读者文摘:顿悟时刻(1)（在线收听）

SIMON LOVELL WAS 31 and a professional con man who had spun the gambling tricks he'd learned from his grandfather into a lucrative business fleecing strangers.

西蒙·洛弗尔今年31岁，是一名职业骗子，他把从祖父那里学来的赌博技巧，变成了一门从陌生人那里骗钱的行当。

Without hesitation or remorse, he left his marks broken in hotels all over the world.

他的足迹遍布世界各地的旅馆，没有一丝的犹豫和后悔。

Nothing suggested that this day in 1988 would be any different.

没有任何迹象表明1988年的这一天会有什么不同。

Lovell was in Europe when he spotted his next victim in a bar, plied him with drinks,

洛弗尔在欧洲的一家酒吧里瞄准了下一个受害者，不停地给他灌酒，

and drew him into a "cross"—a classic con in which the victim is made to believe he or she is part of a foolproof get-rich scheme.

然后把他带入一个经典的骗局，让他相信自己能为他带来财富。

The con went perfectly. "I took him for an extremely large amount of money," Lovell says.

骗局进行得很顺利。洛弗尔说：“我骗了他一大笔钱。”

After he was done, Lovell hustled the drunk man out of the hotel room where the fleecing had occurred,

完成后，洛弗尔把醉汉推搡出诈骗的旅馆房间。

intending to leave him in the hallway for security to deal with.

打算把他留在走廊里让保安处理。

But then something unexpected happened.

但是后来意想不到的事情发生了。

The mark went to pieces. "I'd never seen a man break down that badly, ever," Lovell says.

这人彻底崩溃了，洛弗尔回忆说：“我从没见过一个男人如此不堪。”

"He was just sliding down the wall, weeping and wailing."

“他从墙上滑落下来，哭泣、哀号。”

What followed was a moment Lovell would look back on as the hinge point of his life.

接下来，洛弗尔把这一时刻视为自己生命中的关键点。

"It was as if a light suddenly went on. I thought, This. Is. Really. Bad.

“就好像一盏灯突然亮了起来，我想，真的要不好了。

Bad for the first time, I actually felt sorry for someone."

第一次感觉很糟糕，我真的为某人感到难过。”