by Liz Hayes

Knock on Richard Wallaces front door and youll be shocked—even horrified by whats waiting for you on the other side. His home is so crammed full of rubbish that you have to crawl just to get from room to room. You see Richard is a hoarder—its a 2）bizarre obsession thats shared by millions around the world. But whats truly remarkable about Richard is how he faces his demons with a quiet dignity and a firm belief that life will one day be better.

Richard： Ive never regarded myself as a hoarder. I have always regarded myself as basically a collector who simply has run out of space. But when you start 3）clambering over things， and then you need step ladders to clamber over the pile， then， you know， its pretty obvious that its got out of control.

Richard has long been an enthusiastic collector， but the death of his mother six years ago saw things really get out of control. For all this mess， all the 4）mayhem， Richard and his home offer an intriguing study into the human condition—what both mind and body can tolerate， even normalise.

敲著理查德·華萊士的前門，你會(huì)嚇一跳——但在門后等著你的一切會(huì)讓你更加驚恐不安。他的家里堆滿了垃圾，你得爬著往返于各個(gè)房間。你知道吧，理查德是個(gè)“儲(chǔ)物癖”——這是一種全球數(shù)百萬人共有的古怪癖好。但對(duì)于理查德來說，其非凡之處在于他面對(duì)自己的“心魔”時(shí)卻表現(xiàn)得泰然自重，并且堅(jiān)信生活終有一天會(huì)變好。

理查德：我從不認(rèn)為自己是個(gè)“儲(chǔ)物癖”。我總是覺得自己基本上只是個(gè)收集愛好者，只不過把地方都用光了。但當(dāng)你開始要爬過那些雜物，當(dāng)你需要用梯子來“翻山越嶺”，那你就會(huì)明白到，很明顯，事情已經(jīng)失控了。

理查德一直是個(gè)狂熱的收藏者，但當(dāng)其母在六年前過世后，情況就真的開始失控了。面對(duì)眼前的臟亂不堪，理查德與他的家就人類生存狀況問題提供了一個(gè)引人入勝的研究個(gè)案——身心皆能容忍甚至常態(tài)化的程度。

Reporter： Where do you sleep？

Richard： Well， I sort of—in this—well， its a 5）commode actually. Its a chair thats there， so I catnap in that.

Reporter： You sleep sitting up？ Youve been living like that for so long.

Richard： Yeah， well， gradually getting worse and worse and worse， thats right， yeah.

Richard Wallace is one of three million hoarders believed to be living in the U.K.， and millions more around the world. Theyre people communities tend to find difficult to tolerate， often because their habit impacts on others. But resolving hoarding issues is not easy. When Richards mess spilled out of the house， then out of his five garages and into the garden， the polite people of Westcott decided theyd had enough—especially when the annual Tidy Town competition came around. The council took Richard to court to force him to clean up his act， and lost， much to the horror of many locals.

Here in Westcott they decided on a simple solution. They built a fence to block the view. Up went the great wall of Richard， and in the process， so began a surprising relationship between this hoarder 6）extraordinaire and the local gardener， Andy Honey， who was brought in to build the fence.

記者：你睡在哪兒？

理查德：嗯，我基本上——在這兒——嗯，這其實(shí)是個(gè)洗臉臺(tái)。是那里的一張椅子，我就坐在那兒小睡一下。

記者：你坐著睡？你這樣生活了那么長(zhǎng)的時(shí)間啊。

理查德：是的，慢慢就變得越來越糟糕了，對(duì)的，嗯。

據(jù)稱，在英國(guó)生活的“儲(chǔ)物癖”有三百萬人，全球范圍內(nèi)的人數(shù)則更要多出好幾百萬，而理查德·華萊士就是其中之一。這部分人常常因?yàn)樗麄兊牧?xí)慣對(duì)他人造成困擾而使得社區(qū)對(duì)他們難以容忍。但解決囤積問題并非易事。當(dāng)理查德的雜物堆散到屋外，接著堆到他的五個(gè)車庫外面，然后散落到花園時(shí)，韋斯科特那些守禮的居民覺得他們受夠了——特別是當(dāng)一年一度的“整潔小鎮(zhèn)”評(píng)比就要展開的時(shí)候。委員會(huì)將理查德告上法庭，力圖強(qiáng)制他將雜物清理干凈，結(jié)果卻輸?shù)袅斯偎荆@極大地引起了當(dāng)?shù)鼐用竦目只拧?/p>

韋斯科特的居民們決定采取一個(gè)簡(jiǎn)單的措施。他們?cè)炝艘欢聡鷻趤頁踝∵@片“風(fēng)景”。在理查德的這堵“長(zhǎng)城”建起來的過程中，這位“儲(chǔ)物癖”奇人和當(dāng)?shù)氐膱@丁安迪·亨里卻出人意表地發(fā)展出一段友誼。安迪是到他家來建圍欄的。

Andy： I started doing a few days with him and he sort of basically said， “do you want to have a look inside？” So I said yeah， and I was absolutely—shocked is an understatement. Words cant really say. If you suffer 7）claustrophobia you couldnt have gone in. And it was bizarre. People in Africa， in slums， probably had a better quality of life than his inside. And the danger， it was just—

Nothing more dangerous than Richards cooking arrangement. The local fire brigade decided to assess the danger…and simply couldnt believe what they found. Richard finally conceded that something must be done. So the town that all but shunned Richard， now under the leadership of Andy the gardener， began a colossal clean up.

Theres no doubt this is a battle. Victories are hard won and hard to hold onto. Richards obsession means that for every little thing hes cleared out， he only tries to replace the next day.

Such is the ongoing nature of this 8）tug-of-war that when we arrived， more than a year after the clean up began， and despite 30 tonnes of rubbish being thrown out， theres still a long way to go. But for Richard， it is significant progress.

Richard： Im a bit weak， and I cant—If I can see any sort of a potential in something I cant throw it away. Its just a waste.

Reporter： Will you ever be cured of hoarding？

Richard： Cured， probably not completely， but I want to try and get back to being a conventional individual， really， but—

Reporter： Normal？

Richard： “Normal” in quotes， yeah.

安迪：我和他一起工作了幾天，他就那么簡(jiǎn)單提出說：“你要進(jìn)來看一看嗎？”我就說好啊，我完全——說震驚已經(jīng)是很保守的了。言語難以準(zhǔn)確形容。要是你有幽閉恐怖癥，你就不可能敢進(jìn)去。太恐怖了。那些在非洲，在貧民窟的人過的生活很可能都比他住在里面要好。其危險(xiǎn)，那簡(jiǎn)直是——

沒有比理查德的煮食環(huán)境更危險(xiǎn)的了。當(dāng)?shù)氐南狸?duì)決定來進(jìn)行風(fēng)險(xiǎn)評(píng)估……他們簡(jiǎn)直不敢相信自己的眼睛。理查德最后作出讓步，同意有些雜物必須清理掉。于是，那些原來都對(duì)理查德避之則吉的居民如今都在園丁安迪的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)下，開始了一場(chǎng)規(guī)模龐大的清理運(yùn)動(dòng)。

毫無疑問，這是一場(chǎng)戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)。勝利難能可貴，也難以為繼。理查德的怪癖意味著即使是他清理掉的一丁點(diǎn)東西，第二天他也會(huì)試圖物歸其位。

這就是這場(chǎng)拉鋸戰(zhàn)的持續(xù)本質(zhì)，所以當(dāng)我們到這里時(shí)——也就是在這個(gè)清理運(yùn)動(dòng)進(jìn)行了超過一年之后，盡管有30噸的垃圾已經(jīng)被清理掉，這場(chǎng)“戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)”依舊其路漫漫。不過對(duì)于理查德來說，這已經(jīng)是一個(gè)重大的進(jìn)步了。

理查德：我有點(diǎn)軟弱，我不能——要是我看到某些東西的任何一點(diǎn)可能性，我就無法把它丟掉。那就是浪費(fèi)了。

記者：你的強(qiáng)迫儲(chǔ)物癥會(huì)治好嗎？

理查德：會(huì)治好的，很可能不會(huì)完全好，但我想盡量試一試，然后恢復(fù)成為傳統(tǒng)個(gè)體，真的，但是——

記者：正常人？

理查德：“正常人”，加個(gè)引號(hào)，是的。

小鏈接

Compulsive Hoarding Self-Test II Your scores say：

0-2： Although you may be occasionally collecting some useless items， it is not at all problematic.

3-7： You hoard more than normal. Though you seem to exercise some control over hoarding， it is getting problematic.

8-14： You are a compulsive hoarder and this habit seems to be screwing up your life big time.