Determined to avoid their fate, Odysseus devises a plan.

奧德修斯決心避免他們的命運，於是他制定了一個計劃。

As he approaches the island, he asks his sailors to tie him to the mast and to put beeswax in their ears, and then to disregard any pleas he might subsequently make, however impassioned.

當他靠近小島時，他要求水手們把他綁在桅杆上，並在他們的耳朵裡塗上蜂蠟，然後不管他隨後可能提出的任何請求，無論多麼慷慨激昂。

Sure enough, Odysseus does lose his reason and begs his sailors to get closer to the Sirens, but the ropes sails on unharmed.

當然，奧德修斯確實失去了理智，他懇求水手們靠近塞壬，但繩索安然無恙地繼續航行。

Odysseus becomes the only mortal ever to have heard the song of the Sirens and lived.

奧德修斯成為有史以來唯一聽到塞壬之歌並活下來的凡人。

This story is enduring because for all its fancy, it defines a mental manoeuvre that every good life should at points have recourse to.

這個故事經久不衰，因為儘管它充滿幻想，但它定義了一種心理策略，每個美好的生活都應該在某些時候求助於它。

There are situations in which we have to concede that no finely wrought philosophical arguments in favour of wisdom will be effective and that only the blunt removal of temptation can save us.

在有些情況下，我們不得不承認，任何有利於智慧的精巧的哲學論證都不會有效，只有直截了當地消除誘惑才能拯救我們。

When we are faced with laws which we are not strong enough to talk ourselves out of, we have to give others powers of attorney over us.

當我們面對一些法律，而我們又沒有足夠的能力說服自己時，我們就不得不賦予他人對我們的授權。

We must willingly accept to be treated as children in order for precious parts of our adulthood to be preserved.

我們必須心甘情願地接受被當作孩子對待，這樣才能保留我們成年後的寶貴部分。

We must accept, without rancour, the humiliating fact that we will simply lose control.

我們必須毫不惱怒地接受這一令人羞愧的事實：我們將完全失去控制。

The threats to our reasonableness might include an ex who ruined years of our life but whom we long to call late at night in order to beg for another chance, or a teenage child who irritates us unbearably but with whom we know we should never get into an argument, or an office colleague whom we must do our best to ignore, or a kind of chocolate biscuit we can't stop eating once we start, or a site on the internet we must never revisit.

對我們合理性的威脅可能包括：毀了我們多年生活的前男友，但我們渴望在深夜打電話給他，乞求再給他一次機會；讓我們無法忍受的十幾歲的孩子，但我們知道絕不能與他發生爭執；我們必須盡力忽視的辦公室同事；我們一旦開始吃就停不下來的一種巧克力餅乾；我們絕不能重訪的一個互聯網網站。

We each have our own version of the Sirens, precisely tailored to the fault lines of our minds.

我們每個人都有自己版本的塞壬，精確地為我們的思想斷層量身定製。

When we have these fully in view, without too much loss of dignity, we must gather our sailors with whom we navigate our lives, and cede to them a temporary right to take away the tiller of our destiny.

當我們充分認識到這一點時，在不失尊嚴的情況下，我們必須召集與我們一起航行的水手，讓他們暫時有權奪走我們命運的舵柄。

We must hand our friends our phones, give them the plug to our computer, tell them not to allow us into the shop and ask them to monitor whom we have called.

我們必須把手機交給朋友，把電腦插頭交給他們，告訴他們不要讓我們進入商店，並要求他們監視我們給誰打過電話。

None of it is edifying, but it is in the end even less edifying to pretend that we can always lay claim to a reasonableness that is, in reality, only ever intermittently ours.

所有這一切都不具有啟發性，但如果假裝我們總能聲稱自己是合理的，而實際上，我們的合理性只是時斷時續的，那就更不具有啟發性了。

The truly mature know when maturity is no longer an option.

真正成熟的人知道什麼時候成熟不再是一種選擇。

There are moments when for a true friend to listen to us entails, in effect, not listening to us, because we have lost command of our executive functions, as we typically will when shame, loneliness or despair grip us.

有些時候，真正的朋友要傾聽我們，實際上就是不聽我們說話，因為我們已經失去了對執行功能的控制，當羞愧、孤獨或絕望籠罩著我們時，我們通常會這樣做。

We need to be sane enough to say to those who care for us, I am sufficiently strong to know how weak I am.

我們需要有足夠的理智，對關心我們的人說：我足夠堅強，知道自己有多軟弱。

Protect me from what I want.

保護我遠離我想要的

Do me the kindness of ignoring everything I will ask you for.

請你對我的請求置之不理。