"Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. Probationers (engl) " - читать интересную книгу автора

it and threw it into the ashtray. - He alone is the closest person to me. -
She lifted her glass and took a few sips. - A crazy world. Idiotic times, -
she said wearily. - People have forgotten how to have a life. Work, work,
work... All meaning of life is within work. Always looking for something.
Always building something. What for? I can understand, this was necessary
previously, when we lacked everything. When there was this economic
struggle. When we still had to prove, that we can do not just as well, but
better than they can. We proved it. But the struggle remained. Some hidden,
unclear struggle. I can't understand it. Perhaps you can, Gregory?
- I understand, - said Daugeh.
- You always understood. You always understood the world in which you
live. Both you, and Volodya, and this dull Bykov. Sometimes I think that all
of you are simply narrow-minded. You simply cannot pose a question - "what
for?" - She took another sip. - You know, recently I met this school
teacher. He teaches kids these awful things. He tells them, that to work is
a lot more interesting then to find entertainment. And they all believe him.
Do you understand? But this is scary! I talked to his students. They seemed
to shun me. Why? Because I want to live my individual life how I wish?
Daugeh clearly imagined the conversation of Maria Yurkovskaya with
fifteen-year old lads and girls from the local school. Indeed, how would you
understand, he thought. How would you understand, when for weeks, for months
you desperately smash against a dead end wall, scribble away mountains of
paper, cover tens of kilometres walking around your cabinet or a desert, and
it seems, that there never was a solution and that you are a brainless blind
worm, and you no longer believe, that it has been like this before, and then
this wonderful moment arrives, when you open, at last, a gate in the wall,
and another dead end is behind you, and you are god again, and the universe
is in your palm. However, this ought not be understood. It must be felt. He
said:
- They also wish to live their lives the way they wish. But you want
different things.
She retorted abruptly:
- But what if I happen to be right?
- No, - said Daugeh. - They are the right ones. The never ask this
question "what for?"
- And what if they simply cannot think objectively?
Daugeh chuckled. What do you know about objective thinking, he thought.
- You drink cold water on a hot day, - he said patiently. - And you
never ask - "what for?". You simply drink it, and feel good...
She interrupted him:
- Yes, I feel good. So let's have me drinking my cold water, and they
can drink theirs!
- Let's, - Daugeh agreed calmly. He felt, with surprise and gladness,
how the loathsome pressing anxiety is disappearing somewhere. - That's not
what we are talking about. You want to know who is right. Well then. Human
beings - they are already not animals. Nature gave them intelligence. This
intelligence must inevitably develop. And you are extinguishing the
intelligence within you. Extinguishing it artificially. You have devoted
your entire life to this. And there are many more people on this planet,
extinguishing their intelligence. They are called philistines, petty