And this, 'The Sociopath Next Door'...
Introduction
緒論
Imagine
想像
Minds differ still more than faces - Voltaire
人心比人臉更各各不同 – Voltaire
Imagine - if you can - not having a conscience, none at all, no feelings of guilt or remorse no matter what you do, no limiting sense of concern for the well-being of strangers, friends, or even family members.
請你想像自己沒有良心這種東西，一點都沒有。不管幹了甚麼事情，你都毫無罪惡感，也不受良心譴責，對陌生人、朋友甚至家人的福祉都漠不關心。
Imagine no struggles with shame, not a single one in your whole life, no matter what kind of selfish, lazy, harmful, or immoral action you had taken.
請想像不管你做了何等自私、怠惰、有害或是失德的舉動，都不會因為羞愧而爭扎，你這輩子從來都沒有掙扎過。
And pretend that the concept of responsibility is unknown to you, except as a burden others seem to accept without question, like gullible fools.
請你假裝責任只是讓他人毫不懷疑，會照單全收的沉重包袱﹝你覺得這些人就像是容易受騙上當的大傻瓜﹞除此之外，你對責任這個概念一無所知。
Now add to this strange fantasy the ability to conceal from other people that your psychological makeup is radically different from theirs.
陷在請你在想像自己擁有「向別人隱瞞自己心理構造和他們大異其趣」的能力。
Since everyone simply assumes that conscience is universal among human beings, hiding the fact that you are conscience-free is nearly effortless.
所有人都假定良心是人類普遍共有的，因此要隱瞞你並沒有良心的真相，不費吹灰之力。
You are not held back from any of your desires by guilt or shame, and you are never confronted by others for your cold-bloodedness.
因為你沒有罪惡感或羞恥心，所以不用抑制任何慾望，而別人也永遠想不到，你是個冷血無情的人。
The ice water in your veins is so bizarre, so completely outside of their personal experience, that they seldom even guess at your condition.
流動在你血管理的是冰水，水冰得超乎其他人的個人經驗之外，所以他們連懷疑也不會。
In other words, you are completely free of internal restraints, and your unhampered liberty to do just as you plaease, with no pangs of conscience, is conveniently invisible to the world. you can do anything at all, and still your strange advantage over the majority of people, who are kept in line by their consciences, will most likely remain undiscovered.
換句話說，你完全沒有內在約束，而且你可以為所欲為，無拘無束，自由自在。你不會被良心折磨，良心這種東西世人根本就無以得見。你可以做任何事情，但其他人不會發現你擁有凌駕大多數人的奇特優勢─也就是沒有良心─因為他們全部受到良心的約束。
How will you live your life? What will you do with your huge and secret advantage, and with the corresponding handicap of other people (conscience)? The answer will depend largely on just what your desires happen to be, because people are not all the same. Some people - whether they have a conscience or not - favour the ease of inertia, while others are filled with dreams and wild ambitions. Some human beings are brilliant and talented, some are dull-witted, and most, conscience or not, are somewhere in between. There are violent people and nonviolent ones, individuals who are motivated by blood lust and those who have no such appetites.
你準備怎麼度過這一生？你要用這巨大而又隱密的優勢─其他人將會因為太有良心而吃虧─幹些甚麼事情？這個答案有極大部分取決於你的慾望是甚麼，因為人類並不是同一個模子印出來的。就算是最沒道德的人也不是出自一個模子。有些人，不管他們有沒有良心，卻喜歡持著不動；有些人滿腦子都是夢想和雄心壯志；有些人才華洋溢、出類拔萃；有些人愚笨魯鈍，而大多數人，不管有沒有良心，都介於這二者之間。有些人很暴力，有些人則是非暴力的；有些人很嗜血，有些人則沒有這種興趣。
Maybe you are someone who craves maney and power, and thought you have no vestige of conscience, you do have a magnificent IQ. You have the driving nature and the intellectual capacity to pursue tremendous wealth and influence, and you are in no way moved by the nagging voice of conscience that prevents other people from doing everything and anything they have to do to suceed. You choose business, politics, the law, banking, or international development, or any of a broad array of other power professions, and you pursue your career with a cold passion that tolerates none of the usual moral or legal incumbrances. When it is expedient, you doctor the accounting and shred the evidence, oyu stab your employees and your clients (or your constituency) in the bank, marry for money, tell lethal premeditated lies to people who trust you, attempting to ruin colleagues who are powerful or eloquent, and simply steamroll over groups who are dependent and voiceless. And all of this you do with the exquisite freedom that results from having no conscience whatsoever.
你或許熱中於追求金錢和權力，雖然毫無良心，但你卻聰明絕頂。你有積極進取的天性，但也有聰明才質，所以可以爭取到龐大的財富和影響力，而且你絕對不會因為良心喋喋不休就有所動搖，但其他人的行動卻會被良心的喋喋不休擋下來，良心會阻止他們不會為了出人頭地而不擇手段。不管是走商業的路子，或是政治的路子、法律的路子、金融的路子、國際發展的路子，以及其他能弄到權力的路子，你都會以冷酷的激情追求事業，你不會忍受任何常見的道德或法律束缚。只要對你有好處，你就會竄改帳目，或試用碎紙機把證據銷毀；你就會在背地裡傷害你的員工或是客戶〈甚或是選民〉，你就會為了錢而步入結婚禮堂，你就會對信任你的撒可能會害死他們的謊，你就會想辦法毀掉很受重用，或是表現優異的同任；你就欺壓沒有聲音的弱勢團體。你在做這些事情的時候完全沒有受到任何拘束，十分自由，是因為你沒有良心。
You become unimaginably, unassailably, and maybe even globally successful. Why not? with your big brain, and no conscience to rein in your schemes, and can do anything at all.
Or not - let us say you are not quite such a person. You are ambitious, yes, and in the name of success you are willing to do all manner of things that people with conscience would never consider, but you are not an intellectually gifted individual. Your intelligence is above average perhaps, and people think of you as smart, maybe even very smart. But you know in your heart of hearts that you do not have the cognitive wherewithal, or the creativity, to reach the careening heights of power you secretly dream about, and this makes you resentful of the world at large, and envious of the people around you.
你會變得很成功，超乎想像的成功，無懈可擊的成功，甚至是橫埽全球的成功。有何不可？你的聰明才智異於常人，又沒有良心管束你的陰謀詭計，所以你可以無所不能。
但或許依然不能─姑且說你不是那塊料吧。沒錯，你是野心勃勃，為了出人頭地，甚麼事情都幹的出來(那些事情是有良心的人完全想不到的)，但你資質並不優異。你的聰明才智可能在一般人之上，而且大家都覺得你很聰明，甚或非常聰明。但你心裡清楚，自己的聰明才智，或是創造利還不足讓你取得夢寐以求、能夠呼風喚雨的權力，因此你變得很怨恨這個世界，而且很嫉妒你週遭的人。
As this sort of person, you ensconce yourself in a niche, or maybe a series of niches, in which you have some amount of control over small numbers of people. These situations satisfy a little of your desire for power, althoug you are chronically aggravated at not having more. It chafes to be so free of the ridiculous inner voice that inhibits others from achieving great power, without having enough talent to pursue the ultimate success yourself. Sometimes you fall into sulky, rageful moods caused by a frustration that no one but you understands.
你會找一個有利的位置，或是一系列的有利位置，在這種位置上，你就多少能夠控制住幾個人。這個情境能夠稍微滿足你對權力的渴望，雖然你仍因為無法滿足更多渴望，而逐漸不滿。因為沒有足夠的才華，所以無法追求到你想要的終極成功，你因此變得很焦躁，會設法阻撓別人取得更大的權力。有時候，你會為了沒人能理解的挫敗而火冒三丈，甚至暴跳如雷。
But you do enjoy jobs that afford you a certain undersupervised control over a few individuals or small groups, preferably people and groups who are relatively helpless or in some way vulnerable. You are a teacher or psychotherapist, a divorce lawer or high school coach. Or maybe you are a consultant of some kind, a broker or a gallery owner or a human services director. Or maybe you do not have a paid position and are instead the president of your condominium association, or a volunteer hospital worker, or a parent.
但你很喜歡能夠控制少數幾個人，或是幾個小團體的工作，如果這些人或是團體都相當無助，或是都很容易受到傷害，更是再好不過了。或許你是老師、心理醫生、專打離婚官司的律師、高中教練。你也可能是某個領域的專業顧問、股票經紀人、畫廊老闆、社服機構負責人。可能這份工作沒有薪水，或許你是大樓管理委員會的主委，或是醫院志工，或是家長。
Whatever your job, you manipulate and bully the people who are under your thumb, as often and as outrageously as you can without getting fired or held accountable. You do this for its own sake, even when it serves no other purpose except to give you a thrill. Making people jump means you have power - or this is the way you see it - and bullying provides you with an adrenaline rush. It is fun.
不管你的角色是甚麼，只要在不會被炒魷魚，或是不用負責的情況下，你會經常毫無節制地操縱，或是欺負這些人。之所以這麼做，就只是因為你想這麼做而已，除了讓你感到興奮，你不需要其他任何理由。把別人嚇得膽戰心驚就表示你手握權力─反正這是你的看法─而且欺負別人能夠急遽增加你的腎上腺素，讓你感到興奮、刺激。這麼做很好玩。
Maybe you cannot be the CEO of a multnational corporation, but you can frighten a few people, or cause them to scurry around like chickens, or steal from them, or - maybe best of all - create situations that cause them to feel bad about themselves.
你或許當不了跨國企業的執行長，但你還是可以讓一些人感到害怕，或是讓他們一看見你就嚇得趕緊逃走，或是從他們身上偷東西，或是─這可能是最好玩的一種─設法讓他們覺得自己很差勁，這就是權力。
And this is power, especially when the people you manipulate are superior to you in some way. Most invigorating of all is to bring down people who are smarter or more accomplished than you, or perhaps classier, more attractive or popular or morally admirable.
尤其是你所操縱的人在某方面優於你時，最令人興奮的事 過於打壓比你更聰明、更有成就、更有地位、更有魅力、更受歡迎、更有道德。
This is not only good fun; it is existential vengence. And without a conscience, it is amazingly easy to do so. You quietly lie to the boss or to the boss's boss, cry some crocodile tears, or sabotage a coworker's project, or gaslight a patient (or a child), bait people with with promises, or provide a little misinformation that will never be traced back to you.
這不僅僅是好玩而已；這還是給自己出一口怒氣。如果你沒有良心的話，做這種事情簡直易如反掌。你就只要不動聲色地跟你的老闆，或是你老闆的老闆撒謊，滴幾滴鱷魚眼淚 (Crocodile tears) ，或市案中把你同事的企劃案搞砸，或是隨便做出 諾拐人上當，或是放出別人怎麼查也查不到你身上的錯誤消息。
Or now let us say you are a person who has a proclivity for violence or for seeing violence done. You can simply murder your coworker, or have her murdered – or your boss, or your ex-spouse, or your wealthy lover’s spouse, or anyone else who bothers you. You have to be careful, because if you slip up, you may be caught and punished by the system. But you will never be confronted by your conscience, because you have no conscience. If you decide to kill, the only difficulties will be the external ones. Nothing inside of you will ever protest.
或者，我們直接假設你是一個有暴力傾向，或是喜歡看到暴力發生的人。你可以輕易地謀殺同事，或是設計讓她、老闆、前任配偶、有錢情人的配偶，或是任何惹到你的人遭到謀殺。妳會小心翼翼，因為你若出了差錯，或許就會被抓起來，並且受到社會體制懲罰。但你永遠都不用面對自己的良心，因為你沒有。如果你決定殺人，你只會碰到外在的困難，你的內在沒有任何聲音會提出抗議。
Provided you are not forcibly stopped, you can do anything at all. If you are born at the right time, with some access to family fortune, and you have a special talent for whipping up other people’s hatred and sense of deprivation, you can arrange to kill large numbers of unsuspecting people. With enough money, you can accomplish this from far away, and you can sit back safely and watch in satisfaction. In fact, terrorism (done from a distance) is the ideal occupation for a person who is possessed of blood lust and no conscience, because if you do it just right, you may be able to make a whole nation jump. And if that is not power, what is?
假如沒有人強行阻止你，你就會為所欲為。如果你生逢其時，而且還繼承了家裡的財富，而且還擁有能夠激起其他人的敵意，或是剝奪感的特殊才華，你就可能設計殺掉大批不疑有他的人。如果你又有花不完的鈔票，你甚至可以在千里之外進行這些事，而且你還可以安全舒適地靠在椅背上，心滿意足地欣賞自己的傑作。事實上，恐怖分子﹝從遠方進行的﹞就是既嗜血、而又沒有良心者最理想的職業，因為如果你幹得夠好，或許能夠把一個國家的人民都嚇得目瞪口呆。而如果這不算是全力，那甚麼才是權力？
Or let us imagine the opposite extreme: You have no interest in power. To the contrary, you are the sort of person who really does not want much of anything. Your only ambition is not to have to exert yourself to get by. You do not want to work like everybody else does. Without a conscience, you can nap or pursue your hobbies or watch television or just hang out somewhere all day long. Living a bit on the fringes, and with some handouts from relatives and friends, you can do this indefinitely. People may whisper to one another that you are an underachiever, or that you are depressed, a sad case, or in contrast, if they get angry, they may grumble that you are lazy. When they get to know you better, and get really angry, they may scream at you and call you a loser, a bum. But it will never occur to them that you literally do not have a conscience, that in such a fundamental way, your very mind is not the same as theirs.
或者，我們假設完全相反的極端情況：你對權力一點興趣也沒有。你是真的沒有太多慾望想追求的人。你只有一個野心，就是不要辛苦過日子。你不想跟其他人一樣辛勤地工作。如果你沒有良心，你可以打打盹、搞你的愛好、看電視或是整天鬼混。只要住在城市邊緣，加上親朋好友接濟，這種日子就可以無限期地過下去。大家或許會交頭接耳地說你是個沒出息的人，或是說妳實在太消沉了，或是說你是個可憐蟲。當他們受不了時，或許會說你是個懶惰鬼。等到更瞭解你之後，他們會大發雷霆，或許會罵你是個廢物、米蟲。但他們絕對想不到妳其實沒有良心，你的心智跟他們是截然不同的。
The panicked feeling of a guilty conscience never squeezes at your heart or wakes you in the middle of the night. Despite your lifestyle, you never feel irresponsible, neglectful, or so much as embarrassed, although for the sake of appearances, sometimes you pretend that you do. For example, if you are a decent observer of people and what they react to, you may adopt a lifeless facial expression, say how ashamed of your life you are, and talk about how rotten you feel. This you do only because it is more convenient to have people think you are depressed than it is to have them shouting at you all the time, or insisting that you get a job.
良心會讓人有罪惡感，而這種罪惡感又會產生恐慌感。但這種感受從來都不會壓迫你的內心，或是讓你在深夜人靜時驚醒過來。儘管你過著沒有良心的生活，但你從來都不覺得自己很不負責任，也不覺得自己忽略了應盡的本分，也不覺得自己有什麼好丟臉的，雖然你有時候會為了表面功夫而假裝一下。如果你還很會觀察他人；還有他們的反應，你甚或能面無愧色地跟他們說，你對過這樣的生活感到很羞愧，也會跟他們說，你覺得自己很糟糕。兒你知所以這麼做，只是因為這能讓大家認為你不過是意氣消沉，就不會老是衝著你叫罵，或是逼你去找工作。
You notice that people who do have a conscience feel guilty when they harangue someone they believe to be “depressed” or “troubled.” As a matter of fact, to your further advantage, they often feel obliged to take care of such a person. If, despite your relative poverty, you can manage to get into a sexual relationship with someone, this person – who does not suspect what you are really like – may feel particularly obligated. And since all you want is not to have to work, your financier does not have to be especially rich, just reliably conscience-bound.
你會注意到，有良心的人在對他們認為「很意氣消沉」，或是「很亂七八糟」的人說教的時候，會很有罪惡感。事實上，他們通常會覺得自己有責任去照顧這種人，這能夠帶給你更多好處。燼管你窮得要死，如果你能夠跟某個人建立某種性關係，那麼這種人─對你不疑有他─或許就會覺得自己對你有責任，必須好好照顧你。而既然你的心願只是不用工作，那麼你的金主就不用特別有錢，他只要受到良心約束就可以了。
I trust that imagining yourself as any of these people feel insane to you, because such people are insane, dangerously so. Insane but real – they even have a label. Many mental health professionals refer to the condition of little or no conscience as “antisocial personality disorder,” a noncorrectable disfigurement of character that is now thought to be present in about 4 percent of the population – that is to say, one in twenty-five people. This condition of missing conscience is called by other names, too, most often “sociopathy,’ or the somewhat more familiar term, psychopathy. Guiltlessness was in fact the first personality disorder to be recognised by psychiatry, and terms have been used at times over the past century include manie sand delire, psychopathic inferiority, moral insanity, and moral imbecility.
我想你應該無法想像自己會是這種人，因為你會覺得這實在太瘋狂了，你會覺得這種人都是瘋子，而且他們都很危險。它們都有精神病，但他們都真實存在─這甚至有個名稱。許多精神衛生方面的事業人士會把這種沒有多少良心，或是完全沒有良心的狀態況稱為「反社會人格疾患」(antisocial personality disorder) ，這是無法矯正的性格缺陷，目前的研究資料認為，大約有四%的人口屬於這種人 ─ 也就是說，二十五個人當中就有一個。這種「缺乏良心」的狀態還有其他名稱，大多稱為「反社會人格」(sociopathy)，但大家更常聽到的是「精神病態」(psychopathy)。「無罪感」(Guiltlessness) 其實是精神病學辦識出來的第一種人格疾患，過去一百年來，使用過的名稱包括了「精神病態性人格卑劣」(psychopathic inferiority)、「悖德症」(moral insanity)和「道德低能」(moral imbecility)。
According to the current bible of psychiatric labels, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV of the American Psychiatric Association, the clinical diagnosis of “antisocial personality disorder” should be considered when an individual possesses at least three of the following seven characteristics: (1) failure to conform to social norms; (2) deceitfulness, manipulativeness; (3) impulsivity; failure to plan ahead; (4) irritability, aggressiveness; (5) reckless disregard for the safety of self or others; (6) consistent irresponsibility; (7) lack of remorse after having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another person. The presence in an individual of any three of these “symptoms,” taken together, is enough to make many psychiatrists suspect the disorder.
根據當前精神病學的分類聖經──「美國精神醫學會」(American Psychiatric Association)發布的《精神疾病診斷與統計手冊第四版》(Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV)──如果一個人擁有下面七個特徵裡至少三個特徵，這個人在臨床上，就足以讓許多精神病學家懷疑他有「反社會人格疾患」：
﹝一﹞ 無法遵守社會規範。
﹝二﹞ 欺騙性，操緃性。
﹝三﹞ 易衝動，無法事先計畫。
﹝四﹞ 易怒，攻擊性。
﹝五﹞ 不顧自己或其他人安危。
﹝六﹞ 持續地不負責任。
﹝七﹞ 在傷害、虐待其他人，或是偷其他人的東西之後不會感到悔恨。
Other researchers and clinicians, many of whom think the APA’s definition describes simple “ criminality” better than true “psychopathy” or “sociopathy,” point to additional documented characteristics of sociopaths as a group. One of the more frequently observed of these traits is a glib and superficial charm that allows the true sociopath to seduce other people, figuratively or literally – a kind of glow or charisma that, initially, can make the sociopath seem more charming or interesting than most of the normal people around him. He or she is more spontaneous, or more intense, or somehow more “complex,” or sexier, or more entertaining than everyone else. Sometimes this “sociopathic charisma” is accompanied by a grandiose sense of self-worth that may be compelling at first, but upon closer inspection may seem odd or perhaps laughable. (“Someday the world will realise how special I am,” or “You know that after me, no other lover will do.”)
許多其他研究人員和臨床醫師認為，「美國精神醫學會」地定義，在描述「犯罪」(criminality)的部分，比描述「精神病態」或「反社會人格」的部分精確多了──認為反社會人格還有其他特製。這些特製都很容易觀察出來，其中一個特製是，這種人很會花言巧語，也很會做表面功夫，所以反社會人格者能夠把別人迷得團團轉，而這也就是某種光芒或是神授般的領導魅力(charisma)。這種光芒或是領導魅力能夠讓反社會人格看起來比正常人更迷人、更有趣。他比其他人更隨性、個性更強烈、更「複雜」、更性感，或是更有趣。有時候，具有「反社會人格領導魅力」(sociopathic charisma)的人會一直吹噓說自己有多好，一開始大家可能會信以為真，但相處久了或許就會覺得他這麼吹噓實在很奇怪，或甚至很好笑，「有一天這個世界將會瞭解我有多特別。」或是「你要知道，沒有人會比我對你更好。」
In addition, sociopaths have greater than normal need for stimulation, which results in their taking frequent social, physical, financial, or legal risks. Characteristically, they can charm others into attempting dangerous ventures with them, and as a group they are known for their pathological lying and conning, and their parasitic relationships with “friends.” Regardless of how educated or highly placed as adults, they may have a history of early behaviour problems, sometimes including drug use or recorded juvenile delinquency, and always including a failure to acknowledge responsibility for any problems that occurred.
此外，反社會人格對刺激的需求比正常人更大，這會導政他們更常冒社交、身體、財務或是法律方面的險。他們能夠迷惑別人一起去冒險會惹來大麻煩的險，這是他們的特徵之一。而且他們還以撒謊和騙人著稱，也以擅長利用「朋友」著稱。不管這些人受了多少教育，或是社會地位有多高，他們過去或許都有早期行為問題(early behaviour problems)，有時候還包括了藥物濫用，或是登記有青少年犯罪，而且他們永遠都不認為自己必須惹出來的麻煩負責。
And sociopaths are noted especially for their shallowness of emotion, the hollow and transient nature of any affectionate feelings they may claim to have, a certain breathtaking callousness. They have no trace of empathy and no genuine interest in bonding emotionally with a mate. One the surface charm is scraped off, their marriages are loveless, one-sided, and almost always short-term. If a marriage partner has any value to the sociopath, it is because the partner is viewed as a possession, one that the sociopath may feel angry to lose, but never sad or accountable.
而且，反社會人格者也以情感淡薄著稱，他們或許會說自己很有感情，但他們根本就沒有他們所說的那些情感，他們其實麻木不仁。他們沒有同情這種東西，也沒有興趣跟配偶談情說愛。一旦刮除表面那層魅力，就會發現他們的婚栶沒有愛情基礎，是一廂情願的，而且幾乎都草草結束。但反社會人格者的配偶對他們還是有價值，因為他們把配偶當作個人財產，如果失去配偶，反社會人格者會很憤怒，但他們從來都不會感到難過，也從來都不認為他們必須對配偶負責。
All of these characteristics, along with the “symptoms” listed by the American Psychiatric Association, are the behavioural manifestations of what is for most of us an unfathomable psychological condition, the absence of our essential seventh sense – conscience.
Crazy, and frightening – and real, in about 4 percent of the population.
所有這些特徵，加上「美國精神醫學會」列出的「症狀」，就是某種我們完全無法理解的心理狀態﹝behavioural manifestations﹞。
這個瘋狂，嚇人的現象──都真實存在。
But what does 4 percent really mean to society? As points of reference to problems we hear about most often, consider the following statistics: The prevalence rate for anorexic eating disorders is estimated at 3.43 percent, deemed to be nearly epidemic, and yet this figure is a fraction lower than the rate for antisocial personality.
但這四%對社會到底意味著什麼？就一起來想想下面這些統計數字吧：厭食症盛行率估計姑人口的三‧四三%，這就已經被視為一種流行病，而這個數字還比反社會人格的盛行率還要低。
The high-profile disorders classed as schizophrenia occur in only about 1 percent of us – a mere quarter of the rate of antisocial personality – and the centers for disease control and prevention say that the rate of colon cancer in the United States, considered “alarmingly high,” is about 40 per 100,000 – one hundred times lower than the rate of antisocial personality. Put more succinctly, there are more sociopaths among us than people who suffer from the much-publicised disorder of anorexia, four times as many sociopaths as schizophrenics, and one hundred times as many sociopaths as people diagnosed with a known scourge such as colon cancer.
而精神分裂疾患的發生率只估人口的大約一%，只有反社會人格發生率的四分之一。而「美國疾病控制與預防中心」(centers for disease control and prevention)說，美國人結腸癌的發生率是每十萬人當中約有四十人，這個數字已經被認為「高到很驚人」，但卻比反社會人格發生率低了一百倍。說得更簡潔一點，我們當中的反社會人格者，彼得了厭食症這種廣為人知的病患更多，而反社會人格者的人數是精神分裂病患的四倍，也是已確診結腸癌患者的一百唄。
As a therapist, I specialise in the treatment of psychological trauma survivors. Over the last twenty-five years, my practice has included hundreds of adults who have been in psychological pain every day of their lives on account of early childhood abuse or some other horrendous past experience.
身為心理醫生，我專門治療受過心理創傷的倖存者。過去二十五年來，我治療了數以百計，每天都過得痛苦不堪的成年人，他們的痛苦都是幼兒期受到虐待，或是過去遭受其它可怕的經歷所造成的。
As I have detailed in case studies in the myth of sanity, my trauma patients suffer from a host of torments, including chronic anxiety, incapacitating depression, and dissociative mental states, and, feeling that their time on earth was unbearable, many of them have come to me after recovering from attempts to commit suicide. Some have been traumatised by natural and man-made disasters such as earthquakes and wars, but most of them have been controlled and psychologically shattered by individual human perpetrators, often sociopaths – sometimes sociopathic strangers, but more typically sociopathic parents, older relatives, or siblings. In helping my patients and their families cope with the harm done to their lives, and in studying their case histories, I have learned that the damage caused by the sociopaths among us is deep and lasting, often tragically lethal, and startlingly common. Working with hundreds of survivors, I have becomes convinced that dealing openly and directly with the facts about sociopathy is a matter of urgency for us all.
我已經在《精神健全的迷思》(the myth of sanity) 這本書裡詳細探討過這些病例，那些有心理創傷的病人都遭受很多痛苦折磨，包括慢性焦慮、憂鬰症、精神狀態解哩，還有無法忍受自己竟然還活在這個世界上，當中很多人是再自殺未遂之後來找我的。有些人的創傷是大自然或是人為災難造成，像是地震或戰爭，但大多數都是受到壞人﹝通常是反社會人格者，有些是有反社會人格的陌生人，但更典型的是有反社會人格的雙親、長輩或是兄弟姊妹﹞的控制或是心理摧殘。我協助病人和他們的家人處理他們這一生所受到的傷害，以及研究他們的病史時發現，我們之中的反社會人格者造成很深遠的損害，而且很持久，這些損害通常都很致命，而且也很常見。我治療了幾百倖存者，我現在非常相信，公開且直接地處裏跟反社會人格有關的事務，是我們所有人的當務之急。
About one in twenty-five individuals are sociopathic, meaning, essentially, that they do not have a conscience. It is not that this group fails to grasp the difference between good and bad; it is that the distinction fails to limit their behaviour. The intellectual difference between right and wrong does not bring on the emotional sirens and flashing blue lights, or the fear of God, that it does for the rest of us. Without the slightest blip of guilt or remorse, one in twenty-five people can do anything at all.
二十五個人裡面大概就有一個反社會人格者，而所謂的反社會人格者主要就表示他們沒有良心。這種人並不是無法理解好壞之間的分別；而是就算他們理解，也無法限制他們的行為。這種人就算理智上能夠瞭解對錯之間的分別，但在情感上還是無法瞭解，而他們也不會恐懼上帝，但我們這些正常人就會。二十五個人當中就有一個人完全沒有罪惡感或是悔意，而這種人什麼事情都做得出來。
The high incidence of sociopathy in human society has a profound effect on the rest of us who must live on this planet, too, even those of us who have not been clinically traumatised. The individuals who constitute this 4 percent drain our relationships, our bank accounts, our accomplishments, our self-esteem, our very peace on earth. Yet surprisingly, many people know nothing about this disorder, or if they do, they think only in terms of violent psychopathy – murderers, serial killers, mass murderers – people who have conspicuously broken the law many times over, and who, if caught, will be imprisoned, maybe even put to death by our legal system. We are not commonly aware of, nor do we usually identify, the larger number of nonviolent sociopaths among us, people who often are not blatant lawbreakers, and against whom our formal legal system provides little defense.
反社會人格在人類社會裡的高發生率，會對我們這些一定得住在這個星球上的正常人造成既深且廣的影響，就算對臨床上並沒有受過創傷的人也會。那百分之四的人會把我們的人際關西、銀行戶頭、成就、自尊和我們的太平日子毀得意乾二淨。然而，令人跌破眼鏡的是，還是有很多人對這種疾患一無所知，或者就算有所認識，也只會從「暴力型精神病態」﹝殺人兇手、連續殺人犯、大規模殺戮的兇手﹝mass murderer﹞﹞等角度思考，這種人一再犯法，他們如果被抓到就會被關起來，或許還會被我們的法律制度處死。但一般人察覺不到，也分辦不出混在我們裡面的非暴力型反社會人格者，這類人為數更多，但這類人通常不會公然犯法，而法律制度也拿這些人沒辦法。
Most of us would not imagine any correspondence between conceiving an ethnic genocide, and, say, guiltlessly lying to one’s boss about a coworker.
比方說，我們大多數人不會想到「構思一場種族清洗」和「毫無罪惡感地跟老闆講一個同事的壞話」之間有任何對應關西。
But the psychological correspondence is not only there; it is chilling. Simple and profound, the link is the absence of the inner mechanism that beats up on us, emotionally speaking, when we make a choice that we view as immoral, unethical, neglectful, or selfish.
但是這二者不僅存在某種心理對應關西；而且它們之間的對應關西還令人感到恐懼。這種對應關西很簡單，但也很根本。這二者都欠缺一種我們都有的內在機制：我們做了一個認為是很不道德、很沒倫理、很不顧別人或是很自私的決定時，這個機制會懲罰我們。
Most of us mildly feel guilty if we eat the last piece of cake in the kitchen, let alone what we would feel if we intentionally and methodically set about to hurt another person. Those who have no conscience at all are a group unto themselves, whether they be homicidal tyrants or merely ruthless social snipers.
如果把廚房裡最後一塊蛋糕吃掉，我們多少都會有點罪惡感，而如果是故意，或是很有計畫地去傷害人，那更遑論我們會有什麼感覺。沒有良心的人都屬於同一個族群，不管是愛殺人的暴君，或只是冷酷無情的扒手。
The presence or absence of a conscience is a deep human division, arguably more significant than intelligence, race, or even gender. What differentiates a sociopath who lives off the labors of others from one who occasionally robs convenience stores, or from one who is a contemporary robber baron – or what makes the difference between an ordinary bully and a sociopathic murderer – is nothing more than social status, drive, intellect, blood lust, or simple opportunity. What distinguishes all of these people from the rest of us is an utterly empty hole in the psyche, where there should be the most evolved of all humanising functions.
有或沒有良心是一個很根本的劃分，這種劃分比智力、種族或甚至性別的劃分更重要。不僅僅是在社會地位、慾望、智力、嗜血或機會方面上，靠他人勞力過活的反社會人格者、偶爾搶便利商店的人，或是當代「強盜貴族」(robber baron)之間的區別；或者是普通的惡霸，和反社會人格殺人犯之間的區別。這些人跟他人的區別是在心理方面，這些人的心裡有個空洞，這些人沒有良心。(where there should be the most evolved of all humanising functions.) 在一般人的心裡，在我們最進化的仁慈機能，這些人卻只有個空洞。
For something like 96 percent of us, conscience is so fundamental that we seldom even think about it.
對大概九十六%的人來說，良心是一種十分重要的基本原則，我們就算是正在運用良心機能的時候，是連去想都不會的。
For the most part, it acts like a reflex. Unless temptation is extremely great (which, thankfully, on a day-to-day basis it usually is not), we by no means reflect on each moral question that comes our way.
大多數情況下，良心的表現就像是反射作用。除非誘惑是真的非常強大(謝天謝地，這種誘惑很少在日常生活裡出現)，否則我們絕對不會認真考慮每一個道德問題。
We do not seriously ask ourselves, Shall I give my child lunch money today, or not? Shall I steal my coworker’s briefcase, or not? Shall I walk out on my spouse today, or not?
我們不會很認真地問我們自己，今天該不該給小孩午餐錢？今天該不該偷同事的公事包？今天該不該拋下配偶一走了之？
Conscience makes all of these decisions for us, so quietly, automatically, and continually that, in our most creative flights of imagination, we would not be able to conjure the image of an existence without conscience.
良心會默默地、自動地、持續地為我們決定這些事情，以至於我們完全無法想像(就算是發揮最有創造力的想像)沒有良心要怎麼生存在這個世界上。
And so, naturally, when someone makes a truly conscienceless choice, all we can produce are explanations that come from nowhere near the truth: She forgot to give lunch money to her child. The person’s coworker must have misplaced her briefcase. That person’s spouse must have been impossible to live with.
因此，如果有人做了一個真的毫無良心的選擇，我們很自然就會想出完全不正確的解釋：她忘記給小孩午餐錢了。他同事一定是把公事包放錯地方了。她肯定沒辦法跟老公過下去了。
Or we come up with labels that, provided we do not inspect too closely, almost explain another person’s antisocial behaviour: He is “eccentric,” or “artistic,” or “really competitive,” or “lazy,” or “clueless,” or “always such a rogue.”
或者我們會想出很多標籤解釋別人的反社會行為：他「很怪」、「很有藝術家的氣質」、「真的很愛跟人競爭」、「很懶惰」、「很愚蠢」或是「老是很壞」。
Except for the psychopathic monsters we sometimes see on television, whose actions are too horrific to explain away, conscienceless people are nearly always invisible to us.
除了我們有時候會在電視上看到的精神病態怪物(這些人的行動令人髮指到無法為他們辦解)，我們幾乎都觀察不到沒有良心的人。
We are keenly interested in how smart we are, and in the intelligence level of other people. The smallest child can tell the difference between a girl and a boy. We fight wars over race. But as to what is possibly the single most meaningful characteristic that divides the human species – the presence or absence of conscience – we remain effectively oblivious.
我們對自己和別人的智力都很好奇、我們的小孩子從很小就能分辦男女、我們會因種族問題而開戰。但是，對於可能是劃分人類的最意味深長的特質──有沒有良心──還是不以為意。
Very few people, no matter how educated they are in other ways, know the meaning of the word sociopathic. Far less do they understand that, in all probability, the word could be properly applied to a handful of people they actually know.
幾乎沒有人──不管他們在其他方面的教育程度有多高──知道「反社會人格」這個詞的意思。但是，人人多半不知道其實可以用這個詞來形容他們認識的人。
And even after we have learned the label for it, being devoid of conscience is impossible for most human beings to fantasize about. In fact, it is difficult to think of another experience that quite so eludes empathy.
而且就算已經瞭解這個詞的意思，大多數人還是無法想像怎麼去體諒缺乏良心，事實上，我們很難瞭解這種生存之道。
Happy learning!
Robin
You would also be working with different and shorter texts which, from my experience, is extremely useful when learning a foreign language. 
