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林枕客 《偷窃狂》
“十疯九偷”，精神学家承认这句话。十个疯子有九个患“偷窃狂”。“偷窃狂”是精神病中最通常的病症，可怜他，起初都被人认为“道德堕落者”，根本不把他当病人看待。直至其疯到不可救药，才认做疯子。“偷窃狂”和通常偷窃很易分别，窃贼偷东西是有目的的，偷窃狂则无目的不问其需要与否，常感觉有些东西非偷不可，仿佛把“偷”当作一种享受。读者不难遇见一些人，经济颇有办法，对于有些他们家中决不缺乏的东西，也爱顺手窃取，或揩油带回家去。不论其需要与否，一拿到手满高兴。这实在是极可怜的心理病态。“偷窃狂”虽然多是精神病的病症，但也有是童年时期在不良家庭生活中所养成的习惯。
我在师范学校一年级读书时，发现一件怪事：大半同学的圆规、三角板、看地图用的放大镜都遗失了。我连续买过四次，也弄得没有一件器具用。校长据报后，请老师抽查学生箱箧，所注意的对象多是贫苦学生。查了一个月，不但毫无下落，而且这种窃案继续发生。我看见情形很严重，决心自己来捉贼。
那个星期天，我再买了一套新的，放在床前书桌上，躺在床上装做午睡。妙极了！我从眼睛眯缝里，果然发现一个人影迫近桌前。我得意极了，我就要抓到贼了。
我高喊一声“嘿！”跳下床来，定睛一看，那一刹那间，我失望极了。而贼不是别人，居然是本级最富有人家的子弟吴津同学。他的学问品德都好，又乐于助人，决不至偷窃这些小东西的。然而，事实表现得太残酷了。他听见我“嘿”的一声，立即扑通一声跪地哀求着：
“老林！我错得很，饶恕我吧！”
我仍半信半疑，老吴做贼？巧妙地笑着说：
“哈哈！老吴！够了吧，别再开我的玩笑，借去用吧！”
我放了他，可是没有救他。有一天，他终于被捕了，搜出百多套同样的用具。这件事，在别的学校，开除了事，幸好师范学校有教育心理学的老师，反对开除“问题学生”，请求校长准予留校察看，以供研究，并加以感化。因此组织了“研究小组”研究吴津为什么偷窃。
这问题终于在家庭访问时获得解答：吴津家富，兄弟姊妹共有七人，他居最小，最受父母溺爱，亦最缺乏教养，年幼时他喜爱个个姐姐们手上的东西就要，要不到就哭，母亲就对他说：“等三姐不在时，我去偷来给你！”或是说：“等四哥出去了，我就拿来给你。”果然，兄姐们一走开，母亲便去拿给他，而且教他玩的时候，别让哥哥姐姐看见。他一拿到手，老是藏起来不玩。他从小便得到了这样的经验，要什么，只要在人家不在时去拿好了。这种拿的办法，在家庭里无所谓，在学校中或社会上，就成为“偷”了。他长大以后，也不自知其为偷，但那已经成为顽固的怪癖了。
作品译文
The kleptomania
It is believed to be true by psychopathists that nine of ten insane people have an inclination to steal. In fact, kleptomania is the commonest symptom of insanity. Poor souls! They are supposed to have morally degenerated and will never be treated as kleptomaniacs until their insanity is beyond cure. In that case, they are regarded as lunatics. The distinction between kleptomania and theft can easily be made. A theft is committed with an aim, while kleptomania without any object at all. A person suffering from kleptomania steals all sorts of things whether he needs them or not; he considers larceny a kind of enjoyment. You are apt to find some people who are rather well off, indulge in stealing from others things which they are never in want of. They would be very pleased with the thing they have stolen even if it is quite useless to them. This irresistible tendency to steal we may easily ascribe to the mental disease just mentioned. Although kleptomania is a symptom of mental weakness, the habit may be formed during one’s childhood in a depraved family.
Something strange had come about while I was a first year student of the normal school. I occurred that my compasses, set-squares, magnifying glasses for reading maps were always missing. Though I had bought four sets of them, yet I could not find them when I wanted to use them. After being told of what had happened, the principal asked our teacher to search for them among the belongings of the students, especially the poor ones, in the school. The search continued for a month, but resulted in nothing. As the same thing happened again and again, I set to work to seek the mystery of the case myself.
I bought another new set of the above-mentioned instruments on a Sunday, and put it out on the desk just in front of my bed. Then I pretended to be asleep. Fancy! With half an eye, I saw a form moving stealthily towards my bed. I was so excited that I cried out “Hi!”, and jumping up from my bed, ready to catch the thief on the spot, I found, to my disappointment, that he was no other than Wu Tsing, a classmate of mine, who was from one of the richest families, and who was very generous in helping others. It seemed improbable that he, who conducted himself well at school, would steal such trifles. But on hearing my voice, he dropped down on his knees in a panic, imploring:
“Forgive me, Old Lin, for Heaven’s sake. I know it’s very wicked of me to do so.”
I was confounded and could not believe my eyes. It was beyond my comprehension that Wu Tsing should commit a larceny. In a moment I gathered my senses and answered:
“Ha, ha! Old Wu, that’s enough. Don’t make fun of me any more. You are welcome to use them.”
I let him go, but I did not succor him. Some days later, he was caught at last. More than hundred sets of similar instruments were found in his suitcase. If it happened in other schools, he would be dismissed at once, but ours was a normal school, and the teacher of educational psychology objected to dismissing the student in question. He asked the principal to keep Wu Tsing in school for some time for investigation. A committee was formed to find out the reason why Wu Tsing should steal and how he could be “cured”.
The answer to this problem was finally derived from a visit they paid to his family. As he was the youngest of seven children of a well-to-do family, his parents doted on him so much that they spoiled him. Whenever he saw anything interesting which his brother or sister had, he would cry for it if it was not given him. Having a weakness for the youngest, his mother would pacify him with these words: “Don’t cry, my boy, I’ll steal it for you when your sister is not in,” or “You can have it afterwards when your brother is out.” Every time when his brother or sister was away from home, his mother would fetch him the thing he liked to have without fail. Moreover, he was old then not to play with it in his or her presence. Having had gained the experience that anything he wanted could be obtained during the absence of its owner, he did not realize that taking things away from others secretly was a crime. Of course, it would not be regarded as a theft by his brothers and sisters at home, but it was not so in the school or society. He came to know it was theft when he grew up, but the habit had been formed and could never be shaken off.
