He would have preferred to be on good terms with both his wife and his mother, but the effort of pleasing one without offending the other was like steering between Scylla and Charybdis.

• 他本愿和妻子与母亲都处好关系，但要讨好一方而不得罪另一方简直如同驾船在斯库拉和卡瑞布狄斯间航行，左右为难。