又中又英 | In a quandary | 褚簡寧

　　Chicken or beef? For me it's chicken hands down unless the chicken has skin and bones. I like off-the-bone chicken without skin. Chicken or fish? For me it's a toss-up. I like both but always pass on fish if it has skin and bones. I still remember the time when I had a fish bone stuck in my throat. I had to swallow a lot of rice to force it down. The expression "hands down" means definitely or without a doubt. Off the bone refers to meat that has been cut away from the bone.

　　The expression "toss-up" used this way means it's hard to choose between two things. The expression "pass on" something used this way means to decline it. Summer or winter? For me it's winter hands down. But this has put me in a quandary. If you are in a quandary, it means you face a difficult situation and are unsure what to do. I am in a quandary because I have a lot of autumn and winter clothes that I love wearing. I also have a pair of boots that I like to wear during autumn and winter.

　　It's already November but the temperature is still around 30 degrees. Autumn should be from September through November. When I returned to Hong Kong in September, I got my winter clothes from the mini storage, hoping to wear them. But Hong Kong’s weather experts say a combination of climate change and El Niño, which is a global climate pattern that causes warm weather, means we will have an unusually warm winter. I don’t even want to think about having to wear T-shirts during Christmas!

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　　雞肉還是牛肉？對我來說必是雞肉無疑（hands down），除非那雞肉是連皮帶骨的。我喜歡沒有皮的去骨（off-the-bone）雞肉。雞肉還是魚肉？這我就不好決定（toss-up）了，我兩樣都喜歡，但如果那魚帶魚皮和有骨，我就總是不要魚（pass on fish）。我仍然記得那次，有魚骨鯁在喉嚨，我得吞許多許多飯去把它推下去。習語"hands down"是指必定是，或者毫無疑問。Off the bone則是指那肉已經去骨。

　　習語"toss-up"在這裏是指在兩樣物事中難以抉擇，左右為難。習語"pass on" something在這裏是指去婉拒某事。夏天還是冬天？對我來說一定是（hands down）冬天。但這又令我處於窘境（in a quandary）。若你是in a quandary，那麼你正在面對一個困境，不知如何是好。我很困惑（in a quandary），因為我有許多十分喜愛穿着的秋冬衣物，我又有一對靴，總愛在秋冬時穿着。

　　已經是11月了，但氣溫仍然徘徊在30度左右。秋天應落在9月至11月之間。我9月回到香港，從迷你倉那裏取出冬天衣物，希望能穿上。但香港的天氣專家說，結合氣候變化與厄爾尼諾現象－－一個帶來和暖天氣的全球自然氣候現象－－我們會有一個異常溫暖的冬天。我甚至不想去想，自己要穿短袖T恤去過聖誕！

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Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻