喜樂美語
  1. 1nB2/daɪˈlemə/ · /dəˈlemə/兩難；進退兩難

    A situation in which it is very hard to decide what to do, because the choices you have seem equally good, or equally bad. Whatever you pick, you have to give up something that matters.

    示範例句 · Example

    Mei is in a dilemma: the art club and the swimming team both meet on Thursday afternoon.

    逐字美陷入兩難：美術社和游泳隊都在星期四下午活動。

    dilemma 講的是「難選」，不是「很慘」。重點在有兩條路擺在你面前，兩條看起來一樣好——或一樣糟——所以選哪邊都要放掉另一邊。單純出問題、遇到麻煩，英文用 problem；要等到「非得二選一，而且兩邊都捨不得」才叫 dilemma。這個字可以想成從希臘文的「兩句話」長出來：兩句話同時擺在你面前，兩句都說得通，你卻只能挑一句。它是可數名詞，最常見的說法是 face a dilemma（面臨兩難）跟 be in a dilemma（陷入兩難）。

    常見搭配

    • face a dilemma / be faced with a dilemma

      面臨兩難

      to be in a situation where it is very hard to choose

      Many families face the dilemma of choosing between a bigger home and a shorter journey to work.

    • be in a dilemma (about / over something)

      陷入兩難

      to be unable to decide between two things

      Ren was in a dilemma about which school to choose.

    • a moral / ethical dilemma

      道德上的兩難

      a hard choice where both answers feel partly right and partly wrong

      Doctors sometimes face a moral dilemma when two patients need the same help at the same time.

    • pose / create a dilemma

      造成兩難

      to cause a situation in which it is very hard to choose

      The new timetable poses a dilemma for students who joined two clubs.

    • resolve / solve a dilemma

      解決兩難

      to find an answer to a very hard choice

      A long talk with her sister helped Aisha resolve her dilemma.

    • a way out of the dilemma

      解決兩難的辦法

      a way to escape a very hard choice

      Nobody could see a way out of the dilemma until Zoe drew the timetable on the board.

    意思相近

    predicamentquandarycatch-22no-win situationdifficult choicetight spot

    意思相反

    easy choicecertainty

core核心畫面

Picture standing where the road splits in two, with no third path and no way to stay put. Both roads look about equally good — or about equally bad — so whichever one you take, you lose whatever the other one held. The hard part is not that you can't see the options; it's that seeing them clearly doesn't help you choose.

你站在一個岔路口，路只有兩條，而且不能站著不動。兩條看起來一樣好，或者一樣糟——選了這條，另一條上的東西就永遠拿不到了。難的地方不是看不清楚選項，而是看得很清楚也還是選不下去：不管往哪走，都要親手放掉一些自己在乎的東西。

容易混在一起的字在訂閱裡。容易混在一起的字需要訂閱帳號。

複數 dilemmas

意思相近

predicamentquandarycatch-22no-win situationdifficult choicetight spot

意思相反

easy choicecertainty

原始詞典資料4 筆記錄

以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。

dilemmanoun/daɪˈlɛmə/

  • 1

    A circumstance in which a choice must be made between two or more alternatives that seem equally undesirable.

    • A strong dilemma in a desperate case! / To act with infamy, or quit the place.
  • 2

    Any difficult circumstance or problem.

  • 3

    human-scienceslogicmathematicsA type of syllogism of the form "if A is true then B is true; if C is true then D is true; either A or C is true; therefore either B or D is true".

  • 4

    Offering to an opponent a choice between two (equally unfavorable) alternatives.

摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。