對許多人而言，雞蛋是生活上不可或缺的食物，不論是早餐三明治內的煎蛋、或是晚餐便當中的滷蛋，台灣人對雞蛋的需求量極大，根據統計，台灣人每年吃掉七十幾億顆蛋，是全世界雞蛋消耗量第一的國家。去年冬天開始禽流感侵襲全世界，全台雞蛋也受波及，嚴重缺貨，許多民眾排隊還不一定搶得到雞蛋，不只是大賣場與雜貨店，甚至早餐店都面臨了「缺蛋」的問題。全台面臨「蛋蛋危機」，政府也開始提出更多配套措施來應付目前缺蛋的窘況。本次就讓我們從「蛋荒」的議題來學各種描述社會現象及數據的英文吧！
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如何描述蛋荒？
photo COURTESY OF Pixabay 照片 : Pixabay緹供
一般講到「短缺」時，最常用shortage來形容，如去年的water shortage「缺水」、electricity／power shortage「缺電」。而現在全台面臨的就是一個egg shortage「蛋荒」。
Taiwan’s daily egg demand is about 24 million, while its daily production capacity during the shortage has been about 22.6 million eggs.
（台灣每日的雞蛋需求約2,400萬顆，缺貨期間僅約2,260萬顆雞蛋。）
shortage和shortfall的差別在於shortfall指的是「不足的（量）、缺額、短少的量」，簡單來說，fall short of…就是「短缺…」的意思。
Our sales have fallen short of the target set by the department.
（我們的銷售額沒有達到部門設定的標準。）
insufficient
insufficient (adj)「不足，短少」在TOEIC測驗中經常出現，deficit (n)則可以解釋為「赤字、虧損」。
The bank just informed us that there were insufficient funds to make the transfer.
（銀行剛通知我們帳戶資金不足以轉帳。）
另一個較難的單字是scarcity (n)「缺乏、不足、稀少」，形容詞為scarce (adj)。
The government decided to import eggs from other countries to address the scarcity.
（政府決定從其他國家進口雞蛋來應付短缺的問題。）
「蛋蛋危機」？
造成這次蛋荒的原因究竟為何？根據報導，本次導致「蛋蛋危機」背後的因素相當複雜，從飼料價格上漲、日夜溫差大導致母雞致死率高、到禽流感肆虐等，都是引起缺蛋的主要原因。
The cold weather has been to blame, for some, and for others, the impact of avian influenza, climate instability, and rising international prices for materials.
（天氣寒冷、禽流感、氣候不穩定以及國際原物料價格上漲都是罪魁禍首。）
instability (n)「不穩定」，相反字為stability (n)、stable(adj)「穩定」，都是多益測驗高頻出現的單字。
Maintaining stability in the Taiwan Strait is important to a lot of countries.
（維持台灣海峽的穩定對許多國家來說很重要。）
stabilize
如要將stability當動詞使用，加上動詞字尾「-ize」即可，會變成stabilize (v)。
The Executive Yuan announced that the government would waive a 5 percent business tax for importers of soybeans, wheat and corn to stabilize chicken feed prices, the council said.
（農委會表示，行政院宣布，政府將對大豆、小麥和玉米進口商免除百分之五的營業稅，以穩定雞飼料的價格。）
stabilize prices「穩定物價」，跟價格搭配使用的詞有很多，關於本次蛋荒的新聞，就常看到freeze prices「凍漲」、raise／lift prices「漲價」。
The government decided to give farmers compensation for freezing the prices.
（政府決定提供補償給農民凍漲價格的（損失）。）
各種「蛋」片語
希望這次缺蛋的狀況能夠儘快落幕，民眾們也不再需要跑到各賣場找蛋（egg hunt）。最後來看看和蛋相關的英文片語或諺語。
1. 提到找蛋，第一個想到的就是尋找復活節彩蛋（Easter egg），而easter egg也引申為「意想不到的驚喜」，因此許多電影中加入一些刻意安排的巧思，讓影迷能夠在觀影過程中尋找蛛絲馬跡，享受意外發現的樂趣，也就稱為「電影彩蛋」。
Gina made a video talking about hidden Easter eggs in some popular Disney movies.
（吉娜拍了一支影片介紹迪士尼電影中的隱藏彩蛋。）
2. to put all your eggs in one basket字面上解釋為「把全部的蛋放在一個籃子裡」，引申為「孤注一擲」的意思。
When it comes to investing, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. You need to diversify your portfolio.
（投資時，千萬別把雞蛋放在同個籃子，你需要有更多樣化的投資組合。）
【TOEIC模擬試題】
1. We _____ on eggshells since the new sales manager came last month.
(A) walk (B) have been walking (C) have walking (D) were walking
2. Oil prices _____ during the outbreak since a lot of people started teleworking.
(A) deficient (B) fell short of (C) scarce (D) slumped
【解析】
1. 正解為(B)。句意為「自從上個月新的業務經理來了後，我們一直都很小心翼翼。」本題是要選擇適合空格的時態，句子中判斷時態的關鍵詞是since「自從」，常與完成式一同使用，故(B) 是正確答案。walk on eggshells代表「小心翼翼」的意思。
2. 正解為(D)。句意為「油價在疫情期間 _____ 因為許多人開始遠距工作。」本題為單字文法題，要選擇符合句意的單字和文法。(A)不足的，(B)短少，(C)缺少的，(D)暴跌。故(D)是正確答案。
SOURCE: https://www.englishok.com.tw/toeic/toeic-issue/egg-shortage
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