时代周刊:我在新冠期间遇到的5个人(1)（在线收听）

The five people you meet in a pandemic

新冠期间遇到的五个人

I did not start walking around my neighborhood to meet people. I went outside for the same reason Pleistocene-era humans did: air, food, and cave fever. But I also did not start walking around my neighborhood to not meet people. I understood the necessity and luxury of working from home, but I dreaded the dreariness. There are only so many new places to set up your computer before you get bored enough to start talking to the Roomba. I needed to find humans. Not just faces on screens.

我开始在社区里走来走去，不是为了看见别人。我出去的原因和更新世时期的人类一样：空气、食物和洞穴热。但也并不是说我开始在附近走动不是为了看见别人。我理解在家工作的必要性和奢侈，但我害怕这种乏味。在你无聊到开始和Roomba(一种家用机器人)说话之前，可以设置电脑的新地方也就那些。我需要找到人类，而不仅仅是屏幕上的脸。

The year 2020 will go down as a tough one for people who were elderly, who were young, who were children, who were parents, who had parents, who were grandparents, who lived alone, who lived with others, who were married, who worked from home, who didn't work from home. But there's one other group whose difficulties should not be ignored: extroverts. For a start, extroverts hate being ignored. And second, it has been a big shock for us outgoing types; until the pandemic, society was set up to favor those who liked group work. Now our desire for human company can make us a menace.

对于那些上了年纪的人，年轻人，孩子，父母，有父母的人，祖父母，独居的人，和别人住在一起的人，已婚的人，在家工作的人，不在家工作的人来说，2020年会是艰难的一年。但还有另外一个群体的困难不应该被忽视：性格外向者。首先，外向的人讨厌被忽视。其次，这对我们这些外向的人来说是一个巨大的冲击。在大流行之前，社会的建立是为了帮助那些喜欢集体工作的人。现在，我们与人为伴的渴望可能会使我们成为一种威胁。

Since I couldn't have people over, I went to them. I took my raging inner social butterfly and started to say hello to anyone in my vicinity. One of the first was the mailman. He has been our mailman for years, but his workday and mine overlapped, and I rarely saw him. Suddenly I was encountering him all the time, because a) the pandemic has led to more deliveries, b) we are more likely to be home when they arrive and c) getting the mail now counts as an adventure. After a while, I learned his name was Archimedes.

因为我无法请别人过来，所以我就自己去了。我带着内心愤怒的交际花开始和附近的人打招呼。其中一个是邮差，他多年来一直是我们的邮差，但他的工作时间和我的工作时间重叠，所以我很少看见他。突然间我开始经常碰到他，因为a)大流行导致邮件增多，b)他们来的时候我们在家的可能性更高，还有c)现在收到邮件算是一种冒险。一段时间之后我知道了他的名字，叫阿基米德。

Basking in the joy of knowing someone with a name as redolent of human history as Archimedes got me through at least three more days of homebound humdrum. Unfortunately for Archimedes, my name is nowhere near as memorable, and Archimedes talks to dozens of customers a day, whereas I know only one mail carrier, and his name is Archimedes. Every time I see Archimedes on the street, I greet Archimedes like an old friend and ask about his (Archimedes') wife. Archimedes looks a bit stricken, as if he just got out of the bath and found me waiting there before discovering either how to measure density or where his towel was. I want to say to Archimedes, "Don't worry. You don't need to remember my name. I'm an extrovert, Archimedes."

我沉浸在认识一个有着与阿基米德一样令人联想起人类历史的名字的人的喜悦中，这让我至少又熬过了3天乏味的回家之旅。不幸的是，对阿基米德来说，我的名字一点也不值得纪念，阿基米德每天都要和几十个客户交谈，而我只认识一个邮递员，他的名字就是阿基米德。每次我在街上看到阿基米德，我都会像老朋友一样跟他打招呼，问他(阿基米德的)妻子怎么样。阿基米德看起来有点懵，好像他在发现如何测量密度或者发现毛巾在哪里之前刚从浴池里出来，然后发现我在那里等着。我想对阿基米德说：“没事，你不需要记住我的名字。我比较外向，阿基米德。”