1984-bilingue

George Orwell 1 9 8 4
Chapter 4 CAPÍTULO IV
He was much better. He was growing fatter and
stronger every day, if it was proper to speak of
days.
The white light and the humming sound were the
same as ever, but the cell was a little more
comfortable than the others he had been in. There
was a pillow and a mattress on the plank bed, and
a stool to sit on. They had given him a bath, and
they allowed him to wash himself fairly frequently
in a tin basin. They even gave him warm water to
wash with. They had given him new underclothes
and a clean suit of overalls. They had dressed his
varicose ulcer with soothing ointment. They had
pulled out the remnants of his teeth and given him
a new set of dentures.
Weeks or months must have passed. It would have
been possible now to keep count of the passage of
time, if he had felt any interest in doing so, since
he was being fed at what appeared to be regular
intervals. He was getting, he judged, three meals in
the twenty-four hours; sometimes he wondered
dimly whether he was getting them by night or by
day. The food was surprisingly good, with meat at
every third meal. Once there was even a packet of
cigarettes. He had no matches, but the neverspeaking
guard who brought his food would give
him a light. The first time he tried to smoke it
made him sick, but he persevered, and spun the
packet out for a long time, smoking half a cigarette
after each meal.
They had given him a white slate with a stump of
pencil tied to the corner. At first he made no use of
it. Even when he was awake he was completely
torpid. Often he would lie from one meal to the
next almost without stirring, sometimes asleep,
sometimes waking into vague reveries in which it
was too much trouble to open his eyes. He had
long grown used to sleeping with a strong light on
his face. It seemed to make no difference, except
that one’s dreams were more coherent. He
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Sentíase mucho mejor. Había engordado y
cada día estaba más fuerte. Aunque hablar de
días no era muy exacto.
La luz blanca y el zumbido seguían como
siempre, pero la nueva celda era un poco más
confortable que las demás en que había
estado. La cama tenía una almohada y un
colchón y había también un taburete. Lo
habían bañado, permitiéndole lavarse con
bastante frecuencia en un barrerlo de hojalata.
Incluso le proporcionaron agua caliente.
Tenía ropa interior nueva y un nuevo
«mono». Le curaron las varices
vendándoselas adecuadamente. Le arrancaron
el resto de los dientes y le pusieron una
dentadura postiza.
Debían de haber pasado varias semanas e
incluso meses. Ahora le habría sido posible
medir el tiempo si le hubiera interesado, pues
lo alimentaban a intervalos regulares. Calculó
que le llevaban tres comidas cada veinticuatro
horas, aunque no estaba seguro si se las
llevaban de día o de noche. El alimento era
muy bueno, con carne cada tres comidas. Una
vez le dieron también un paquete de
cigarrillos. No tenía cerillas, pero el guardia
que le llevaba la comida, y que nunca le
hablaba, le daba fuego. La primera vez que
intentó fumar, se mareé, pero perseveró,
alargando el paquete mucho tiempo. Fumaba
medio cigarrillo después de cada comida.
Le dejaron una pizarra con un pizarrín atado a
un pico. Al principio no lo usó. Se hallaba en
un continuo estado de atontamiento. Con
frecuencia se tendía desde una comida hasta
la siguiente sin moverse, durmiendo a ratos y
a ratos pensando confusamente. Se había
acostumbrado a dormir con una luz muy
fuerte sobre el rostro. La única diferencie que
notaba con ello era que sus sueños tenían así
más coherencia. Soñaba mucho y a veces