(单词翻译:单击)
There's a strange law of psychology that reveals that small children who are treated badly by their parents will always - rather oddly - blame themselves, and not their parents, for their injuries.
一条奇怪的心理学定律表明，受到父母虐待的小孩子总是会因为自己受到的伤害而莫名其妙地责怪自己，而不是责怪父母。
They hate who they are rather than hating those who have done them wrong.
他们恨自己，而不是那些做错事的人。
Small children immediately notice when they are not loved as much as they might and need to be.
年幼的孩子能够很快意识到自己没有得到需要的、应有的爱。
They understand nothing of the reasons for the hard-heartedness but they feel all of the pain.
他们不明白父母为什么对自己冷酷无情，但能够感受到所有的痛苦。
And yet they need to locate some kind of explanation nevertheless and so they quickly and intuitively settle on one that always feels most compelling to them: that they have done something wrong.
然而，他们仍然需要一些理由来解释父母的所作所为，因此他们迅速且下意识地想到了一个总是让他们觉得最有说服力的解释：他们做错了什么。
Why is mummy so agitated?
妈妈为什么这样焦虑不安？
Because they have done something wrong.
因为他们做错了什么。
Why is daddy so cold?
爸爸为什么这么冷漠？
Because they have done something wrong.
因为他们做错了什么。
Why aren't they being treated kindly?
为什么他们得不到友善的对待？
Because they have done something wrong.
因为他们做错了什么。
Why is their little sister being preferred to them?
为什么父母更喜欢他们的小妹妹？
Because they've done something wrong.
因为他们做错了什么。
After a little while of this, their whole character becomes oriented towards guilt: they are - in numberless ways - simply and primordially 'bad'.
一段时间之后，他们的性格中会充满内疚的情绪：他们认为，自己以各种各样的方式，简单地、自然地变“坏”了。
In adult life, it then takes very little to reignite a feeling that somewhere along the line, they have said and done something awful.
成年之后，这些人心中很容易升腾出一种情绪，认为自己在某个时刻的某个地方说过和做过一些可怕的事情。
What precise offence they believe themselves to have committed shifts according to events in their lives and the prevailing public mood: in a religious age, they may feel they have done something wrong in the eyes of god.
他们坚信自己犯下的确切的罪行会根据他们生活中发生的事件和蔓延的公众情绪而发生变化：在宗教时代，他们可能会觉得自己做了上帝眼中不好的事情。
In an age obsessed with paedophilia, they will fear they have done harm to a child.
在恋童癖活跃的时代，他们会担心自己伤害了孩子。
When racism is being highlighted as a leading public sin, they will be tortured that they harbour racist feelings.
在种族主义成为一种主要的公共罪行时，他们会饱受折磨，因为他们可能怀有种族主义思想。
Closer to home, they will fear that they have upset their partner, hurt their friends or offended an employee.
在家里，他们担心自己惹恼了伴侣，伤害了朋友，或者冒犯了员工。
Whenever they make a new friend, they know that soon enough, the friend will realize that they are 'bad' and let them go.
每当结交了新朋友，他们知道朋友很快就会意识到他们是“坏”的，并任由朋友离开。
What makes the guilt so hard to shake off is that they cannot exactly pinpoint its origin.
这种负罪感难以摆脱的原因是，他们无法准确地找出它的来源。
A diffuse mood hangs over them whose title is simply: 'I have done something wrong...'
一种情绪笼罩时刻着他们，简单来说就是：“我做错了什么……”
The mood is particularly prone to descend when they are lonely; guilt thrives on isolation (just as it is love that may disperse it).
当他们感到孤独时，情绪会更加低落；负罪感会在孤独中滋生（正如爱可能会驱散它一样）。
When this sort of mood reaches a pitch, the sufferer may fantasize about going to a police station and handing themselves in.
当负罪感达到顶点，患者可能会幻想自己去警察局自首。
There could be such relief in finally being able to tell the officials: I am awful, I am guilty, one could be put into handcuffs and led to the cells and there, finally, gain some relief from the awful tension.
在那里，他们终于能够告诉警察：我很糟糕，我有罪，我应该被戴上手铐关进牢房，最终让自己从可怕的紧张情绪中解脱出来——这能让他们感到放松。
Needless to say, there will be no such benefit in reality; the only way to cure this kind of guilt is to unpick its origins, that is, to realize that we are of course not bad at all, rather that we have been bullied without justice into thinking we might be so.
但现实中不会有这样的好事；治愈负罪感的唯一方法是明白它的根源，也就是说，我们要明白自己根本不是坏人，是我们受到了不公正的欺凌，让我们认为自己可能是坏人。
We need - at last - to exchange self-flagellation for a little bit of righteous anger against those who have done us wrong.
最终，我们应当抛弃负罪感，并且对那些欺凌我们的人抱有一些正当的愤怒。
