Orwell’s Impact on the World
Few writers have had such an impact on the thinking of the modern world as British writer George Orwell(1903—1950)．Orwell wrote many things on a variety of topics，for example，poverty in England in the 1930s during the Great Depression and his experience in the Spanish Civil War(1936—1939)．
But he is most famous for his works of fiction，Animal Farm(1945) and，especially，Nineteen Eighty-Four(1949)．These last books became especially influential in the West in the 1950s during the early Cold War years．
In Nineteen Eighty-Four，Orwell imagined a Britain of the future, modeled on the Soviet union. His chilling tale of Winston Smith，a regular man who comes into conflict with the government，was close to the fears of many people of the time．Ideas from the novel soon entered everyday culture，and are still in use today．“Big Brother”，for example，is a phrase from the book that refers to how authority is always looking over one’s shoulder.
Other phrases used in the novel, like “War is Peace” and “Freedom is slavery” are also still used now．Indeed，many people see Orwell’s book as warnings about what might happen if those in power become corrupted．
Even today，Orwell remains an influential voice. Often，writers achieve great fame and popularity，but they don’t affect how people live their everyday lives．For example, British author JK Rowling is a huge literary success, but people wouldn’t say that Harry Potter has affect the way people think about politics. For better or for worse, however, George Orwell has.
It’s because of Orwell’s influence on popular thinking that UNESCO’S Memory of the World Programme recently decided to include a collection of Orwell’s writings on its register．
The Memory of the World register is similar to UNESCO’s world heritage site program，which protects places and buildings and natural features in the world．According to its website，the idea behind the body is “that the world’s documentary evidence belongs to all” and should be “permanently accessible to all”．
University College London，which proposed the idea to UNESCO，said in its application that Orwell’s work “had a great influence on human thought in all parts of the world，an influence that remains potent today”．
【小题1】What do we know about Orwell?| A．His most famous works were based on his own experience． |
| B．His books were well-received during the Cold-War． |
| C．He mainly wrote about imaginative, beautiful worlds． |
| D．His writings are often compared to those of JK Rowling． |
| A．The cruelty of war in the 20th century. |
| B．The serious effects of poverty in England. |
| C．People’s various conflicts with the government. |
| D．A corrupt UK government of the future. |
| A．share some of his classic ideas |
| B．show how he used language in a creative way |
| C．stress his ideas are still meaningful today |
| D．show how he described the dark side of society |
| A．They introduced a new way of writing． |
| B．They were a huge literary success． |
| C．They shaped political systems in Western countries． |
| D．They continue to have a great influence on human thought. |
