or not they are a good person - and that is, with deliberate simplicity: Do you think you

或不是一個好人--那就是，刻意的簡單。你認為你

are a good person? And to this there is only one acceptable answer. People who are genuinely

是一個好人嗎？而對此，只有一個可以接受的答案。真正的人

good, people who know about kindness, patience, forgiveness, compromise, apology and gentleness

善良，懂得仁慈、耐心、寬容、妥協、歉意、溫柔的人。

always, always answer no.

總是，總是回答不。

One cannot both be a good person and at the same time feel either blameless or pure inside.

一個人不可能既是一個好人，同時又覺得自己的內心既無愧於心，又純潔無瑕。

Goodness is, one might say, the unique consequence of a keen and ongoing awareness of one's

可以說，善良是一個人對自己的敏銳和持續的認識的獨特結果。

capacity to be bad, that is, to be thoughtless, cruel, self-righteous and deaf to the legitimate

壞的能力，也就是不思進取、殘忍、自以為是、聽不進合法的。

needs of others. Only on the basis of a perpetual vigilant impression that one hasn't got

別人的需要。只有在永遠保持警惕的印象的基礎上，一個人還沒有得到。

the right to judge oneself above suspicion, does one come anywhere near the ethical high

毋庸置疑的自我判斷權，難道就能達到道德的高度嗎？

standard that merits the title of 'good' (a word one can still never use of oneself).

的標準，值得被冠以'好'的稱號（這個詞還永遠不能用來形容自己）。

The price of being genuinely good has to be a constant suspicion that one might be a monster

做一個真正優秀的人的代價就是不斷地懷疑自己可能是個怪物。

- combined with a fundamental hesitation about labelling anyone else monstrous. A guilty

- 再加上對給別人貼上畸形標籤的基本猶豫。一個有罪的

conscience is the bedrock of virtue.

良心是美德的基石。

Correspondingly, only properly bad people don't lie awake at night worrying about

相應的，只有正經的壞人才不會夜裡躺著擔心

their characters. It has generally never occurred to the most difficult or dangerous people

他們的性格。一般來說，最困難或最危險的人從來沒有想到過

on the planet that they might be lacking. Their sickness is to locate evil always firmly

在這個星球上，他們可能缺少的。他們的病症就是把邪惡永遠牢牢地定位在這裡。

outside of themselves: it's by definition invariably the others who are to blame, the

在他們自己之外：根據定義，它總是其他人誰是責備的，the

others who are cruel, sinful, lacking in judgement and mistaken. And their job is to take these

殘忍、罪惡、缺乏判斷力和錯誤的人。而他們的工作就是把這些

impure people down and correct their evils in the fire of their own righteousness.

不純潔的人下來，在自己的正義之火中改正自己的惡行。

It is a grim paradox that the worst deeds that humans have ever been guilty of have

這是一個殘酷的悖論，人類有史以來犯下的最壞的行為都

been carried out by people with an easy conscience, people who felt they were definitely on the

是由有良知的人進行的，他們覺得自己絕對是在做一件事。

side of angels, people who were entirely sure that they had justice in hand. What unites

天使的一方，人們完全確信他們有正義在手。是什麼讓他們團結在一起？

the people who report their neighbours to the secret police, the crowds who burn their

向祕密警察舉報鄰居的人，焚燒他們的人群。

victims at stakes while dancing around their agonised bodies, the government officials

政府官員們一邊圍著受害者痛苦的屍體跳舞，一邊把受害者綁在木樁上。

who set up purification camps and the nations that wipe out their enemies with special barbarism

設立淨化營的人和以特殊野蠻手段消滅敵人的國家。

is their consistent and overwhelming sense that they are doing the right thing - in the

是他們始終如一和壓倒性的感覺，他們正在做正確的事情--在。

eyes of god, history or Truth. When trying to understand why people do evil things, never

上帝、歷史或真理的眼睛。當你想了解人們為什麼做壞事時，千萬不要...

start from the position of imagining that they understood them as evil; remember that

從想象他們把他們理解為邪惡的立場出發；請記得

they would have carried out their nastiness cocksure that they were paragons. An impassioned

他們會進行他們的惡行，自以為是的典範。慷慨激昂的

feeling of being the instrument of justice has been at the heart of humanity's most

作為正義的工具的感覺，一直是人類最核心的問題。

appallingly unkind moments.

駭人聽聞的不友善時刻。

It is a hallmark of all the cruellest ages of history that certain groups decide that

這是所有最殘酷的歷史時代的一個標誌，某些群體決定，

they have landed on a cause that gives them a monopoly on justice: that a particular god

他們已經落在了一個讓他們壟斷正義的事業上：一個特定的神靈。

has given them a special mission to eradicate sin or when their study of economics or biology

賦予了他們消除罪惡的特殊使命，或者當他們的經濟或生物學研究

have shown them one true path to an upright future - at which point there is no limit

為他們指明瞭一條通往正直未來的真正道路--在這一點上，沒有任何限制。

to the number of eggs that can be broken to concoct the righteous omelette. And by implication,

到可以打破雞蛋的數量來炮製正義的煎蛋。而由此可見。

the kindest stretches of history are those when a majority daily awake wondering how

歷史上最仁慈的綿延是那些大多數人每天醒著想知道的時候

they might go easy on others because they are so flawed themselves, when a sense of

他們可能會因為自己的缺陷而對別人手下留情，而當他們的意識到自己的缺陷時，他們就會對自己的行為感到不滿。

scepticism and apology dominates every social exchange, when one is constantly charitable

懷疑和歉意主導著每一次的社會交流，當一個人不斷地樂善好施的時候，就會被懷疑和歉意所支配

in word and deed from a sense of impeachability - and when people can always readily forgive

言行舉止都來自於一種不可推卸的責任感--而當人們總是能輕易地原諒

because they know how much in them needs to be forgiven.

因為他們知道自己身上有多少需要被原諒的地方。

"Who am I?" is a book designed to help us create a psychological portrait of who we are; with the use of some unusual, oblique, entertaining and playful prompts.

"我是誰？"這本書旨在幫助我們建立一個關於我們是誰的心理畫像；利用一些不同尋常的、偏旁的、有趣的、好玩的提示。