One of the most interesting books of the 20th century was the novel, Catch 22. In the novel, the term 'a catch 22 situation' was introduced. The term has nothing to do with catching anything. It has a much deeper meaning, and it describes a kind of logical conundrum that’s worth exploring.
小说《第二十二条军规》是20世纪最有趣的作品之一，小说中引入了“第22条军规”一词，该词与捕获物品无关，它的意思更为深刻，描述了一个值得探索的逻辑难题。

First, it’s important to put the phrase into context. In the novel, a group of American bomber pilots is on an island in the Mediterranean. They face death almost every day when they fly their bombing missions. Many have already lost their lives. The remaining pilots know that it is only a matter of time before they will be the next victims.
首先，把这个词放到当时背景下很重要。在小说中，地中海的一个岛上游一群美国轰炸机飞行员，他们执行轰炸任务，几乎每天都会面临死亡。许多人已经失去了生命，剩下的飞行员都知道，他们成为下一个牺牲品只是时间问题。

One of the characters in the novel is a doctor. It is his job to see that the pilots are fit to fly. In particular, there is a rule that says he has to ground anyone who is crazy. To ground them means to remove them from active duty so that they don’t fly.
小说中的一个人物是医生，他的工作是确保飞行员身体状况适合飞行。特别是，有一条规定，他不能让一个疯子起飞。禁飞的意思是说从现役名单中将他们删除，这样他们就不能起飞了。

Some of the men believed in the principles they were fighting for. They were willing to give their lives for their country. But to others, this was crazy. They thought the whole thing was insane. One of them, Yossarian, wanted out. He was friends with the doctor, and he wanted the doctor to ground him. When Yossarian asked the doctor to ground him, the doctor replied: “You’re wasting your time. You’re not crazy”. Yossarian told him to ask one of the other pilots, Clevinger, to tell him how crazy he was. “There is no point. He’s crazy,” The doctor replied. ”Crazy people can’t decide whether you are crazy or not.”
“Clevinger isn’t crazy! he’s one of the sanest pilots here.”
“So he’s obviously out of his head,” said the Doc. “He’s got to be insane to keep on flying combat missions after all the close calls he’s had.”
“Well, if he’s crazy, why don’t you ground him?”
“I can’t unless he asks to be grounded. That’s part of the rule.”
“So all he has to do is ask?”
“No, then I can’t ground him.”
“So there is a catch,” said Yossarian, trying to get things straight.
“Sure, there’s a catch,” said the Doc, with a slight smile. “Catch 22. If he asks, then he can’t be crazy. Only those who are crazy are grounded”.
“That’s some catch,” observed Yossarian.
“It’s the best there is,” the Doc replied.
有些人相信他们为之奋斗的准则，他们愿意为国家献出生命。但对其他人来说，这太疯狂了，他们认为整件事都很疯狂。其中一个人尤萨里安想退出，他去请求医生，他想让医生将他停飞。当尤萨里安让医生将他停飞时，医生回答说：“你在浪费时间，你没疯”。尤萨林让他去问另一个飞行员克莱文格，告诉他他有多疯颠。“没有意义，他是个疯子，”医生回答。“疯子不能决定你是不是疯子。”
“克莱文格没有疯！他是这里最理智的飞行员之一。”
“所以他显然是疯了，”医生说。“他一定是疯了，在经历了这么多险情之后，还继续执行飞行作战任务。”
“好吧，如果他疯了，你为什么不将他停飞？”
“我不能，除非他要求停飞。这就是规则。”
“所以他要做的就是请求？”
“是的，然后我就不能将他停飞。”
“所以存在一个陷阱，”尤萨里安说，试图把事情搞清楚。
“当然，这是一个陷阱，”医生微微笑道，“第二十二条军规，如果他请求，他就没有疯。只有那些疯子才会被停飞”。
“这是个陷阱，”尤萨里安说。
“这也是最好的，”医生回答。