TED演讲：不要一悔再悔(8)

 　　The second characteristic component¹ of regret is a sense of bewilderment.  后悔第二波就是困惑感。

　　So the other thing I thought about there in my bedroom that night was, "How could I have done that? What was I thinking?"  那天晚上我在卧室里想的就是“我怎么做出这样的事情？我到底在想什么？”

　　This real sense of alienation² from the part of us that made a decision we regret.  这是尝试把做出后悔决定的那部分自己跟自身孤立起来。

　　We can't identify with that part. We don't understand that part.  我们无法认同那部分自己。无法理解那部分。

　　And we certainly don't have any empathy for that part-which explains the third consistent component of regret, which is an intense desire to punish ourselves.  而我们绝对不喜欢那部分自己—这就带来了后悔第三波，一种强烈的自我惩罚的愿望。

　　That's why, in the face of our regret, the thing we consistently say is, "I could have kicked myself."  这就是我们面对悔恨的时候，总是自我责难：“真想抽自己一巴掌！”

　　The fourth component here is that regret is what psychologists call perseverative.  第四波就是心理学家所谓的表现执拗。

　　To perseverate means to focus obsessively³ and repeatedly on the exact same thing.  表现执拗就是不断地强迫性地重复同一件事情。

　　Now the effect of perseveration is to basically take these first three components⁴ of regret and put them on an infinite loop.  而表现执拗的结果就是，持续不停地重复后悔的前三个阶段。

　　So it's not that I sat there in my bedroom that night, thinking, "Make it go away."  那天晚上我就坐在卧室里想“我不要这样！”

　　It's that I sat there and I thought, "Make it go away. Make it go away. Make it go away. Make it go away."  我就这么坐着一直想“不要这样，不要这样，不要这样，不要这样。”

　　So if you look at the psychological literature, these are the four consistent defining components of regret. 如果你查看心理学文献，这些就是悔恨的四个阶段。

1 component   

n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的

参考例句：

• Each component is carefully checked before assembly.每个零件在装配前都经过仔细检查。
• Blade and handle are the component parts of a knife.刀身和刀柄是一把刀的组成部分。

2 alienation   

n.疏远；离间；异化

参考例句：

• The new policy resulted in the alienation of many voters.新政策导致许多选民疏远了。
• As almost every conceivable contact between human beings gets automated,the alienation index goes up.随着人与人之间几乎一切能想到的接触方式的自动化，感情疏远指数在不断上升。

3 obsessively   

ad.着迷般地，过分地

参考例句：

• Peter was obsessively jealous and his behaviour was driving his wife away. 彼得过分嫉妒的举止令他的妻子想离他而去。
• He's rude to his friends and obsessively jealous. 他对他的朋友很无礼而且嫉妒心重。

4 components   

（机器、设备等的）构成要素，零件，成分； 成分( component的名词复数 )； [物理化学]组分； [数学]分量； （混合物的）组成部分

参考例句：

• the components of a machine 机器部件
• Our chemistry teacher often reduces a compound to its components in lab. 在实验室中化学老师常把化合物分解为各种成分。