實用的表達方式：點雞蛋 🍳

 

周末，我和家人吃早餐時，想到可以與各位分享一下如何用英文來點各種做法的雞蛋。🍳 西式早餐中通常都包含雞蛋，我們要清楚告知侍應生自己的雞蛋想要怎樣烹調。 現在就來看看我們該如何自然地用英文表達出來吧。 多數用來形容早餐雞蛋菜式的形容詞都是 past participle 字形形容詞，例如「scrambled」、「 fried」 、「poached」、「hard-boiled」、 「soft-boiled」等。 我在基礎課程中也解釋了，past participle 是一種固定的非限定動詞字形。每個英文動詞都有一個固定的 past participle 字形的。 大部份動詞的 past participle 字形，是在其基礎字形上添加「-ed」字尾，但某些我們稱為是「不規則」的 past participle 字形， 則是在動詞基本字形上除了加字尾，還可能有母音的變化。 例如動詞「scramble」 (炒) 的固定 past participle 字形是 「scrambled」。 如果我們不是拿 past participle 配合其他輔助動詞來組成限定動詞組（finite verb）時，它的作用便會是子句中的修飾語。 作為修飾語，past participle 會表達出被動的意思，即「該動詞的動作被實行」。 就像「炒」的動詞「scramble」，它的 past participle 字形「scrambled」就是意思是「被炒」（「炒」的被動狀態）的修飾語。 英文中表達「炒蛋」的最常見的方式，是名詞組「scrambled eggs」。past participle 字形的「scrambled」在這裡是形容詞角色，形容核心名詞「eggs」，說明那是「被炒過」的蛋。 當我們點「scrambled eggs」，通常都是眾數名詞組。（因為「炒蛋」是一份份的，並不是以每一顆雞蛋作單位，所以我們一般不會說「a scrambled egg*」，但當然也可以。） 早餐雞蛋的其他常用表達方式很多也包含 past participle 字形。 「Fried」 是動詞「fry」的 past participle 字形，意思是「煎」，因此它的被動狀態就是「被煎」。名詞組「fried eggs」是以「被煎的」的形容詞去修飾「eggs」，表達是「被煎的蛋」。 與「scrambled eggs」不同，「fried eggs」（煎蛋）可以一顆一顆蛋去點，因此在日常單數和眾數字形都會經常用到。我們可以點「a fried egg」，也可以點「two fried eggs」之類。 還有更多可描述「煎蛋」的形容，都是我們在用英文點餐時經用會用到的。 例如只煎一面的蛋叫「sunny-side-up eggs」，就是那種蛋黃朝上的太陽蛋。 至於兩面都煎（但蛋黃仍不是全熟）的蛋，我們可叫它「over-easy eggs」。 「Poached eggs」 (水波蛋) 也是早餐蛋的一種。「Poached」同樣是 past participle 字形形容詞。動詞「poach」的意思是在沸水中輕煮，所以 past participle 的「poached」就是指「在被放過在沸水中輕煮的狀態中的」。 因此，「poached eggs」就是在沸水中輕煮過的除殼雞蛋。 最後，想必你也知道動詞「boil」的意思是「在沸水中煮」，它的 past participle 字形「boiled」，意思就是「被放在沸水中煮」。 「Boiled eggs」是指連殼一起在水中煮的蛋。被煮到全熟的是「hard-boiled eggs」，而煮到半熟，蛋黃還呈現流質狀態的，我們稱為「soft-boiled eggs」。 （「Poached eggs」和「boiled eggs」的分別是，「poached eggs」是先把蛋殼去除才煮的，「boiled eggs」則會連殼一同水煮。） 書寫上，我們習慣在「hard-boiled」和「soft-boiled」中加入 hyphen（連字符號）。 每當我們在書寫時，需要表示兩個字一起是形容詞的角色時，一般會在其中加入 hyphen。 例如名詞組「high-quality products」，在「high」和「quality」之間就使用了入hyphen，顯示出「high-quality」整個是「products」的形容詞組，而不是「high」與「quality」各自「平衡地」在形容「products」（我們並非要表達「高」和「質素」的「products」，而是「高質素」的「products」*）。 希望大家看完這篇通訊後，都能有自信地用英文來點各款早餐雞蛋菜式！ 如果侍應生問你「What type of eggs would you like?」，或者「How would you like the eggs cooked?」，你可以選擇完整地說出整個名詞組，像是「scrambled eggs」、「hard-boiled eggs」等；或者，你也可以只說形容詞的部分，例如「scrambled」、「sunny-side-up」之類。因為在這些清晰的語境中，這些形容詞意思上可以代表整個名詞組。🍳

Practical Expressions: Ordering Eggs 🍳 I was having brunch with my family over the weekend and thought that I could write about the usual expressions you need for ordering egg dishes in English. 🍳 Very often, when you have a Western breakfast, there would be eggs involved, and you would need to specify to the waiter how you want the eggs cooked. Let’s look at how you can do that in English naturally.  A lot of the adjectives we use to describe breakfast egg dishes are past participle adjectives -- for example, “scrambled,” “fried,” “poached,” “hard-boiled,” and “soft-boiled,” etc. Past participles, if you remember from our foundational course, are a fixed non-finite verb form in English. Every verb in English has a fixed past participle form.  For most verbs, their fixed past participle form is the base form of the verb plus a “-ed” ending, but some verbs have a so-called “irregular” past participle form that might involve a changed vowel plus an ending. For example, the verb “scramble” (炒) has the fixed past participle form “scrambled.” Recall that past participles, when they are not forming finite verb forms with other auxiliary verbs, act as modifiers in a clause. As modifiers, past participles express a passive meaning -- as in, they express “the state of being done that verb.”  For example, since the verb “scramble” means “炒,” the past participle form “scrambled” is a modifier that means “被炒” -- the passive state of the verb “炒.” In English, the usual expression for “炒蛋” is the noun phrase “scrambled eggs.” The past participle “scrambled” is an adjective here describing the core noun “eggs” -- these are “eggs” that are in the state of having been “scrambled.” When we order “scrambled eggs,” we usually use this plural noun phrase, with the plural “eggs.” (This is because “scrambled eggs” are served as a small “mound” on the plate instead of presented as individual eggs, so we usually don’t say, for example, ”a scrambled egg*.”)  The other usual expressions for breakfast eggs are also past participles. “Fried” is the past participle form of the verb “fry,” which means “煎,” so the “passive state” of this verb would be “被煎.” The noun phrase “fried eggs” has “fried” as an adjective meaning “被煎的,” modifying the noun “eggs,” so “fried eggs” are “被煎的蛋.”  Unlike “scrambled eggs,” “fried eggs” can be ordered in individual portions, so we can use this expression both in singular and plural form. We can order “a fried egg” or “two fried eggs,” etc. There are further descriptors for “fried eggs” as well, and these are also frequently used expressions when we order breakfast in English.  For example, eggs that are fried only on one side are called “sunny-side-up eggs” -- this describes that fried eggs, with the yellow yolk intact and facing up, look like little “suns.” On the other hand, eggs that are fried on both sides (with the yolk inside still runny) are called “over-easy eggs.” “Poached eggs” (水波蛋) are a type of breakfast eggs as well. “Poached” is also a past participle adjective. The verb “poach” means “cook gently in boiling water,” so the past participle “poached” means “in the state of having been cooked gently in boiling water.” As such, “poached eggs” means “cracked eggs that have been cooked gently in boiling water.”  Lastly, you probably know that the verb “boil” means “cook in boiling water,” so, the past participle form of this verb, “boiled,” means “cooked in boiling water.” “Boiled eggs” refer to eggs that are cooked with their shells in boiling water. “Hard-boiled eggs” are eggs that are boiled until they are completely cooked, whereas “soft-boiled eggs” are eggs that are not completely cooked and are still slightly runny inside. (The difference between “poached eggs” and “boiled eggs” is that “poached eggs” are cracked into the boiling water and cooked, while “boiled eggs” are in their shells.) In writing, the convention is to add a “hyphen” in “hard-boiled” and “soft-boiled.” We add this hyphen in an adjective phrase whenever we need to signify in writing that two words together act as one adjective to a noun. For example, the noun phrase “high-quality products” has this hyphen between “high” and “quality” as well. This signifies that “high-quality” is one adjective to “products,” instead of “high” describing “products” in parallel to “quality -- we are not talking about “high and quality products*,” but rather “high-quality products.”  I hope this newsletter helps you in ordering eggs in English confidently in the future! If a waiter asks you “what type of eggs would you like?” or “how would you like the eggs cooked?,” you can say the above noun phrases -- “scrambled eggs,” “hard-boiled eggs” etc. -- or simply say the adjectives by themselves -- “scrambled,” “sunny-side-up” etc. -- because, in context, these adjectives can stand in for their entire noun phrases. 🍳