The operation was to treat Karen's epilepsy, so her doctors put her to sleep and cut into her brain.

這個手術是為了治療凱倫的癲癇，因此她的醫生將她全身麻醉並切入她的大腦。

And Karen says when she woke up, her speech was a little funny, but basically she felt great.

凱倫說道，當她醒來時，她說話的方式變得有點奇怪，但基本上感覺很好。

"I had woken up, and I was sitting on the hospital bed, talking to my surgeon, and —"

「我那時候剛醒來，坐在床上跟我的外科醫生講話，接著...」

And then all of a sudden, her left hand picked itself up and started moving towards her shirt, started delicately undoing its pearly top button.

突然間，她的左手不自覺地舉起來，開始往她的襯衫移動，並優雅地解開珍珠似的領扣。

"My hand was taking my clothes off!"

「我的手在脫我的衣服！」

"Taking your clothes off?"

「脫妳的衣服？」

"Yeah, my hand was taking my shirt off!"

「對呀，我的手在脫我的襯衫！」

"The surgeon was like, 'Karen? Do you realize what's happening?'"

外科醫生就說：「凱倫？妳知道現在發生了什麼事嗎？」

And then, all of a sudden, the hand seemed to get angry.

突然間，這隻手似乎生氣了。

"It was tearing the buttons off the shirt."

「它把襯衫鈕扣拔掉了。」

Karen kept telling it to stop.

凱倫一直試著叫它停下來。

"Knock it off, knock it off, knock it off."

「別鬧了，別鬧了，別鬧了。」

Her surgeon was screaming at her to control it.

她的外科醫生一直叫她控制她的手。

"Try to make it stop!"

「想辦法讓它停下來！」

I said, "I can't! It won't stop it!"

我說：「我沒辦法！它無法停下來！」

And then I started to just cry, I just didn't know what to do.

然後我就開始哭了，我實在不知道該怎麼辦。

When Karen went home from the hospital, the hand — this new hand, with a mind of its own — went with her.

凱倫離開醫院回到家之後，這隻手，這隻陌生、不受控制的手，跟著她回家。

A lot of the time, the hand was okay.

很多時候，這隻手很正常。

But it would also get really upset with her.

但是，有時候也會像是對她生氣一樣。

Like sometimes, when Karen did something it didn't like? "Smacked me, right across my face."

例如說，有時候當凱倫做了它的手不認同的事？「直接賞我一巴掌。」

"Your own hand?"

「妳自己的手？」

Her problem, the doctors explained, was Alien Hand Syndrome.

醫生解釋，她遇到的狀況稱作「異手症」。

See, to cure her epilepsy, they'd had to seperate the two halves of her brain.

為了治療她的癲癇，他們必須把她的左右腦袋分開。

So, without her corpus callosum, her right hand seemed to be getting directions primarily from her left hemisphere, and her left hand — this new alien hand — seemed to be getting directions primarily from her right hemisphere.

因此，在沒有胼胝體的情況下，她的右手似乎聽從左腦半球的指示，而她的左手，這隻陌生的手 ， 似乎聽從右腦半球的指示。

"Half my brain just didn't particularly care for me too much."

「我的腦袋有一半實在不是很喜歡我。」

Now this is not science, this is just how Karen sees it.

接下來這段跟科學無關，只是凱倫對這件事的看法。

She says, she thinks her hand wants her to be more moral.

她說道，她認為這隻手希望她能夠更有道德感。

Take, for example, what her alien hand does when she tries to smoke.

以她想抽菸時那隻手的反應為例。

"When I go to light a cigarette, the hand will either put the cigarette out, or flick the ashes around."

「當我點燃一根菸時，那隻手會把菸熄滅，或是輕彈菸灰。」

And though she's learned to live with it — she's in her fifties now — she's not always happy with it.

雖然她已經習慣忍受這隻手，她已經 50 多歲了 ，但她並不是總是都能接受。

"I understand that you want me to quit, but, cut out the crap."

「我可以理解你希望我戒菸，但是別鬧了。」

Hanna Rosin, NPR News.

漢娜．羅辛，NPR 新聞。