Some while ago a business acquaintance disclosed to me that he was both an alcoholic and addicted to cocaine. I was stunned; but then I realised that the recent unraveling of his life all made sense – the unexplained absences, the mood swings, the cash shortfalls, the ruined personal relationships. Sadly he lost his business, his marriage broke up and his health was permanently impaired before he gave up the drugs and drink.
前一阵子一个生意上的熟人和我透露说, 他经常汹酒而且有毒瘾. 我当时感到非常震惊. 但是我同时也猛然意识到他最近的一些反常行为, 如无故缺席, 情绪不定, 资金短缺, 人际关系恶化等等, 原来是有原因的.

I have been thinking about all that havoc in the context of the Charlie Sheen affair. There the stakes are much higher and it’s very public. The media coverage is notionally disapproving, yet much of Sheen’s popularity surely rests on his excesses with drink, drugs, prostitutes, porn stars and so forth. It made him notorious, dangerous – and apparently fascinating.
几乎同一时间, 我想起了最近闹得沸沸扬扬的查理•辛事件. 这件事情影响范围更广更出名. 媒体固然都在赞美他, 但不可否认的是, 辛的名气很大程度上是依存于其汹酒,吸毒, 嫖妓, 与色情明星交往等行为, 这让他成为一名臭名昭著的危险人物, 当然也让他变得对某些人非常有吸引力.

Many live vicariously through the madness of characters like Sheen – apparently 75,000 applied to be his intern. We are almost mass codependents in the game. If you are rich and a celebrity you can boast about getting high – and attract 2m Twitter followers.
很多志同道合的人想和辛一样, 过着疯狂的生活. 有这种想法的人起码有75, 000人, 因为这些人都申请做他的实习生. 在这场游戏中, 我们这一大批人可谓是相互依存. 如果你很富有而且是一个名人, 你可以将自己的名气推得更高, 吸引两百万的Twitter追随者.

I suppose it has something of the same appeal as dramas about vampires or gangsters – the allure of rebels and outlaws.
我想, 这与关于吸血鬼或者黑势力的电视剧一样, 具有相同的魅力---叛徒与亡命之徒的诱惑.

Managing talent that goes off the rails like Sheen is a challenge – I have had some experience. Not just performers go crazy with success. A few years ago, IT entrepreneur Christopher Dawes crashed his £640,000 car and died, just after he had been arrested during a crack cocaine bust. And Chris Albrecht, then chief executive of HBO, was fired after being arrested for assaulting his girlfriend at 3am in a Las Vegas car park. He later went for treatment for his alcoholism.
管理像辛一样偏离正轨的人才是一个挑战, 这我深有体会. 随着成功而变得疯狂的远不止是演员. 几年前, IT企业家克里斯多佛•道斯开着其价值64万英镑的汽车出车祸身亡. 这正是发生在他在一次打击可卡因的行动中被警察逮捕后不久. HBO的首席执行官克里斯•阿尔布莱切特, 因在凌晨三点于拉斯维加斯的停车场猥亵女友而被捕, 最后被公司辞退. 后来他接受了酒精上瘾治疗.

The two most important characteristics essential for success are self-confidence and self-discipline. Interestingly, many say they imbibe to gain the first trait – but by so doing, you lose the second.
成功的两个最重要的性格特征是自信与自律. 有趣的是, 很多人称他们会努力获得第一个性格特征, 可是在这个过程中, 他们会失去第二个.

Perhaps many of the fans of this sort of behaviour long for the release from civility and responsibility that intoxication brings. As Samuel Johnson said: “He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.”
或许很多追捧这种行为的粉丝都渴望从迷醉所带来的礼仪和责任中解脱出来. 正如塞缪尔•约翰森曾经说过: “如野兽般狂野的人可以从做人的痛苦中解脱出来.”

Fittingly Hunter S Thompson uses this quotation at the beginning of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, his book about a huge bender in the casino capital of the world. Of course, the House benefits from such impressions, for the managers dole out free cocktails to those who gamble – exploiting the punters’ lack of willpower while under the influence.
亨特•汤普森曾恰如其分地引用了这句话作为他的书<<拉斯维加斯恩仇录>>的卷首语. 这本书是描述世界赌场之都的一场盛大狂欢. 当然, 这种印象对赌场有利, 因为赌场的经理们可以趁机向赌徒提供免费的鸡尾酒, 希望通过酒精的力量来让他们失去意志力.

I can’t help but feel that most of us are hypocrites about all these matters. A high proportion of citizens in places like Britain and the US drink, and sometimes we get drunk. Everyone in the licensed trade (and I’m one of them) sells as much alcohol as they can for a profit – and probably lots to drunks. Distillers and brewers feign disapproval of binge drinking, but keep producing the stuff, even if there are casualties. And the government collects huge tax revenues from sales of alcohol.
我突然觉得, 在这些问题上, 我们大多数人都是伪君子. 在一些像英国和美国的国家, 相当多的人饮酒, 而有时我们也会喝醉. 获得营业执照的人, 包括我在内, 都试图卖尽可能多的酒来获利, 其中很多很可能卖给了酒鬼们. 酒水蒸馏商和酿造商假装不赞成汹酒, 但背后却不断地生产, 即使有人受害也在所不惜. 同时, 政府也从酒类的销售中获取巨额税收.

Quite possibly many would like a 21st century Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs with an additional need at the apex: recreational drugs. The absence in much modern society of religious faith, patriotism or any serious set of philosophical beliefs leaves a vacuum that is often filled by sheer self-indulgence, escapism and nihilism – and frequently fuelled by drink and drugs.
很可能很多人会喜欢21世纪马斯洛提出的人类需求层次论. 在这个金字塔式的理论顶端或许需要再加一层: 娱乐性毒品. 现代社会, 很多人缺乏必要的宗教信仰, 爱国主义精神, 或者其他一些哲学信仰, 以致于心灵的某处出现真空, 而这些真空却经常被彻底的自我放纵, 逃避现实以及虚无主义填充-----通常是酒精和毒品.

The attitude of society, government and business towards drink and drugs is contradictory and confusing. There are no easy solutions to stop the untold damage while retaining our reasonable freedoms of choice. And business must work out how to cater responsibly to an individual’s desires. But the current system is surely broken.
社会, 政府以及企业对酒精和毒品的态度是矛盾而且令人困惑的. 我们无法在保持自身选择自由的情况下轻易地找到降低不可估量损害的方案. 而企业必须思考如何才能尽责地满足消费者的需求. 但是, 当前的体制显然是有问题的.

（作者: 英国《金融时报》专栏作家 卢克•约翰逊 译者: 爱尔兰都柏林大学 赖小琪）