VOA慢速英语2014 不要受困于“二十二条军规”

 

Don't Get Caught in a Catch-22 不要受困于“二十二条军规”

Now, Words and Their Stories, a VOA Learning¹ English program about American expressions.  I’m Anna Matteo with the expression, Catch-22.

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.

That is insane², 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.

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 imaginary³ Air Force flier in Europe in the closing months of World War II. 

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 Nazis⁴ 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 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 willing⁵ to put his life in danger by continuing to make dangerous flights.

He thinks he has found a way to save his life. But he learns there is a “catch” – a tricky⁶ 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.

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 unreasonable⁷ condition.

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.

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 unmarried⁸ until she changes the illogical condition that keeps her in her own Catch-22.

That is what happens in a Catch-22 situation -- no way out.

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.”  

But when you ask your father, he says, “It is fine with me. But you must first get permission from your mother.”

In other words, you are caught in a classic⁹ Catch-22, a trap¹⁰ used by some parents.

But you are not caught in Catch-22 if you want to learn English. Simply listen to VOA Learning English.

1 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

2 insane   

adj.蠢极的，荒唐的，精神错乱的，疯狂的

参考例句：

• Insane people are sometimes dangerous.精神病人有时非常危险。
• The letter made her insane with jealousy.那封信使她妒忌得发疯。

3 imaginary   

adj.想象中的，假想的，虚构的，幻想的；虚数的

参考例句：

• All the characters in this book are imaginary.此书中的所有人物都是虚构的。
• The boy's fears were only imaginary.这小孩的恐惧只是一种想象。

4 Nazis   

n.（德国的）纳粹党员( Nazi的名词复数 )；纳粹主义

参考例句：

• The Nazis worked them over with gun butts. 纳粹分子用枪托毒打他们。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Nazis were responsible for the mass murder of Jews during World War Ⅱ. 纳粹必须为第二次世界大战中对犹太人的大屠杀负责。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 willing   

adj.愿意的，自愿的，乐意的，心甘情愿的

参考例句：

• We never lack food and clothing if we're willing to work.如果我们愿意工作,就不会缺吃少穿。
• He's quite willing to pay the price I ask.他很愿意照我的要价付钱。

6 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

7 unreasonable   

adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的

参考例句：

• I know that they made the most unreasonable demands on you.我知道他们对你提出了最不合理的要求。
• They spend an unreasonable amount of money on clothes.他们花在衣服上的钱太多了。

8 unmarried   

adj.未婚的，单身的

参考例句：

• Though he is forty,he is still unmarried.尽管他已经40岁了，但还是独身。
• I was still unmarried then.当时我还没有结婚。

9 classic   

n.经典作品；adj.经典的，一流的；古典的

参考例句：

• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。
• The football match was a classic.那场足球比赛堪称典范。

10 trap   

vt.使陷入困境，使受限制；设陷，坑害；n.陷阱，诡计；困境；活板门，存水弯；（双轮）轻便马车；vi.设圈套，设陷阱

参考例句：

• The hunter laid a trap for the tiger.猎人设置了陷阱捕捉老虎。
• Cheese is very good for luring a mouse into a trap.奶酪是引诱老鼠上钩的极好的东西。