VOA慢速英语:Don't Get Caught in a Catch-22

Now, Words and Their Stories, a VOA Learning English program about American expressions. I'm Anna Matteo with the expression, Catch-22.
现在，这里是美国之音慢速英语词汇掌故节目。我是Anna Matteo，今天我们讲的是Catch-22这种常用表达。
Here is a situation: You want to find work. You find a job that you think you could do well. You ask for the job, but are told you cannot have it. The reason? You have not done that job before.
有一种情况，你想找工作，并且找到了一份你认为你可以胜任的工作。你去求职，却被告知你没法获得这份工作。原因呢？你之前没做过此类工作。

That is insane, you think. I cannot get the job because I have never done the work. How can I ever do the work if I cannot get the job? And that is the catch -- "Catch-22," to be exact.
你认为这太荒唐了。我不被录用只是因为从没干过这工作。如果我无法得到该工作，我又怎能干过这工作呢？这就是所谓“陷入死循环”。

The expression Catch-22 comes from the name of a book written in the 1960s by Joseph Heller. Catch-22 is the story of Captain John Yossarian, an imaginary Air Force flier in Europe in the closing months of World War II.
Catch-22这种表达源于Joseph Heller于上世纪60年代写的一本书的书名。这本书讲的是John Yossarian上尉的故事，他是一位虚构的二战末期的欧洲空军飞行员。

Yossarian is angry because so many people he never met are trying to kill him. He has to fly day after day to drop bombs on the Nazis who are trying to shoot down his plane. His commander keeps raising the number of times his men must fly before they can go home.
Yossarian连非常生气，因为很多他从没见过的人都想杀他。他必须日服一日地飞到想打下他飞机的纳粹头上扔炸弹。他的指挥官不断提高手下飞行员必须飞满才能回国的飞行架次。

Yossarian searches for a way to stop flying. He finds an Air Force rule that says a soldier can be removed from flight duty if he is insane. Yossarian decides any soldier is insane if he is willing to put his life in danger by continuing to make dangerous flights.
Yossarian想要找到办法停飞。他发现空军有条规定，如果士兵疯了，就能免于执行飞行任务。Yossarian认为，如果一位士兵愿意通过继续执行危险的飞行任务把自己置于危险境地，那才真是疯了。

He thinks he has found a way to save his life. But he learns there is a "catch" – a tricky condition — to that rule. Anyone who requests to be removed from flight duty because he no longer is willing to put his life in danger cannot claim to be insane. He must continue to fly.
他认为自己找到了挽救其性命的办法。但他得知，这条规定存在一种棘手状况。任何人因为不再愿意把自己的生命置于危险境地，要求免于执行飞行任务，都没法声称自己疯了。他必须继续飞行。

That was the "catch" in Catch-22. Catch-22 is often used today to describe what seems to be a reasonable solution that will not work because of an unreasonable condition.
这就是第22条军规中的逻辑陷阱。如今Catch-22通常用于描述一些看似合理，却因为某个不合理条件导致不管用的解决方案。

The book Catch-22 has many other examples of Catch-22, of course. At one point, a prostitute, a woman who has sex for money, tells Yossarian that she cannot marry him because he is crazy. She says she will never marry a crazy man. And she considers any man who would marry a woman who has already had sex ... crazy.
该书当然还有很多关于Catch-22的其它例子。有一次，一位为钱出卖身体的妓女告诉Yossarian，她不能嫁给他，因为他疯了。她说她绝不会嫁给一个疯子。她还认为，谁要是愿意娶已经和自己发生过关系的女人，那绝对是疯了。

This is a Catch-22 because as soon as a man agrees to marry her, he becomes crazy for wanting to marry a woman who has already had sex. So, she cannot marry him. She will remain unmarried until she changes the illogical condition that keeps her in her own Catch-22.
这就是一种进退两难的状况。因为只要有人愿意娶她，那人就是疯子，因为他想娶已经和自己发生过关系的女人。所以，她不能嫁给她。她会一直单身，直到她改变这种让自己进退两难的不合逻辑的条件。

That is what happens in a Catch-22 situation -- no way out.
这就是Catch-22状况的结局--没有出路。

Here is another simple, real-life example. You want to borrow your parent's car for the night. You ask your mother. She says, "That is fine with me. But first, you must get permission from your father."
这里是另一个现实生活中的简单例子：你想要借父母的车过夜。你问你妈，她说，“我没问题。但你首先得征得你爸爸的许可。”

But when you ask your father, he says, "It is fine with me. But you must first get permission from your mother."
但当你问你爸时，他说，“我没问题。但你首先得征得你妈妈的同意。”

In other words, you are caught in a classic Catch-22, a trap used by some parents.
换句话说，你陷入了一种经典的进退维谷，这是一些家长设的圈套。

But you are not caught in Catch-22 if you want to learn English. Simply listen to VOA Learning English.
但如果你想要学英语，你不会进退两难。很简单，听VOA英语学习节目就行。