又中又英 | Limitations | 褚简宁

　　Those who most understand their own limitations have the fewest. Do you know what this means? It was advice a wise centaur named Chiron gave Jason of the Argonauts. I saw it in the book about Greek mythology that I read recently. A centaur is a Greek mythology creature with the head, arms, and upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse. Jason was a hero in Greek mythology. He was the head of a ship called Argo. Other heroes of the Argo were called Argonauts.

　　Their dangerous mission was to find the mythical Golden Fleece. A fleece is the thick wool covering of a sheep. The wise centaur gave Jason crucial advice before he began his dangerous journey with the Argonauts. One piece of advice was that those who most understand their own limitations have the fewest. Your limitations used this way are your weaknesses or your lack of skills in certain things. Your limitations are trying to climb Mount Everest or competing with Olympic athletes if you are not a mountaineer or skilled athlete. A mountaineer is a person who climbs mountains as a hobby or profession.

　　The centaur’s advice meant that people must understand what they can or cannot do. That’s the best way to achieve their tasks, especially difficult or dangerous tasks. Once people understand and accept their limitations, they will have the fewest limitations because they won’t try to do the things they cannot achieve. People who don’t understand their own limitations will have the most because they will only know their limitations when they fail to do the things they are not skilled to do.

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　　那些最了解自己短处（limitations）的人，有着最少的短处（limitations）。你可知道这是甚么意思？那是名为喀戎的睿智半人马（centaur）给予阿尔戈英雄（Argonauts）伊阿宋（Jason）的劝告。我在最近阅读关于希腊神话的书中见到这则劝告。A centaur 是希腊神话中有着人头、手臂和上身，而下身和脚则是马的生物。Jason 伊阿宋是希腊神话中的英雄，他是阿尔戈号这艘船上的首领。阿尔戈号的其他英雄则被称为Argonauts。

　　他们的危险任务，是去寻找神话中的金羊毛（Golden Fleece）。A Fleece 是羊身上的厚羊毛。睿智的半人马（centaur）在伊阿宋跟其他阿尔戈英雄（Argonauts）开展其危险旅程之前，给了他重要的劝告，其中一个就是，那些最知道自己短处（limitations）的人，有着最少的短处（limitations）。Your limitations 在这里是指你的弱点，或在某方面缺乏技能的短处。你若非攀山好手（mountaineer）或有技术的运动员，却尝试去爬珠穆朗玛峰，或去跟奥林匹克的健儿比并，那就是你的limitations。A mountaineer 就是将攀山当作兴趣或专业的登山运动员。

　　人头马的（centaur’s）劝告是，人们必须明白自己有甚么能够做或不能够做的事，那是达成任务最佳法门，尤其是困难或危险的任务。人们一旦明白和接受自己的局限（limitations），他们便有最少的局限（limitations），因为他们不会尝试去做自己做不到的事。那些不了解自己局限（limitations）的人，会有最多的局限（limitations），因为他们只有在做一些自己不擅长的事又以失败告终之时，才终于知道自己的局限（limitations）所在。

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Michael Chugani褚简宁
中译：七刻