Eastasia, represents East and Southeast Asian region. The three superstates fight a perpetual war for the remaining unconquered lands of the world; they form and break alliances as convenient. From his childhood (1949–53), Winston remembers the Atomic Wars fought in Europe, western Russia, and North America. It is unclear to him what occurred first—either the Party's civil war ascendance（优势, 支配力量）, or the US's annexation（并吞, 附加, 并吞物, 附加物） of the British Empire, or the war wherein Colchester was bombed—however, the increasing clarity（清楚，透明） of his memory and the story of his family's dissolution suggest that the atomic bombings occurred first (the Smiths took refuge in a tube station) followed by civil war featuring "confused street fighting in London itself", and the societal postwar reorganisation, which the Party retrospectively call "the Revolution".
