国家地理:难以适应的新常态（2）

We can't throw ourselves into shoulder-to-shoulder rescue work with strangers, the way we would if we were digging someone out of earthquake rubble¹. We can't funnel² into houses of worship or yell together at ballparks.

如果要在地震废墟中挖人，我们都不能和陌生人肩并肩地进行救援工作。我们不能挤进礼拜堂，也不能在棒球场一起大喊大叫。

My local public health instructions, as I write this with summer still more than two months away, probably sound like yours: I must not rest my head on my daughter-in-law's shoulder, rumple³ my godchildren's hair, or put a hand on my neighbor's arm as we tell each other we'll get through this. Flatten⁴ the curve. To meters avstand. Maybe two meters isn't enough, it turns out; look up "airborne coronavirus." Or, better yet, don't, because you'll find yourself reading arguments about whether invisible little virus clouds left lurking⁵ by six-feet-away heavy breathers could conceivably find their way up our noses. Maybe we should stay 20 feet from other people. Maybe we shouldn't walk out our front doors at all.

我写下这篇文章时离夏天还有两个多月，我所在地区的公共卫生指令可能跟你住的地方差不多：不准把头靠在妻子的肩膀上、不准玩弄孩子的头发，或者当我们和邻居鼓励彼此将会度过这一切时，不准把手搭在对方的手臂上。压平疫情曲线。保持2公尺的距离。结果证明，2公尺可能还不够，搜寻“通过空气传播的新型冠状病毒”就知道了。或者干脆别查，因为你会找到许多争论，关于2公尺外的呼吸沉重者所留下潜藏在空气中的病毒微粒，是否有可能进入我们的鼻腔。或许我们应该与其他人保持6公尺的距离。或许我们根本不应该出门。

For how long? Not knowing, trying to get to sleep every night still not knowing, is one more hammer to the heart. By the time you read this, things will be better where you are, or worse where you are, or zigzagging⁶ from worse toward better as long as you sit at least three bar stools away from the next person and figure out how to sip⁷ under your mask. Do you love someone whose daily life requires exposure danger? A bus driver, a nurse, a police officer, a home health aide, a grocery clerk, a production line worker at a meatpacking plant?

疫情会持续多久？不知道，每晚想到睡不着仍不知道，这对我们是另一记打击。在你读到这篇文章时，你那里的情况可能会变好，也可能变坏，或者起起落落地从糟糕的情况逐渐好转，只要你和隔壁的人至少隔着三个吧台的凳子，并找到戴着口罩小口喝饮料的方式。你是否有亲爱的人每天需暴露在风险中？比如说公交车司机、护士、警察、居家照护员、杂货店店员、肉品包装工厂的生产线工人？

1 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

2 funnel   

n.漏斗；烟囱；v.汇集

参考例句：

• He poured the petrol into the car through a funnel.他用一个漏斗把汽油灌入汽车。
• I like the ship with a yellow funnel.我喜欢那条有黄烟囱的船。

3 rumple   

v.弄皱，弄乱；n.褶纹，皱褶

参考例句：

• Besides,he would tug at the ribbons of her bonnet and,no doubt,rumple her dress.此外，他还拉扯她帽子上的饰带，当然也会弄皱她的衣裙。
• You mustn't play in your new skirt,you'll rumple it.你千万不要穿着新裙子去玩耍，你会把它弄皱的。

4 flatten   

v.把．．．弄平，使倒伏；使(漆等)失去光泽

参考例句：

• We can flatten out a piece of metal by hammering it.我们可以用锤子把一块金属敲平。
• The wrinkled silk will flatten out if you iron it.发皱的丝绸可以用熨斗烫平。

5 lurking   

潜在

参考例句：

• Why are you lurking around outside my house? 你在我房子外面鬼鬼祟祟的，想干什么？
• There is a suspicious man lurking in the shadows. 有一可疑的人躲在阴暗中。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

6 zigzagging   

v.弯弯曲曲地走路，曲折地前进( zigzag的现在分词 )；盘陀

参考例句：

• She walked along, zigzagging with her head back. 她回头看着，弯弯扭扭地向前走去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We followed the path zigzagging up the steep slope. 我们沿着小径曲曲折折地爬上陡坡。 来自互联网

7 sip   

v.小口地喝，抿，呷；n.一小口的量

参考例句：

• She took a sip of the cocktail.她啜饮一口鸡尾酒。
• Elizabeth took a sip of the hot coffee.伊丽莎白呷了一口热咖啡。