216.英文正文（216）

“youarerulingoverusforourowngood，”hesaidfeebly。“youbelievethathumanbeingsarenotfittogovernthemselves，andtherefore—”

hestartedandalmostcriedout。apangofpainhadshotthroughhisbody。o’brienhadpushedtheleverofthedialuptothirty-five。

“thatwasstupid，winston，stupid！”hesaid。“youshouldknowbetterthantosayathinglikethat。”

hepulledtheleverbackandcontinued：

“nowiwilltellyoutheanswertomyquestion。itisthis。thepartyseekspowerentirelyforitsownsake。wearenotinterestedinthegoodofothers；weareinterestedsolelyinpower。notwealthorluxuryorlonglifeorhappiness：onlypower，purepower。whatpurepowermeansyouwillunderstandpresently。wearedifferentfromalltheoligarchiesofthepast，inthatweknowwhatwearedoing。alltheothers，eventhosewhoresembledourselves，were-cowardsandhypocrites。thegermannazisandtherussiancommunistscameveryclosetousintheirmethods，buttheyneverhadthecouragetorecognizetheirownmotives。theypretended，perhapstheyevenbelieved，thattheyhadseizedpowerunwillinglyandforalimitedtime，andthatjustroundthecornertherelayaparadisewherehumanbeingswouldbefreeandequal。wearenotlikethat。weknowthatnooneeverseizespowerwiththeintentionofrelinquishingit。powerisnotameans，itisanend。onedoesnotestablishadictatorshipinordertosafeguardarevolution；onemakestherevolutioninordertoestablishthedictatorship。theobjectofpersecutionispersecution。theobjectoftortureistorture。theobjectofpowerispower。nowdoyoubegintounderstandme？”