i. The Japanese Revolution
THE WAR against Tibet had enabled the ruling classes of Russia and China to impose a conveniently strict discipline upon their respective peoples. When the war was over, the excuse for this discipline vanished. Inevitably1 the change from war to peace brought hardship to many. The transition was not simply haphazard2, as it would have been under individualism; it was controlled by the supreme3 capitalist, the state. And it was controlled in such a way as to strengthen the ruling class, not to increase general prosperity. Further, it was clumsily controlled. Skilled workers were put to unskilled work for which they had neither the ability nor the temper. Whole populations, deprived of their livelihood4 by the exigencies5 of peace, were left to starve. Other populations, meanwhile, were over-worked mercilessly, and in bad conditions.
Among the worst sufferers were the Japanese. In an earlier phase of the industrialization of the East this swarming6 island people had played a vigorous but unhappy part. The old feudal8 ruling class, wisely refusing to allow European finance to exploit the country, had itself undertaken the westernization of Japan. Unfortunately the Japanese were far more successful in imitating the worst features of European commercialism than in absorbing the best spirit of European civilization. Ruthless industrialism and ruthless imperialism10 landed them in the long and disastrous11 attack on China. Their ultimate defeat brought loss of markets, unemployment, and constant social turmoil12. Henceforth China, not Japan, was the economic master of the East. Japan’s feverishly13 accumulated machinery14 fell out of use, and its human adjuncts were starved. The crowded population could not possibly be kept alive on home-grown food. The standard of living, never high, sank to famine level. The communists, though repeatedly exterminated15, repeatedly reappeared, and with increasing strength. Meanwhile the military and financial oligarchy16 could think of nothing better to do than copy the notorious ‘two hundred families’ of France, as it had formerly17 copied the pioneering industrial families of Britain. It preached an anti-bolshevik crusade, made overtures18 to the Chinese Empire, and finally surrendered Japan’s independence. Like the men of Vichy before them, the Japanese rulers hoped that at least a few crumbs19 of power would thus be secured to them. This, of course, did not happen. The only result was that the Chinese police took charge of the country, and ‘made an example of’ all those who caused trouble, whether on the left or the right. Through the combination of famine, torture, and profound disillusionment the population of the Japanese islands was greatly reduced, while immense numbers of Chinese officials were settled in the country to reorganize the whole economy of Japan as a slave state for the benefit of the Chinese Empire in its crusade against Tibet.
After the fall of Tibet and the end of war-time economy, the Japanese, like the rest of the world, eagerly awaited the promised improvement of conditions and relaxation20 of discipline. But like the rest of the world they were disappointed. Very soon desperation in Japan reached the pitch at which suicide becomes the commonest form of death. The population seemed to be so completely cowed that the Chinese army of occupation was reduced to a skeleton. At this point the will for the light in Japan blunderingly reasserted itself. Once more the Japanese copied the West, with their accustomed thoroughness and lack of understanding. The Communist leaders, skilfully21 using Russian gold, succeeded in persuading large numbers in Tokio and elsewhere that it was better to die for the Revolution than meekly23 commit suicide. They declared, moreover, that revolution was by no means doomed24 to failure. The fall of Tibet, they said, had been due to contamination from sentimental26 bourgeois27 ideas derived28 from the ecclesiastical oligarchy. That mistake must not be made again. The basis of the Japanese revolution must be strictly29 materialistic30, and its emotional drive must come from hate of the oppressor, not from metaphysical delusions31.
Entirely32 careless of their lives, the revolutionaries advanced in thousands on the machine-guns of their masters. Before effective help could come from China the régime was broken, and a people’s government was in command. The rulers of China were at this time much occupied with the danger from Russia. They refrained from sending an expeditionary force against Japan, and contented33 themselves with a very strict blockade. The new Japanese government set about slaughtering34 all who were suspected of implication in the former regime, and all who disobeyed its orders. Food was the supreme problem. The more people were killed, the more hope for the survivors36. The death penalty was therefore inflicted38 for the most venial39 offences, and whenever guilt40 seemed at all plausible41. Everything feasible was done to stimulate42 agriculture. The peasants were forced, under threat of death, to cultivate vast tracts44 of poor land, for which, owing to the blockade, fertilizer were lacking. It was promised, however, that though in the coming year famine was inevitable45, next season would see a plentiful46 harvest. Loyalty47 towards the future of Japan and the human race, it was said, demanded the utmost sacrifice from the present generation. But the new land produced a miserable48 crop; and the people, enfeebled by famine and disease, harassed49 by brutal50 treatment, and utterly51 without the religious stiffening52 that had fortified53 Tibet, became incapable54 of effort, and too physically55 weak for hard agricultural work. The régime was impotent. The more desperate its plight56, the more it killed and tortured. The new rulers knew well that any relaxation of discipline would have brought immediate57 destruction to themselves; and most of them still sincerely believed that their survival was necessary to the state. In the end the Chinese government, choosing its own time, quietly recovered possession of the Japanese islands.
ii. A Synthetic58 War
Both the Chinese and the Russian Empires, had been harassed by social disorders59. It was clear that nothing short of another major war could restore discipline. The leaders of the two ruling classes therefore secretly conferred with one another and agreed to institute a worldwide war between the two empires. They agreed also on the rules of this lethal60 game. Certain districts were to remain inviolate61. Trade intercourse62 between the two empires was to be maintained through certain demilitarized ports and frontier towns. Each side was to refrain from blotting63 out the other’s main centres of production, while seeming to attempt to do so. On the other hand, whenever there was any awkward social disturbance64 in any locality in one of the empires, the government of the other, if requested by its rival, was to launch a violent air attack on the infected area. Steps would be taken secretly by the inviting65 government to see that its defending air-force was unable to put up serious resistance.
There was no lack of a casus belli. The two industrial oligarchies66 had long been maneuvering67 against one another to secure the large unworked gold deposits of Eastern Tibet. There had been a time when the rivers of Tibet were rich with gold-dust, brought down from the hills. Gold had also been profitably mined within a few feet of the surface. That time had long since passed. The new Tibetan state had been aware of deeper and vaster gold deposits, but had not troubled to exploit them. To the rival empires this bright treasure was a perennial68 lure25. China, plausibly69 stealing a march on her accomplice70 and rival, now seized this territory. With an indignation that was by no means feigned71, the Russian government protested, and attacked.
For some years all went according to plan. On the plea of danger, discipline was restored. The synthetic faith which had been so effectively used to create unity72 against Tibet was now with equal effect used to rouse a savage73 hate between the two great groups of people ruled by the Russian and Chinese oligarchies. This time the differences between the Russian and the Chinese versions of the faith were duly emphasized. In Russia it was said that the Chinese heresy74, which glorified75 cruelty, was perverse76 and diabolic; in China, that the Russian heresy, which exaggerated acquiescence77 and irresponsibility, sprang simply from lethargy, and was insincere and base.
Under the stress of violent warfare78 social conditions throughout the two empires inevitably grew worse. On the plea of military necessity legislation to protect labour was repealed79, hours were lengthened80, wages reduced, food adulterated, and rationed81 in such a way as to leave the rich the chance of buying substitutes which the poor could not afford. In China, for instance, rice was rationed to a bare subsistence minimum, but a new and more nutritious82 grain, which was rapidly supplanting83 rice, was left unrationed. Its price mounted far beyond the poor man’s means. The whole crop was available for the rich. Personal liberty was of course, so far as possible, destroyed. The military could move anyone to any part of the empire, could imprison84, kill, or torture at their own pleasure. They did not hesitate to do so. Education was wholly concerned with producing efficient machine-tenders who could be trusted to carry out orders without question. The synthetic faith was inculcated from childhood onwards. Nearly all accepted it outwardly; most people thoughtlessly believed it; a few secretly doubted while they outwardly conformed; still fewer tried to rally the forces of light, and were promptly85 destroyed; a fairly large minority believed the faith with some degree of conviction; and of these a small number practised it with passion.
These were the active servants of darkness, and increasingly the rulers of the planet. Of many psychological types and all social classes, they had at least one thing in common. All were frustrated86 spirits. Many were innately87 of low-grade sensibility, incapable of appreciating any values but physical gratification, personal dominance, and sadistic88 passion. These were frustrated in that civilization had hitherto restrained them from the only kind of self-expression that they could conceive. Many more were innately normal, but they had been permanently89 warped90 in infancy91 through untoward92 relations with their elders. Some, though their homes had been fairly wholesome93, had been damaged by their schools. Others had suffered distortion in youth or early maturity94 through economic failure or the lethal sense that society was against them. All alike, though in differing manners, had been forced by the disease of their society to regress into primitive95 behaviour. The whole population, of course, suffered in some degree from the prevailing96 social neurosis, but these active servants of darkness had suffered excessively. In them neurosis bred the positive will for darkness, the satanic will. In them, for one reason or another, the natural impulse of spiritual growth had been thwarted97 and turned into a perverse craving98 for power, for destruction, for cruelty. These unhappy souls did indeed experience in the act of cruelty a kind of ecstasy99 of release and self-expression, which all too easily they mistook for an ecstasy of illumination.
But these servants of darkness had no lasting100 joy in their service. In all of them the will for darkness was a perversion101 of the will for the light. In all but a few maniacs102 the satisfaction of the will for darkness was at all times countered by a revulsion which the unhappy spirit either dared not confess even to itself, or else rejected as cowardly and evil. In all, darkness appeared in the guise103 of light, so that they believed themselves to be the true and faithful servants not of darkness but of light, heroically denying in themselves the subtly disguised temptations of the dark power.
Such were the servants of darkness. The great majority in the two empires consisted of minds in which the darkness and the light were still equally balanced, but upon which the impact of circumstance overwhelmingly favoured darkness. For from childhood onwards they were conditioned to inhuman104 behaviour and to an evil faith. Though not themselves inherently perverse, but merely weak and obtuse105, they were wholly incapable of resisting the climate of their age, in which darkness was persistently106 presented in the guise of light. Many of them indeed might reasonably be called true servants of the light, true to the flickering107 light in their own hearts, but utterly bewildered by the prevalent ideas which they had neither the wit nor the courage to reject. In personal relations with their children, wives, husbands, friends, and workmates they were still intermittently108 and timorously109 faithful to the ancient light which had entered them from a more lucid110 age. But in public affairs they meekly accepted the perverse conventions of their society, either withdrawing their attention and making a virtue111 of acquiescence, or surrendering themselves to the tribal112 passion of hate and cruelty against unfortunate individuals whom they dared not recognize as indeed their fellows.
Though for some years the policy of ‘synthetic war’ instituted by the Russian and Chinese rulers was very successful, it was bound sooner or later to fail. For its success, the two imperial powers had to be approximately equal in strength. So long as this condition held, each party respected the other’s interests and relied on the other’s co-operation. Thus a serious rebellion against the Russian authorities in Capetown was crushed by a vigorous Chinese air raid. South Africans were persuaded to believe that defence against Chinese aggression113 was at the time more important than the assertion of local rights against the Russian government, which after all was far less methodically ruthless than its rival. On the other hand when, in the course of a successful Russian offensive in Manchuria, the power of the local Chinese authorities began to break, and a progressive anti-war party attempted to make an independent peace so as to found a new, independent, and socialistic state, the Chinese government telephoned to Moscow to stop the offensive until the rebels had been crushed. The request was complied with, and all military action against the Chinese forces ceased. Only in the region of the Khingan Mountains, where the rebels had set up their government, did the Russians continue hostilities114, attacking from the west while the Chinese pressed forward from the east.
Gradually, however, the balance of power in the world altered in favour of the Chinese Empire. This was due at bottom to the greater efficiency and colder intelligence of the Chinese ruling class. The world’s most ancient and most phlegmatic115 civilization, though by now so grievously perverted116, had an advantage in this respect against the world’s newest, immature117, and equally perverted civilization. Moreover though Chinese imperialism was handicapped by a late start, it was better organized, more wealthy, and more united than the Russian variety. After the trouble in Manchuria the Chinese government tightened118 its hold on all its outlying provinces, moving whole populations hither and thither119 so as to create a homogeneous people stretching from the Altai Mountains to the Timor Sea. Thus the rulers contrived120 that, although in every region there was servitude and frustration121, in none was there a sufficient local tradition and consciousness to form the focus of a serious uprising. In the huge, straggling Russian Empire, on the other hand, the ancient Soviet122 tradition had maintained a great deal of local autonomy. Further, the personnel of the Russian imperial service, if it lacked the tyrannical meddlesomeness124 of the Chinese, lacked also its cunning in propaganda and oppression. The Russian provinces were therefore in a constant state of unrest, which frequently broke out into turmoil, now in North America, now in Britain, now in India. Indeed every country had its history of revolt, alternating between secret sedition125 and open rebellion. The consequence was that throughout the latter part of the Russo–Chinese war Russia appealed to China for help far more often than China to Russia.
There came a time when the Chinese imperialists began to make excuses for not carrying out the suggestions of their Russian colleagues and rivals. At last, so far from helping126 the Russian government, they actually sided with the rebels. This first occurred in India, where clumsy oppression had produced widespread revolt. Instead of bombing the progressive centres, the Chinese dropped leaflets offering help and protesting their own progressive and liberalizing intentions. At the same time they launched a great attack by means of giant mountain-crossing tanks through Burma and Assam, while their navy seized the main Indian ports. The misguided Indians welcomed them with enthusiasm. Throughout India the Russian ruling class was massacred, and the regime collapsed128. An independent Indian state was founded, under Chinese supervision131, and within a few years the Indians were completely assimilated to the Chinese Empire.
The Russo–Chinese war now became frankly132 a struggle by the Russian oligarchy to retain its territories against the attack of its more efficient rival. Man’s powers of destruction were being constantly improved. There was at this time little or no research for the improvement of health, nutrition, psychological adjustment, or social organization, but vast state-financed researches into military technique, and psychological methods of discipline. Tidal electricity, which formerly had been the world’s main form of industrial power, was by now subordinate to volcanic133 sources. The great natural volcanic regions of South America, the East Indies, and Japan were immensely developed by artificial borings to tap the planet’s subterranean134 energies. The light accumulator and the greatly improved methods of electrical transmission made it possible to distribute electricity economically into every region of the world. In respect of volcanic power, the two empires were at first equally well fortified, but the Chinese gradually outstripped135 their rivals by their more resolute136 development of their resources.
There is no need to tell in any detail of the course of the final phase of the forty-years war between Russia and China. Like all wars it was of absorbing, even obsessive137, interest to those whom it directly affected138, but to the developed mind its battles and campaigns and ultimate massacre127 are more depressing than significant. One or two striking features of the war may be mentioned. Throughout, the Chinese were greatly helped by the rebelliousness139 of the Russian dependencies. One by one they asserted their independence or succumbed140 to Chinese attack. The Russian imperialists were by now fully22 engaged in defending the heart of their empire, and could do nothing to maintain their authority in Africa, America, or Western Europe. In the decisive campaign the Chinese used two new inventions against which the orthodox methods of Russia were powerless. One was the giant tank, the other the legged aeroplane. The new Chinese tank was so large that to call it a land-battleship was to disparage141 it. This new engine was indeed a moving fortified town, complete with its own workshops, and food stores for its thousand men for three weeks. It could crush and trample142 modern sky-scraper cities. On good ground it moved at a hundred miles an hour. It could travel over mountainous country by using its great clawed mechanical arms or legs. The legged aeroplane had the great advantage that it could land anywhere and take off anywhere. It was indeed a giant mechanical fly which could cling to precipitous places or suddenly leap from the ground by kicking with its prodigious143 thighs144. Some hundreds of the new tanks, each attended by its own swarm7 of the new aeroplanes, advanced through central Asia. Russian bombers145 attacked in successive waves of a thousand planes, but their bombs could not harm these armour-plated monsters, whose artillery146 swept them from the sky. Unchecked, these greatest of all man’s engines streamed across the prairies and deserts of Outer Mongolia, flattened147 out the forest, crossed the mountain barriers, turned aside here and there to grind a town to rubble148, took the Urals in their stride, and headed for Moscow. The Russian government fled. The city surrendered. But the enemy, obsessed149 with the worship of cruelty and ecstatic with slaughter35, hurried on to catch the city before it could be evacuated150. Arrived, the monsters steam-rollered the whole urban area into a flat waste of rubble. The sacred mummy of Lenin was pulverized151 in the general ruin. The invaders152 then amused themselves by overtaking and squashing the hosts of refugees as a man may crush a swarm of ants under his boot. Leningrad and other cities were similarly treated.
iii. Diabolic World Empire
Thus ended the Second Russian Empire, the evil offspring of man’s first great though ill-starred attempt to organize society for the well-being153 of the many rather than for the power of the few. Some of the former Russian provinces hastily made peace, others declared their independence of both empires, only to be speedily crushed. America alone resisted for two years, but was finally overcome and treated to a very special punishment for its contumacy. The whole child population was transported to various parts of the world as slaves.
With the fall of America the human race had succeeded for the first time in establishing the political unity of the whole planet. The imperial Chinese government now assumed the title ‘The Celestial154 Government of the World’, and ordered celebrations in every town and every household of the planet. Everywhere desperate efforts were made to produce tolerable specimens155 of the ancient Chinese dragon flag, which had been revived by the second empire and was henceforth to be the dreaded156 emblem157 of the world-government. Everywhere, even on the blood-stained Russian plains, this emblem, or some crude approximation to it, was now anxiously flaunted158. It was affirmed that at last the green Chinese dragon had devoured159 the red orb9 that had for so long hung tantalizingly160 before him in the golden sky. The red orb was no longer interpreted as the sun of Japan but as the red world of Russian imperialism. It was added in a whisper that, with luck the dragon might soon die of indigestion.
World-unity had been attained161! But what a unity! Nowhere throughout the world was there any considerable group who were at peace with the world, save the governing class and its jackals. Everywhere the peasants were enslaved to the universal imperial landlord. Everywhere they toiled162 to produce the world’s food. Everywhere they starved and were harshly regimented. Miners and factory hands were in the same condition. The world-government, instead of organizing a great and universal movement of social reconstruction163, thereby164 keeping the workers and the soldiers in employment, dismissed half its armies and kept the rest in idleness. The workers it treated with utter contempt, confident in its power to coerce165 them. The great class of technicians who had been persuaded to support the war in the hope that under world-unity they would be given the chance to build universal prosperity, found themselves used either for strengthening the oligarchy or for producing its luxuries; or else dismissed and maintained by the state in a sort of half-life of penury166 and despond.
Although individualistic capitalism167 had long since vanished, the universal decadent168 state-capitalism was in many ways subject to the same disorders. Though the power for social planning was in the hands of the world-government, the will was lacking. The rulers were concerned only to maintain their position. Vast economic powers, at first the perquisites169 of the great ruling Chinese families, were now farmed out to irresponsible state-servants, who turned themselves into dictators of the industries under their control. And since there was little co-ordination of their actions, and, anyhow, they were mainly concerned to feather their own nests, chaos170 followed. Unemployment increased, and brought with it its attendant evils. Desperate populations became difficult to handle. Punitive171 massacres172 were very frequent.
At last a new invention, one of the very few which the declining species managed to achieve, brought temporary aid. A biochemist produced a method of putting human beings into a state of suspended animation173 from which, he said, they could be easily wakened, ‘fresh and young’, after a sleep of many years. The world-government, believing that unemployment was a passing phase, and that later on there would be a great need of labour, set about building in every country a system of cold-storage warehouses174 where unwanted human beings could be deposited until the times changed. The unemployed175 and their families were forcibly stored in these warehouses. The struggling creatures were chained down, lying shoulder to shoulder on tiers of shelves inside huge tanks, which were then filled first with a succession of gases and finally with a preserving liquid. Millions of men, women, and children in almost every country were thus stored for future use. Though the lives of the workers were almost intolerably arid176 and distressful177, they did all in their power to avoid being sent to the cold-storage houses. The will for the light expressed itself in them as a blind will for active life, however abject178. But a few welcomed this opportunity of escape, without irrevocable extinction179; believing that in their next phase of active life they would have better opportunities of expressing themselves. In most of these, the acquiescence in suspended animation was at bottom an expression of the will for darkness, though rationalized to satisfy the still smouldering will for light. For the individual in whom the will for the light is strong and clear finds his heart inextricably bound up with the struggle of the forces of light in his native place and time. Much as he may long for the opportunity of fuller self-expression in a happier world, he knows that for him self-expression is impossible save in the world in which his mind is rooted. The individual in whom the will for the light is weak soon persuades himself that his opportunity lies elsewhere. And so, as the spirit of the race was progressively undermined through ever-deteriorating physical and psychological conditions, acquiescence in ‘the deep sleep’ became more and more widespread.
One of the main factors in the waning180 of the will for the light in this period was the attitude of the intellectuals. The academics, musicians, painters, cinema-artists, and, above all, the writers flagrantly betrayed their trust. In all these groups there were persons of four types. Many were paid servants of the government, engaged on propaganda through work which was ostensibly independent. These were concerned chiefly to put a good complexion181 on the regime, and to praise the fundamental principles of the synthetic faith, in particular the virtues182 of acquiescence and obedience183, and the ecstasy of cruelty. Still more numerous were the independent but futile184 intellectual ostriches185 who shut their eyes to the horror of their time and won adulation and power by spinning fantasies of self-aggrandizement and sexual delight, distracting men’s attention from contemporary evils with seductive romances of other ages and other worlds, or with exalted187 and meaningless jargon188 about a life after death. There were also large numbers of progressive intellectuals. These saw clearly enough that contemporary society was mortally sick, and in a dream-like, unearnest way they expounded189 their tenuous190 Utopias, in which there was often much common sense and even wisdom; but they preached without that fury of conviction which alone can rouse men to desperate action. And they themselves lived comfortably upon the existing system, in their flats and suburban191 houses. Vaguely192 they knew that they ought to give up all for the revolution; but being what they were, they could not. The fourth type were the very few sincere and impotent rebels, who flung away their lives in vain and crazy attempts to be great prophets.
Crucial to the fate of the human race at this time was the attitude of the class of technicians, the host of highly trained engineers, electricians, aeronautical193 experts, agricultural experts, and scientific workers in industry. These, if they could have formed a clear idea of the plight of the race, might have saved it. But they were experts who had been carefully trained in the tradition that the expert should not meddle123 in politics. In times of great stress, of course, they did meddle; but, because they had consistently held themselves aloof194, their pronouncements were childish, and their attempts at political action disastrous. A few had, indeed, taken the trouble to study society, and had come to understand its present ills. These fought constantly to enlighten their fellows and unite them in a great effort to control the course of events. Undoubtedly195, if the will for the light had been strong in this great class, which controlled throughout the world all the innumerable levers and switches and press-buttons of the material life of society, it could have overthrown196 the world-oligarchy in a few days, and set about organizing a sane197 order. But the appeal to the technicians met with a half-hearted response. Most of them shrugged198 their shoulders and went on with their work. A few took timid action and were promptly seized and put to torture by the rulers. The movement failed.
It seemed to me very strange that a class which included nearly all the best intelligence of the world and very much of the world’s good will should be incapable of ousting199 a set of tyrants200 who were both insensitive and stupid. The explanation, seemingly, was twofold. First, the rulers found themselves in possession of a vast and highly mechanized system of oppression. If anyone did anything obnoxious201 to the régime, immediately and automatically he was put out of action. Some colleague would certainly inform against him, and the police would do the rest. For the whole population, it must be remembered, was now tormented202 by neurotic203 jealousy204 and fear. The infliction205 of pain on a fellow mortal could afford a crazy satisfaction. Informers were, of course, well rewarded, but it was the joy of persecution206 that inspired them. Secondly207, the mechanization of propaganda had been developed to an extent hitherto unknown. Psychology208, the youngest of the sciences, had by now attained a thorough knowledge of the primitive and the morbid209 in man without reaching to any real understanding of the distinctively210 human reaches of human personality. Government psychologists had worked out a subtle technique of suggestion by reiterated211 symbolic212 appeals to suppressed motives213. This method, applied214 from infancy onwards, had ensured that all the unwitting cravings of a neurotic population, all their unacknowledged fear, hate, energy, cruelty, lechery215, selfishness, and mob-passion, should depend both for stimulation216 and assuagement217 on the existing social order, and should issue consciously in a jealous and vengeful loyalty to the oligarchy. Thus did a group of scientists who should have used their skill for the purgation and elucidation218 of men’s minds help to deepen the general darkness and misery219. The power of propaganda was greatly increased by the prevailing educational principles. The free intelligence, which criticizes fearlessly and without prejudice, was ridiculed220, condemned221, and carefully suppressed. Bound intelligence, acting186 within the universe of discourse222 of the established culture, was encouraged; but it was mane clear to every pupil that intelligence was rather a necessary evil than a thing to prize for its own sake. What was intrinsically good was orthodoxy, unison223 with the tradition. To strengthen the passion for orthodoxy it was ordained224 that school classes should be as large as possible, and that the main method of teaching should be by organizing mass chanting of the traditional truths. Had the will for the light been less feeble, this procedure might well have induced in some pupils a revulsion in favour of free intelligence; but in this latter day of the human race, such rebellion was very rare.
The government’s control over its subjects was greatly increased by a new invention which would have been asource of increased social well-being had it occurred in a more wholesome society. This was the product of advances in physiology225 and electrical engineering. The mechanism226 of the human brain was by now fairly well known; and by means of a vast mesh227 of minute photoelectric228 cells, inserted by a brilliant surgical229 technique between the cerebral230 cortex and the skull231, it was possible to record very accurately232 the ever-changing pattern of activity in the cortical nerve-fibres. Advances in the technique of radio made it easy to transmit this record over great distances, and to decode233 it automatically in such a way that the thoughts and impulses of the observed person could be accurately ‘read’ by observers in far-away government offices. The immense knowledge and skill which went to these inventions might have caused untold234 benefits to mankind; but through the treason of the technologists and the power-lust of the rulers they were combined to form a diabolical235 instrument of tyranny.
A law was passed by which everyone suspected of harbouring dangerous thoughts was condemned to have his brain made available for constant observation. This involved an operation for the insertion of the photoelectric mesh under his skull and the attachment236 of the necessary miniature accumulators to his crown by screws driven into the skull itself. If any attempt was made to tamper237 with the instrument, or if the accumulator was allowed to run down beyond a certain point, the unfortunate individual was automatically subjected to the most excruciating pain, which, if prolonged for more than an hour or so, culminated238 in permanent insanity239. In addition to this transmission-instrument there was a minute radio telephone receiver driven into the mastoid bone. Thus not only were the subject’s thoughts and feelings open to inspection240 at every moment of his life by some remote official but also instructions, threats, or repetitive gramophone propaganda could be inflicted on him morning, noon, and night.
At first this technique was applied only to those under suspicion, but little by little it was extended to all classes of society, save the oligarchs themselves and their most favoured servants. Immense offices were set up in all the main centres, where hosts of inspectors241 were constantly at work taking sample readings of the world’s two thousand million minds. Every ordinary man, woman, and adolescent knew that at any moment he might be under inspection. At any moment a voice might interrupt his thoughts with some propaganda commentary on them, or with a rough warning or the imposition of a penalty. While he was going to sleep he might be invaded by music and incantations calculated to mould his mind into the temper approved by the government. Those who were brought up from childhood to be accustomed to this treatment accepted it cheerfully. The very young were sometimes even impatient to receive what they foolishly regarded as this certificate of maturity. Under the constant influence of official scrutiny242 the minds of adolescents became almost perfectly243 correct. Dangerous thoughts, even of the mildest type, were for them unthinkable. Those who received the treatment as grown men or women suffered prolonged mental agony, and many committed suicide.
The policy of those who controlled this vast system of espionage244 was simply to ensure that all minds should be orthodox. As time went on, the inquisitors themselves came to be chosen solely245 from the ranks of those who were products of the system itself. So amazingly correct were these minds that they suffered nothing from the publicity246 of all their mental processes.
The strangest aspect of the system was this. Those who controlled it were themselves enslaved to it; they used their power not to emancipate247 themselves but to support the ruling caste. In the earlier phase of the Chinese world-empire the caste, or rather the non-hereditary class from which the caste later developed, had maintained its position by superior cunning and resolution; but in its later phase, when cunning and resolution had given place to stupidity and self-indulgence, the position of the ruling caste was maintained automatically by the mechanical functioning of the established social system. The rulers had immense privileges and great arbitrary powers. For them the workers piled up luxuries. In accordance with the vagaries248 of their fickle249 taste, fashions changed, whole working populations were suddenly worked to death or flung aside into the cold-storage warehouses. When the rulers said ‘do this’ or ‘do that’, the world obeyed. But their power lay wholly in the fact that the technicians were hypnotized in their service, hypnotized, not through the cunning and resolution of the rulers themselves, but through the vast momentum250 of traditional culture. Thus little by little the ruling caste became at once helpless and absolutely secure. In the same manner the slave-owning ants depend wholly on the ministrations of devoted251 slaves who have all the skill but not the wit to rebel.
The perfection of the system of social control was reached by means of a further triumph of inventive genius. After much laborious252 experiment a method was devised by which the impulses and desires of the individual could be either stimulated253 or suppressed by radio. Thus it was possible for the officials in a distant government office to force upon a man an irresistible254 craving to carry out a prescribed course of action. Like one under hypnotic influence, but with full consciousness of the enormity of his action, he might find himself compelled to betray his friend, to murder his wife, to torture his child or himself, to work himself to death, to fight against impossible odds255.
Little by little the whole subject population of the world was fitted with the instruments of volitional257 control. The government was now practically omnipotent258.
Once more, the strangest aspect of the new invention was that those who controlled it were themselves under its control. For the operators themselves were fitted with the instruments. Operators in each department were controlled by their superiors, and these by their superiors. These again were controlled by the supreme council of the locality, which was composed of all heads of departments. The supreme council of the locality was in turn controlled by the council of the province or state; and the state councils by the World Imperial Council. Members of this body were automatically controlled. Automatic machinery ensured that any incipient259 desire inconsistent with the orthodox system of desires should automatically be obliterated260, while certain desires fundamental to orthodoxy were automatically maintained.
This ingenious system, it must be noted261, had not been devised by the rulers themselves but by the technologists, by physiologists262, psychologists, and electrical engineers. They had done it partly out of blind professional enthusiasm, partly because they felt the need of such a system to fortify263 their orthodoxy against the unorthodox impulses which occasionally distressed264 them.
As for the rulers themselves, these sacred beings, these sacred animals, were not controlled. They were free to think and act according to their nature, which by now had degenerated265 into a mess of stupidity, selfishness, and malice267. Their stupidity was the stupidity of beasts. Though they were free, they were powerless. Of degenerate266 stock, they were conditioned by upbringing to a life of fantastic luxury and desolating268 self-indulgence. So long as they behaved according to the orthodox pattern, they were preserved and reverenced269. If any showed some sign of individuality he was at once declassed and operated upon for radio control. But this was very rare. Nearly all were content to live at ease on the fat of the land and the adulation of the masses. They were kept busy with the innumerable ceremonies and pageants270 without which, it was thought, the state would collapse129, and in which the representative members of the ruling caste always played the central part. Those who obscurely felt the barrenness of their lives sought notoriety in the fields of sport or aeronautics271. But, as the generations passed and their capacity deteriorated272, they were forced to seek less exacting273 forms of self-display. Of these, one of the chief was the infliction of torture. The subject population, though conditioned to believe in the mystical virtue of cruelty, and though capable up to a point of relishing274 the spectacle of torture inflicted on strangers, were prone276 to lapse130 into squeamishness or even compassion277. Not so the rulers. Unconsciously poisoned by their own futility278 and baseness, they were obsessed by hatred279 of the masses, the technicians, their own peers, and themselves. Without any radio control, therefore, they could inflict37 the most disgusting tortures with equanimity280, and even unfeigned relish275. When one of them had to perform the office of tearing out the eyes or bowels281 or genitals of the sacrificial victim, he did so without a qualm. To the fascinated and nauseated282 spectators this callousness283 appeared as aristocratic virtue. When humble284 people came to be subject to radio control of volition256 they often welcomed the artificial reinforcement to their ruthlessness. On the other hand when an erring285 member of the ruling caste had to be declassed and put to torture, he invariably showed less than the average fortitude286. It never occurred to the public, while they howled with glee at his discomfiture287, that the aristocrats288, even before declassing, were after all no better than themselves; for the ceremony of declassing was supposed to have deprived the culprit of his native virtue.
One of the causes of this admiration289 of cruelty in the world-culture of this period was the widespread respect for ‘the unconscious’. The distinction between the conscious and unconscious motives, which had played such a beneficial part in an earlier psychology, had by now led to absurdities290. The unconscious was now said to be the divine will working in us. The unconscious sources of action were therefore sacred. In a race in which, through unwholesome conditioning, the ‘unconscious’ was a tissue of perverted cravings, this meant that the perverse was deified.
Another curious aspect of this degenerate culture was that, along with ‘the unconscious’, reason was deified; and this in spite of the bitter condemnation291 of the exercise of free intelligence. But sacred reason was nothing whatever like ordinary human reasoning. It was the occult rationality of the universe, forever inaccessible292 to man. Everything, it was said, had in the divine view its reason. Everything followed necessarily from the divine reason. In the human sphere free intelligence was an impious attempt to probe the divine reason. The true scope for man’s own divine spark of reason was not in the free exercise of intelligence but in the pious293 and unquestioning study of the metaphysical arguments of the inspired scriptures294.
One branch of the cult43 of reason was a fantastic use of mathematics. But again, what was admired was not the free exercise of mathematical intelligence. This, indeed, was heartily295 condemned. A number of complex and valid296 mathematical operations were, of course, performed by the technicians for practical purposes; but they were all well-established operations, handed down from a more intelligent generation. Mathematical innovation was deemed wicked.
Further, the actual symbols of mathematics were gradually acquiring mystical virtue. As intelligence deteriorated, the time-honoured operations continued to be used both in industrial research and in religious ritual, but they were performed with ever-dwindling insight. In the final phase mathematical understanding had vanished altogether. The operations were still called rational, but their rationality was said to be patent only to the divine reason. This was proved by the fact that the whole of physical nature ‘obeyed’ mathematical laws. Human reason, however, could not possibly detect the occult necessity of the higher mathematical processes. Any attempt to do so was sacrilegious.
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inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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haphazard
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| adj.无计划的，随意的，杂乱无章的 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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livelihood
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| n.生计，谋生之道 | |
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exigencies
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| n.急切需要 | |
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swarming
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| 密集( swarm的现在分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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swarm
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| n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入 | |
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feudal
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| adj.封建的，封地的，领地的 | |
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orb
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| n.太阳；星球；v.弄圆；成球形 | |
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imperialism
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| n.帝国主义，帝国主义政策 | |
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disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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turmoil
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| n.骚乱，混乱，动乱 | |
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feverishly
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| adv. 兴奋地 | |
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machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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exterminated
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| v.消灭，根绝( exterminate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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oligarchy
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| n.寡头政治 | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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overtures
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| n.主动的表示，提议；（向某人做出的）友好表示、姿态或提议( overture的名词复数 )；（歌剧、芭蕾舞、音乐剧等的）序曲，前奏曲 | |
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crumbs
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| int. (表示惊讶)哎呀 n. 碎屑 名词crumb的复数形式 | |
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relaxation
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| n.松弛，放松；休息；消遣；娱乐 | |
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skilfully
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| adv. (美skillfully)熟练地 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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meekly
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| adv.温顺地，逆来顺受地 | |
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doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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lure
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| n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引 | |
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sentimental
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| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
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bourgeois
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| adj./n.追求物质享受的(人)；中产阶级分子 | |
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derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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materialistic
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| a.唯物主义的，物质享乐主义的 | |
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delusions
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| n.欺骗( delusion的名词复数 )；谬见；错觉；妄想 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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34
slaughtering
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| v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的现在分词 ) | |
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slaughter
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| n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀 | |
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survivors
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| 幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 ) | |
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inflict
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| vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担 | |
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inflicted
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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venial
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| adj.可宽恕的；轻微的 | |
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guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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plausible
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| adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的 | |
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stimulate
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| vt.刺激，使兴奋；激励，使…振奋 | |
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cult
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| n.异教，邪教；时尚，狂热的崇拜 | |
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tracts
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| 大片土地( tract的名词复数 )； 地带； （体内的）道； （尤指宣扬宗教、伦理或政治的）短文 | |
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45
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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plentiful
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| adj.富裕的，丰富的 | |
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loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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49
harassed
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| adj. 疲倦的，厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词 | |
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50
brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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51
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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52
stiffening
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| n. (使衣服等)变硬的材料, 硬化 动词stiffen的现在分词形式 | |
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53
fortified
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| adj. 加强的 | |
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54
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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55
physically
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| adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律 | |
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56
plight
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| n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定 | |
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57
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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58
synthetic
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| adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品 | |
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59
disorders
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| n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调 | |
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60
lethal
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| adj.致死的；毁灭性的 | |
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inviolate
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| adj.未亵渎的，未受侵犯的 | |
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62
intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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63
blotting
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| 吸墨水纸 | |
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disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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oligarchies
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| n.寡头统治的政府( oligarchy的名词复数 )；寡头政治的执政集团；寡头统治的国家 | |
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67
maneuvering
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| v.移动，用策略( maneuver的现在分词 )；操纵 | |
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perennial
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| adj.终年的；长久的 | |
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plausibly
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| 似真地 | |
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70
accomplice
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| n.从犯，帮凶，同谋 | |
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71
feigned
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| a.假装的，不真诚的 | |
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unity
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| n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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heresy
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| n.异端邪说；异教 | |
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75
glorified
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| 美其名的，变荣耀的 | |
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perverse
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| adj.刚愎的；坚持错误的，行为反常的 | |
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77
acquiescence
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| n.默许；顺从 | |
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78
warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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79
repealed
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| 撤销，废除( repeal的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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lengthened
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| （时间或空间）延长，伸长( lengthen的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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rationed
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| 限量供应，配给供应( ration的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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nutritious
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| adj.有营养的，营养价值高的 | |
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83
supplanting
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| 把…排挤掉，取代( supplant的现在分词 ) | |
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84
imprison
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| vt.监禁，关押，限制，束缚 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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frustrated
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| adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧 | |
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innately
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| adv.天赋地；内在地，固有地 | |
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sadistic
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| adj.虐待狂的 | |
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permanently
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| adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地 | |
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warped
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| adj.反常的；乖戾的；（变）弯曲的；变形的v.弄弯，变歪( warp的过去式和过去分词 )；使（行为等）不合情理，使乖戾， | |
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infancy
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| n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期 | |
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untoward
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| adj.不利的，不幸的，困难重重的 | |
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wholesome
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| adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的 | |
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maturity
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| n.成熟；完成；(支票、债券等)到期 | |
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primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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prevailing
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| adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的 | |
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thwarted
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| 阻挠( thwart的过去式和过去分词 )； 使受挫折； 挫败； 横过 | |
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craving
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| n.渴望,热望 | |
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ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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lasting
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| adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持 | |
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perversion
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| n.曲解；堕落；反常 | |
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maniacs
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| n.疯子（maniac的复数形式） | |
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guise
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| n.外表，伪装的姿态 | |
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inhuman
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| adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的 | |
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obtuse
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| adj.钝的；愚钝的 | |
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persistently
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| ad.坚持地；固执地 | |
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flickering
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| adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的 | |
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intermittently
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| adv.间歇地；断断续续 | |
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timorously
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| adv.胆怯地，羞怯地 | |
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lucid
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| adj.明白易懂的，清晰的，头脑清楚的 | |
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111
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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112
tribal
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| adj.部族的，种族的 | |
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113
aggression
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| n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害 | |
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114
hostilities
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| n.战争；敌意(hostility的复数)；敌对状态；战事 | |
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115
phlegmatic
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| adj.冷静的，冷淡的，冷漠的，无活力的 | |
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116
perverted
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| adj.不正当的v.滥用( pervert的过去式和过去分词 )；腐蚀；败坏；使堕落 | |
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117
immature
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| adj.未成熟的，发育未全的，未充分发展的 | |
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118
tightened
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| 收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧 | |
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119
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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120
contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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121
frustration
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| n.挫折，失败，失效，落空 | |
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122
Soviet
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| adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃 | |
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123
meddle
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| v.干预，干涉，插手 | |
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124
meddlesomeness
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125
sedition
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| n.煽动叛乱 | |
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126
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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127
massacre
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| n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀 | |
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128
collapsed
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| adj.倒塌的 | |
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129
collapse
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| vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷 | |
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130
lapse
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| n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效 | |
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131
supervision
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| n.监督，管理 | |
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132
frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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133
volcanic
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| adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的 | |
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134
subterranean
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| adj.地下的，地表下的 | |
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135
outstripped
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| v.做得比…更好，（在赛跑等中）超过( outstrip的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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136
resolute
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| adj.坚决的，果敢的 | |
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137
obsessive
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| adj. 着迷的, 强迫性的, 分神的 | |
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138
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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139
rebelliousness
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| n. 造反，难以控制 | |
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140
succumbed
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| 不再抵抗（诱惑、疾病、攻击等）( succumb的过去式和过去分词 )； 屈从； 被压垮； 死 | |
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141
disparage
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| v.贬抑，轻蔑 | |
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142
trample
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| vt.踩，践踏；无视，伤害，侵犯 | |
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143
prodigious
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| adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的 | |
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144
thighs
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| n.股，大腿( thigh的名词复数 )；食用的鸡（等的）腿 | |
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145
bombers
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| n.轰炸机( bomber的名词复数 )；投弹手；安非他明胶囊；大麻叶香烟 | |
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146
artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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147
flattened
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| [医]（水）平扁的，弄平的 | |
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148
rubble
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| n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾 | |
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149
obsessed
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| adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的 | |
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150
evacuated
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| 撤退者的 | |
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151
pulverized
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| adj.[医]雾化的，粉末状的v.将…弄碎( pulverize的过去式和过去分词 )；将…弄成粉末或尘埃；摧毁；粉碎 | |
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152
invaders
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| 入侵者，侵略者，侵入物( invader的名词复数 ) | |
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153
well-being
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| n.安康，安乐，幸福 | |
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154
celestial
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| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
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155
specimens
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| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
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156
dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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157
emblem
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| n.象征，标志；徽章 | |
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158
flaunted
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| v.炫耀，夸耀( flaunt的过去式和过去分词 )；有什么能耐就施展出来 | |
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159
devoured
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| 吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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160
tantalizingly
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| adv.…得令人着急，…到令人着急的程度 | |
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161
attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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162
toiled
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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163
reconstruction
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| n.重建，再现，复原 | |
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164
thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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165
coerce
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| v.强迫，压制 | |
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166
penury
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| n.贫穷，拮据 | |
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167
capitalism
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| n.资本主义 | |
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168
decadent
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| adj.颓废的，衰落的，堕落的 | |
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169
perquisites
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| n.（工资以外的）财务补贴( perquisite的名词复数 )；额外收入；（随职位而得到的）好处；利益 | |
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170
chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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171
punitive
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| adj.惩罚的，刑罚的 | |
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172
massacres
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| 大屠杀( massacre的名词复数 )； 惨败 | |
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173
animation
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| n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作 | |
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174
warehouses
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| 仓库，货栈( warehouse的名词复数 ) | |
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175
unemployed
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| adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的 | |
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176
arid
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| adj.干旱的；(土地)贫瘠的 | |
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177
distressful
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| adj.苦难重重的，不幸的，使苦恼的 | |
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178
abject
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| adj.极可怜的，卑屈的 | |
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179
extinction
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| n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种 | |
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180
waning
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| adj.（月亮）渐亏的，逐渐减弱或变小的n.月亏v.衰落( wane的现在分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡 | |
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181
complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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182
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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183
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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184
futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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185
ostriches
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| n.鸵鸟( ostrich的名词复数 )；逃避现实的人，不愿正视现实者 | |
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186
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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187
exalted
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| adj.(地位等)高的，崇高的；尊贵的，高尚的 | |
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188
jargon
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| n.术语，行话 | |
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189
expounded
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| 论述，详细讲解( expound的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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190
tenuous
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| adj.细薄的，稀薄的，空洞的 | |
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191
suburban
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| adj.城郊的，在郊区的 | |
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192
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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193
aeronautical
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| adj.航空（学）的 | |
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194
aloof
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| adj.远离的；冷淡的，漠不关心的 | |
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195
undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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196
overthrown
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| adj. 打翻的，推倒的，倾覆的 动词overthrow的过去分词 | |
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197
sane
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| adj.心智健全的，神志清醒的，明智的，稳健的 | |
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198
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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199
ousting
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| 驱逐( oust的现在分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺 | |
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200
tyrants
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| 专制统治者( tyrant的名词复数 )； 暴君似的人； （古希腊的）僭主； 严酷的事物 | |
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201
obnoxious
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| adj.极恼人的，讨人厌的，可憎的 | |
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202
tormented
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| 饱受折磨的 | |
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203
neurotic
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| adj.神经病的，神经过敏的；n.神经过敏者，神经病患者 | |
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204
jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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205
infliction
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| n.（强加于人身的）痛苦，刑罚 | |
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206
persecution
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| n. 迫害,烦扰 | |
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207
secondly
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| adv.第二，其次 | |
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208
psychology
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| n.心理，心理学，心理状态 | |
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209
morbid
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| adj.病的；致病的；病态的；可怕的 | |
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210
distinctively
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| adv.特殊地，区别地 | |
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211
reiterated
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| 反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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212
symbolic
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| adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的 | |
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213
motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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214
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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215
lechery
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| n.好色；淫荡 | |
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216
stimulation
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| n.刺激，激励，鼓舞 | |
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217
assuagement
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| n.缓和；减轻；缓和物 | |
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218
elucidation
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| n.说明，阐明 | |
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219
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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220
ridiculed
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| v.嘲笑，嘲弄，奚落( ridicule的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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221
condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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222
discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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223
unison
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| n.步调一致，行动一致 | |
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224
ordained
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| v.任命（某人）为牧师( ordain的过去式和过去分词 )；授予（某人）圣职；（上帝、法律等）命令；判定 | |
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225
physiology
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| n.生理学，生理机能 | |
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226
mechanism
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| n.机械装置；机构，结构 | |
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227
mesh
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| n.网孔，网丝，陷阱；vt.以网捕捉，啮合，匹配；vi.适合； [计算机]网络 | |
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228
photoelectric
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| adj.光电的，光电效应的 | |
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229
surgical
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| adj.外科的，外科医生的，手术上的 | |
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230
cerebral
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| adj.脑的，大脑的；有智力的，理智型的 | |
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231
skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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232
accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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233
decode
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| vt.译（码），解（码） | |
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234
untold
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| adj.数不清的，无数的 | |
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235
diabolical
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| adj.恶魔似的，凶暴的 | |
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236
attachment
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| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
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237
tamper
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| v.干预，玩弄，贿赂，窜改，削弱，损害 | |
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238
culminated
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|
| v.达到极点( culminate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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239
insanity
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| n.疯狂，精神错乱；极端的愚蠢，荒唐 | |
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inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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241
inspectors
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| n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官 | |
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242
scrutiny
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| n.详细检查，仔细观察 | |
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243
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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244
espionage
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| n.间谍行为，谍报活动 | |
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solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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publicity
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| n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告 | |
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247
emancipate
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| v.解放，解除 | |
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248
vagaries
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| n.奇想( vagary的名词复数 )；异想天开；异常行为；难以预测的情况 | |
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fickle
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| adj.(爱情或友谊上)易变的，不坚定的 | |
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momentum
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| n.动力，冲力，势头；动量 | |
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251
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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laborious
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| adj.吃力的，努力的，不流畅 | |
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stimulated
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| a.刺激的 | |
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irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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volition
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| n.意志；决意 | |
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volitional
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| adj.意志的，凭意志的，有意志的 | |
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258
omnipotent
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| adj.全能的，万能的 | |
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incipient
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| adj.起初的，发端的，初期的 | |
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obliterated
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| v.除去( obliterate的过去式和过去分词 )；涂去；擦掉；彻底破坏或毁灭 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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physiologists
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| n.生理学者( physiologist的名词复数 )；生理学( physiology的名词复数 )；生理机能 | |
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263
fortify
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| v.强化防御，为…设防；加强，强化 | |
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distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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degenerated
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| 衰退，堕落，退化( degenerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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degenerate
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| v.退步，堕落；adj.退步的，堕落的；n.堕落者 | |
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malice
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| n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋 | |
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desolating
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| 毁坏( desolate的现在分词 )； 极大地破坏； 使沮丧； 使痛苦 | |
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reverenced
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| v.尊敬，崇敬( reverence的过去式和过去分词 )；敬礼 | |
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pageants
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| n.盛装的游行( pageant的名词复数 )；穿古代服装的游行；再现历史场景的娱乐活动；盛会 | |
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aeronautics
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| n.航空术，航空学 | |
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deteriorated
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| 恶化，变坏( deteriorate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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exacting
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| adj.苛求的，要求严格的 | |
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relishing
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| v.欣赏( relish的现在分词 )；从…获得乐趣；渴望 | |
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relish
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| n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味 | |
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prone
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| adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的 | |
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compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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278
futility
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| n.无用 | |
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279
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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equanimity
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| n.沉着，镇定 | |
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281
bowels
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| n.肠，内脏，内部；肠( bowel的名词复数 )；内部，最深处 | |
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nauseated
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| adj.作呕的，厌恶的v.使恶心，作呕( nauseate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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283
callousness
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284
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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erring
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| 做错事的，错误的 | |
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286
fortitude
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| n.坚忍不拔；刚毅 | |
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287
discomfiture
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| n.崩溃；大败；挫败；困惑 | |
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288
aristocrats
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| n.贵族( aristocrat的名词复数 ) | |
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289
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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290
absurdities
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| n.极端无理性( absurdity的名词复数 )；荒谬；谬论；荒谬的行为 | |
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291
condemnation
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| n.谴责; 定罪 | |
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292
inaccessible
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| adj.达不到的，难接近的 | |
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293
pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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294
scriptures
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| 经文，圣典( scripture的名词复数 )； 经典 | |
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heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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valid
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| adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的 | |
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