One of the most instructive stories in Greek mythology is to be found in Book twelve of Homer's Odyssey, where the central figure, Odysseus, king of Ithaca, is described as having to sail past an island inhabited by some compelling female figures known as the sirens, famous for luring sailors to their deaths on their island's rocky shoreline by the sound of their song.
荷马史诗《奥德赛》第十二卷记载了希腊神话中最具启发性的故事之一，故事的主角是伊萨卡的国王奥德修斯，他必须航行经过一个岛屿，这个岛屿上住着一些迷人的女性形象，被称为塞壬，这些女性以歌声诱惑水手，使他们在岛屿的岩石海岸上丧命。
Determined to avoid their fate, Odysseus devises a plan: as he approaches the island, he asks his sailors to time to the mast and to put beeswax in their ears and then to disregard any pleas he might subsequently make, however impassioned.
奥德修斯决心避免这样的命运，所以他想出了一个计划：当他接近岛屿时，他要求水手们用绳子将他绑在桅杆上，并在他们的耳朵里塞上蜂蜡，然后无论他之后多么激动地恳求，都不要理会他。
Sure enough, Odysseus does lose his reason and begs his sailors to get closer to the sirens.
果然，奥德修斯失去了理智，恳求水手们靠近塞壬。
But the ropes tying him to the mast remain firm.
但是，将他绑在桅杆上的绳索依然牢固。
The sailors follow their original orders and the ship sails on unharmed.
水手们遵守原来的命令，船只安然无恙地继续航行。
Odysseus becomes the only mortal ever to have heard the song of the sirens and lived.
奥德修斯成为唯一一个听过塞壬歌声并幸存下来的凡人。
This story is enduring because for all its fancy, it defines a mental maneuver that every good life should at points have recourse to.
这个故事之所以经久不衰，是因为尽管它充满幻想，却定义了一种每个美好人生在某些时刻都应该借鉴的心理策略。
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.
有些情况下，我们必须承认，任何明智精巧的哲学论证都是无效的，只有直截了当地消除诱惑才能拯救我们。
When we are faced with yours, which we're not strong enough to talk ourselves out of, we have to give others powers of attorney over us.
当我们面对那些我们无法靠自己说服自己摆脱的诱惑时，我们必须将权力委托给他人。
We must willingly accept to be treated as children in order for precious parts of our adulthood to be preserved.
我们必须心甘情愿地接受被当作孩子对待，以便保护我们成年生活中宝贵的部分。
We must accept without rancor the humiliating fact that we will simply lose control.
我们必须毫无怨恨地接受一个令人羞辱的事实，那就是我们会失去控制。
The threats to our reasonableness might include an ex who ruined years of our life, but whom we longed to call late at night in order to beg for another chance.
威胁我们理智的可能包括一个毁掉我们多年生活的前任，但我们深夜却渴望打电话给他/她乞求另一次机会。
Or a teenage child who irritates us unbearably, but with whom we know we should never get into an argument.
或者是一个让我们极度恼火的青少年孩子，但我们知道绝不能与之争论。
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 sight on the internet, we must never revisit.
或者是一个我们必须尽力忽视的办公室同事，或者是一种我们一旦开始吃就停不下来的巧克力饼干，或者是一个我们绝不能再次访问的网络页面。
We each have our own version of the sirens, precisely tailored to the fault lines of our minds.
我们每个人都有自己版本的塞壬，正好契合我们内心的弱点。
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 see to them a temporary right to take away the tiller of our destiny.
当我们清楚地认识到这些弱点而又不至于失去太多尊严时，我们必须召集那些与我们共航人生的“水手”，并暂时赋予他们掌控我们命运的权力。
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.
我们必须把手机交给朋友，把电脑的插头交给他们，告诉他们不要让我们进入某家商店，并请他们监控我们拨打的电话。
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.
这一切都不令人愉快，但归根结底，比起假装我们总是能够保持理智，这种做法更为明智，因为理智实际上只是我们偶尔才拥有的。
The truly mature know when maturity is no longer an option.
真正成熟的人知道何时成熟已不再是一个选项。
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.
有些时刻，一个真正的朋友倾听我们的方式实际上是选择不去倾听，因为当羞耻、孤独或绝望抓住我们时，我们通常会失去执行功能的掌控。
We need to be sane enough to say to those who care for us, I'm sufficiently strong to know how weak I am.
我们需要足够理智地对关心我们的人说：我足够坚强，知道自己有多么脆弱。
Protect me from what I want.
保护我免受自己欲望的掌控。
Do me the kindness of ignoring everything, I will ask you for.
请帮我一个忙，忽略我对你提出的一切请求。
