又中又英 | In a quandary | 褚简宁

　　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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　　鸡肉还是牛肉？对我来说必是鸡肉无疑（hands down），除非那鸡肉是连皮带骨的。我喜欢没有皮的去骨（off-the-bone）鸡肉。鸡肉还是鱼肉？这我就不好决定（toss-up）了，我两样都喜欢，但如果那鱼带鱼皮和有骨，我就总是不要鱼（pass on fish）。我仍然记得那次，有鱼骨鲠在喉咙，我得吞许多许多饭去把它推下去。习语"hands down"是指必定是，或者毫无疑问。Off the bone则是指那肉已经去骨。

　　习语"toss-up"在这里是指在两样物事中难以抉择，左右为难。习语"pass on" something在这里是指去婉拒某事。夏天还是冬天？对我来说一定是（hands down）冬天。但这又令我处于窘境（in a quandary）。若你是in a quandary，那么你正在面对一个困境，不知如何是好。我很困惑（in a quandary），因为我有许多十分喜爱穿着的秋冬衣物，我又有一对靴，总爱在秋冬时穿着。

　　已经是11月了，但气温仍然徘徊在30度左右。秋天应落在9月至11月之间。我9月回到香港，从迷你仓那里取出冬天衣物，希望能穿上。但香港的天气专家说，结合气候变化与厄尔尼诺现象－－一个带来和暖天气的全球自然气候现象－－我们会有一个异常温暖的冬天。我甚至不想去想，自己要穿短袖T恤去过圣诞！

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Michael Chugani褚简宁
中译：七刻