A hidden rebellion slowly spread through the glass city, proving that no system of control, however perfect it appears, can completely eliminate the deep human desire for authentic experience.
2Reading· 오늘의 본문
We · Yevgeny Zamyatin · 1924
In the glass city, under the watchful eye of the Benefactor, D-503 felt a strange new sensation. He was a loyal Builder, a cog in the perfect machine of the One State. Yet, a whisper of doubt, like a hairline crack in glass, had appeared. It began with I-330's defiant smile, her unperfumed scent, her talk of ancient, chaotic worlds. His daily reports to the Guardians felt hollow. The desire for her, for something real and uncalculated, grew stronger than his programmed loyalty. He stood before the Benefactor's statue, torn between the cold comfort of certainty and the terrifying, thrilling pull of the unknown rebellion within himself.
B2 · 128 wordsavg 25.6 w/s
The central conflict in 'We' manifests not as a grand, public uprising but as a profound internal schism within the protagonist, D-503. His crisis of faith pits the ideological absolutism of the Benefactor—symbolizing the State's demand for total, unquestioning loyalty—against the insidious emergence of individual doubt. This doubt is catalyzed by I-330, who embodies the 'authentic experience' the State seeks to eradicate. Her very existence proves the system's vulnerability; she is a flaw in the logical crystal. D-503's struggle is the battleground where the human 'desire for' genuine emotion and selfhood wars against the indoctrinated 'desire for' mathematical harmony and oblivion. His internal rebellion, however nascent, signifies that control, however perfect, cannot extinguish the primal spark of individual consciousness, which inevitably seeks its own unique and unregulated truth. What makes We endure as a work of literature is precisely this refusal to offer easy consolation — it demands that readers sit with the discomfort of a world that does not resolve neatly, and find their own position within it.
C1 · 170 wordsavg 34.0 w/s
3Vocabulary· 핵심 어휘 & 연습
rebellion
반란, 저항
A hidden rebellion began to spread through the glass city.
authentic
진정한, 진짜의
The desire for authentic experience could not be eliminated.
eliminate
제거하다, 없애다
No system can completely eliminate human desire.
desire
갈망, 욕망
The deep human desire for freedom remained.
system
체제, 시스템
The system of control in the One State appeared perfect.
Activity 1 · 빈칸 채우기5 questions
1. Every hour of D-503's life was carefully ____ by the Table of Hours.
2. The ____ of privacy did not exist in the One State.
3. Individual names were ____ and replaced with numbers.
4. The glass walls guaranteed there was no ____ for citizens.
5. The State was ____ declared to represent perfect happiness.