“雞”與“蛋”的千古之謎

文/王逢鑫

“雞”與“蛋”孰先孰后的問(wèn)題，是個(gè)千古之謎，長(zhǎng)期爭(zhēng)論不休。例如：

1. We’ve heard the classic expression, “which came fi rst, the chicken or the egg?” Chickens hatch from the eggs, but eggs are laid by the chickens,arousing endless debates for centuries. 我們都聽(tīng)說(shuō)過(guò)“雞和蛋，先有誰(shuí)？”這個(gè)經(jīng)典的表述。雞是從蛋孵化的，而蛋又是雞下的，從而引起幾個(gè)世紀(jì)無(wú)休止的辯論。

有人根據(jù)進(jìn)化生物學(xué)，主張先有蛋，后有雞。例如：

2. According to evolutionary biology, the egg came fi rst as it evolved prior to birds. An animal must be born to become an adult. The egg is a pre-requisite to any egg-laying animal. And an egg-laying animal is hatched from an egg to become an adult. Therefore an egg must precede the adult. 根據(jù)進(jìn)化生物學(xué)，先有蛋，因?yàn)榈笆窃陔u之前進(jìn)化形成的。動(dòng)物必須生出來(lái)，才能長(zhǎng)大成年。蛋是任何產(chǎn)蛋動(dòng)物的前提。產(chǎn)蛋動(dòng)物是由蛋孵化而來(lái)，才能長(zhǎng)大成年。所以蛋一定是出現(xiàn)在成年雞之前的。

3. According toThe Sun, British scientists have solved the ancient riddle of which came first—chicken or egg? The answer, they say, is the chicken.Researchers discovered that the formation of egg shells relies on a protein found only in a chicken’s ovaries. That means eggs have to be formed in chickens. The protein, called ovocledidin-17 (OC-17), speeds up the development of the shell.據(jù)英國(guó)《太陽(yáng)報(bào)》報(bào)道，英國(guó)科學(xué)家已解開(kāi)了“先有雞，還是先有蛋”的千古之謎。他們說(shuō)：答案是“雞”。研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，蛋殼的形成依靠一種僅在雞的卵巢內(nèi)才有的蛋白質(zhì)。這意味著蛋需要在雞的體內(nèi)形成。這種名叫OC-17的蛋白質(zhì)能夠加速蛋殼的發(fā)育。

有人主張雞和蛋是相輔相成、缺一不可的。例如：

4. The chicken is in the egg, while the egg is in the chicken. Without the chicken, there is no egg. And without the egg, there is no chicken. The chicken and egg are interdependent, but they are not independent. 雞從蛋孵化而來(lái)，而蛋由雞生。沒(méi)有雞就沒(méi)有蛋。而沒(méi)有雞蛋也就沒(méi)有雞。雞與蛋相互依存，而不是各自獨(dú)立。

5. A dialectical answer from Hegel and Marx to the chicken-or-egg question is that the egg and chicken exist in a dialectical relationship. To reach the true nature of this dialectical relationship, we have to admit the fact that the egg creates the chicken just as much as the chicken creates the egg. 黑格爾和馬克思對(duì)“雞與蛋”問(wèn)題的辯證回答是“蛋和雞存在于一種辯證關(guān)系之中”。為理解這種辯證關(guān)系的實(shí)質(zhì)，我們需承認(rèn)這一事實(shí)，即“正如雞生蛋一樣，蛋也孵雞”。

“雞”或“蛋”的因果關(guān)系，曾引起一些其他哲學(xué)問(wèn)題的討論。例如：

6. To ancient philosophers, the question about the first chicken or egg also evoked the questions of how life and the universe in general began. 對(duì)古代哲學(xué)家來(lái)說(shuō)，先有雞還是先有蛋的問(wèn)題也引起了對(duì)生命和宇宙大致如何起源的思考。□