rcs checkout without touching the current working file

rcs checkout without touching the current working file

The idea is somehow ridiculous, but still I'm wondering whether there is
an actual way.
My object: I would like to view a older version of a RCS file without
touching the latest working version. Below are my thoughts:
Method 1: check out the older version to another directory (ridiculous
since the concept looks totally wrong)
Method 2: create another branch based on the older version and then put
the file into the branch (but inevitably, the checking out of the older
version still need to over write the latest working file one time at
least)
Yan