又中又英｜Spoiled for choice

Taipei, where I now am, has many different types of restaurants. The shopping mall below my serviced apartment has a basement food court that sells all types of dishes. The mall’s upper floors have restaurants that serve Japanese, Taiwanese, Thai, Italian, American, and vegetarian food. It also has a buffet restaurant. There are restaurants that serve Hong Kong-style food, including dim sum, near my apartment. It feels like a choice overload. People are spoiled for choice.

The expressions “choice overload” and “spoiled for choice” are similar, but not the same. Choice overload describes how people get overloaded with so many choices that it’s hard for them to choose and they sometimes give up. Spoiled for choice means having many good things to choose from. Hong Kong has so many types of restaurants that people are also spoiled for choice. A dish I love that Hong Kong has but Taipei does not is fishball noodles. I have searched high and low but could not find fishball noodles in the area where I live. To search high and low means to search everywhere.

I was in Hong Kong for five days last week for a work project. I rushed to a fishball noodle shop for lunch the day after I arrived! I will eat more fishball noodles when I return to Hong Kong soon. Cathay’s Hong Kong business class lounge has a noodles bar with several choices but not fishball noodles. I went to the noodles bar on my way back to Taipei last week hoping Cathay had finally added fishball noodles, but it has not. Cathay should include the dish in its lounges. It is a popular dish.

台北，即我現在身處的地方，有許多不同類型的餐廳。我那服務式住宅下的商場就有個地庫美食廣場，售賣各式各樣的菜式。商場較高的樓層亦有日、台、泰、意、美式及素食餐廳，也有一間是吃自助餐的。我住宅單位附近亦有供應港式食物的餐廳，包括點心。那感覺有點「選擇超載」（choice overload），人們都因為選擇過多而無從下手（spoiled for choice）。

習語 choice overload和spoiled for choice 有點接近，但不盡相同。Choice overload是形容人們有着太多的選擇，難以作出抉擇，有時甚至會放棄。Spoiled for choice是指有太多好東西可供選擇。香港有那麼多五花八門的餐廳，人們也是眼花繚亂，不知從何下手（spoiled for choice）。我喜愛的一樣香港有但台北沒有的食物就是魚蛋麵。我已經在我住的那區searched high and low，卻遍尋不獲——to search high and low是指到處找尋。

我上星期為一個工作項目，在香港待了五天。我抵埗後的那天，便急不及待衝往一間魚蛋麵店吃午餐！我過不多久便再回到香港，屆時會吃更多的魚蛋麵。國泰的香港商務貴賓室有一個麵檔，有好幾款選擇，卻沒有魚蛋麵。我上星期回台北時去了那個麵檔，希望國泰終於能加入魚蛋麵，可惜並沒有。國泰好應在它的貴賓室裏加入這一道，它是個非常受歡迎的菜式。

mickchug@gmail.com
Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻