a chicken and egg situation(鸡和蛋的问题)为什么不用连字符

问题描述

It's a chicken and egg situation—I don't know whether I was bad at the sciences because I wasn't interested in them or not interested in them and thereforenot good at them.

这句中的a chicken and egg situation 意思是“鸡和蛋的问题”，其中的chicken and egg 是用作定语吧，但为什么不用连字符呢？

老师答疑

沅老师：

用不用连字符都可以，但在现代英语中通常不用连字符。

a chicken and egg situation 是英语中的习语，意思是“鸡和蛋的问题”，也可说成a chicken and egg problem，指很难决定孰先孰后、孰因孰果的情境，主要用于非正式英语中。如：

It’s a chicken and egg situation. Does the deficiency lead to the eczema or has the eczema led to certain deficiencies? 这是个鸡和蛋的问题。是因为营养缺乏导致湿疹呢，还是湿疹导致了某些营养缺乏？

另有相关习语：Which came first, the chicken or the egg? 意思是“先有鸡还是先有蛋？”，主要用于表示先后或因果难以区分。