Is my boss sane? The probability is infinitely low as we might like. The boss may look quite normal. For brief moments, especially with clients, he may even act as such. Nevertheless, to those who are in on the story, nothing can entirely disguise that one has placed oneself in the hands of welldressed maniac.

　　我的老板通情达理吗？回答肯定的可能性比我们的期望低很多。你的老板可能看上去很正常。在简会上——尤其是有客户在的时候，他可能表现得也很正常。然而，对于那些跟老板“共处一室”的人来说，他们已经将自己置身于一个衣着光鲜的疯子手中，这一切已经一览无余。

　　The first response of the recently hired employee is akin to1 a new bride who, only a few weeks after toasting her nuptials2 with 350 friends in a marquee reception with champagne and salmon en croute3, is slapped hard across the face by her husband. The forgivable response is to hope and get the blusher out.

　　对此，那些新员工的第一反应和新婚新娘的反应如出一辙：几周前还在帐篷婚礼上享受着香槟和鲑鱼面包卷，和350 个朋友举杯庆祝她的婚礼，而今却迎来丈夫重重的一记耳光。而她只能希望并设法使红红的巴掌印早日褪去，算是原谅吧。

The varieties of insanity available to bosses are no less great than those available to parents. There is the overdeveloped desire to be liked, which leads them to shirk candid and prompt explanations of difficulties and to go in for sentimental embraces, which end up causing infinitely more damage than (the minor pain) they sought to avoid.

　　老板身上的种种不理智之举不亚于父母们展现出的疯狂。他们期望被下属喜欢的欲望过度膨胀，从而导致他们逃避对困难直言不讳而又及时的说明，而喜欢充满柔情的拥抱，结果造成的损害比他们企图避免的小伤害重很多倍。

　　Then there is paranoia. How much damage is caused in this world by fragile egos. Whatever the dangers of bumptious4 overconfidence, they are nothing next to the ravages brought about by a fragile self-esteem. It is this that will cause explosions of rage, intemperate waspish5 e-mails and snide6 remarks. Outwardly we live in a free democracy. But it is in the remit of every insane boss to set up miniature autocratic7 kingdoms of suffering, unapparent to outside observers, who can see nothing aside from magazines politely lined up in the lobby area.

　　还有偏执狂。这个世界上有多少伤害是由脆弱的自负造成的呀？不管自傲过了头有多危险，和脆弱的自尊心造成的灾难相比这都不算什么。正是这种自尊才导致了怒火爆发、邮件过度尖酸、言辞刻毒。　　

To those cursed with one, the bad boss is an object ofconstant thought. One considers the byways of his psyche late into the night. One speculates about his childhood. One hopes for his conversion to humanity.

　　表面上，我们的工作环境自由而民主。其实，在每个疯狂的老板的职权范围内都有一个小型的独裁王国，其“国民”处于水深火热之中，却不为外人所知——外人看到的只是休闲区规规矩矩地摆出的一本本杂志。

　　Though it makes absolutely no sense, one might even harbor a belief that he might be listening to this and somehow be nudged thereby into turning over a new leaf.

　　对于那些不幸落入该国度的人来说，那个糟糕的老板便是头脑中挥之不去的阴影。他会思索老板不为人知的那些方面，直到深夜；他会推测老板的童年生活；他希望老板能变得人道。虽然这一切毫无意义，可他还是会侥幸地相信，也许老板正在聆听，说不定会因此洗心革面。