双语 | 被封国的意大利人给全世界的公开信

当地时间3月10日，意大利新冠肺炎确诊病例破万，成为中国外世界上第一个破万的国家。

当日，意大利实施“封国令”，成为疫情暴发以来第一个实施全国性封锁政策的国家。

意大利的街头，开始空无一人。

而在美国，截至本周三晚，全国感染的人数达1190人，死亡人数增加到37人。

早在1月20日，美国本土便确诊首例病例，但直到2月26日，美国政府仍然在一场有美国领导人出席的发布会上传递出这样的信息：

“美国人的风险‘仍然非常低’，疫苗进展非常顺利”；

“美国已经准备了口罩，但或许并不需要”；

“人们可以像对待流感一样对待新冠病毒”……

而当时，疫情在全球已呈加速传播之势，以至于世卫组织两天后将疫情全球风险级别上调到最高级。

但是，由于低估了疫情的严重性，直到当地时间3月9日上午，美国总统特朗普在社交媒体上仍发出这样一段文字：

“去年有37,000名美国人死于普通流感。平均每年（因流感死亡）27000至70000例。（在流感疫情下）什么都没有关闭，生活和经济继续发展。目前新型冠状病毒确诊病例有546例，其中22例死亡。你们好好想想！”

（图片来源：每日经济新闻新浪微博）

不过，随着疫情的持续蔓延，截至目前，全美已经有23州和华盛顿特区宣布进入紧急状态！

下面是一位意大利人在封国后，写给世界的一封信，他希望这封信能够给所有人，特别是美国，带来警示作用。

（图片来源：视觉中国）

『 一封来自意大利的公开信 』

I am writing to you from Bergamo, Italy, at the heart of the coronavirus crisis.

我正在意大利这次新冠疫情的中心贝加莫市写这篇文章，希望大家都能看到。

The news media in the US has not captured the severity of what is happening here. I am writing this post because each of you, today, not the government, not the school district, not the mayor, each individual citizen has the chance, today to take actions that will deter the Italian situation from becoming your own country’s reality. 

美国新闻媒体的报道并没有充分呈现意大利疫情的严重状况。我写此文的原因是，今天，你们每一个人——不是政府，不是学区，不是市长，而是每一个公民——都还有机会马上采取行动，不要让你们的国家重蹈意大利的覆辙。

The only way to stop this virus is to limit contagion. And the only way to limit contagion is for millions of people to change their behavior today.

阻止病毒肆虐的唯一方法就是限制传播。而限制传播的唯一方法就是千千万万人改变现在的行为方式。

If you are in Europe or the US you are weeks away from where we are today in Italy.

如果你们目前在欧洲或美国，也许几周之后，你们所处之地就会像今天的意大利一样了。

I can hear you now. “It’s just a flu. It only affects old people with preconditions”。

我似乎能听到有人说：“这只是个流感。原本身体就不好的老人才会被传染上。”

There are 2 reasons why Coronavirus has brought Italy to it’s knees. First it is a flu is devastating when people get really sick they needweeks of ICU – and, second, because of how fast and effectively it spreads. There is 2 week incubation period and many who have it never show symptoms. 

新冠病毒令意大利几无招架之力，原因有二。第一，这种病毒极具破坏性——重症患者要接受好几周的重症监护；第二，这种病毒传播速度快，传播效率高。病毒潜伏期为两周，而病毒携带者中有很多始终没有出现症状。

When Prime Minister Conte announced last night that the entire country, 60 million people, would go on lock down, the line that struck me most was “there is no more time.” Because to be clear, this national lockdown, is a hail mary. What he means is that if the numbers of contagion do not start to go down, the system, Italy, will collapse.

昨晚意大利总理孔特宣布将封闭意大利全国——这意味着6000万意大利人将限制出行——他的讲话中，我印象最深的一句就是“我们没有时间了”。很显然，封国是孤注一掷之举。他的意思是，如果传染人数不能尽快开始减少，整个意大利就完了。

Why? Today the ICUs in Lombardy are at capacity – more than capacity. They have begun to put ICU units in the hallways. If the numbers do not go down, the growth rate of contagion tells us that there will be thousands of people who in a matter of a week? two weeks? who will need care. What will happen when there are 100, or a 1000 people who need the hospital and only a few ICU places left?

为什么这么说？今天，伦巴第大区的重症监护病房已经满载——甚至超载了。医院已经开始把重症监护病房安置在走廊里。如果传染人数还不减少，按照目前的传染增长速度，也就一周或是两周吧，就会有成千上万人需要就医。如果到时有100人或者1000人需要入院治疗但重症监护病房已所剩无几，会出现什么状况？

On Monday a doctor wrote in the paper that they have begun to have to decide who lives and who dies when the patients show up in the emergency room, like what is done in war. This will only get worse.

星期一，有位医生在报纸上发表文章说，当病人一个接一个送进急诊室时，医生们已经像在战场上一样，必须决定先救谁——决定谁生谁死。状况只会越来越糟。

There are a finite number of doctors, nurses,medical staff and they are getting the virus. They have also been working non-stop, non-stop for days and days. What happens when the doctors, nurses and medical staff are simply not able to care for the patients, when they are not there?

医生、护士等医护人员的数量是有限的，而且他们也有人被感染了。这些日子他们夜以继日地工作。如果有一天，这些医护人员再也无力照顾病人，无法坚守岗位，又会出现什么状况？

And finally for those who say that this is just something that happens to old people, starting yesterday the hospitals are reporting that younger and younger patients – 40, 45, 18, are coming in for treatment.

最后，再对那些认为只有老人会被这种病毒感染的人说一句：从昨天开始，医院报告说，前去就诊的病人越来越年轻了——40岁、45岁、18岁都有。

You have a chance to make a difference and stop the spread in your country. Push for the entire office to work at home today, cancel birthday parties, and other gatherings, stay home as much as you can.

你们还有机会做些什么，为阻止病毒在你们国家传播贡献一份力量。请让各个机构的员工现在都在家工作，请取消生日聚会等各种聚会，请尽可能待在家里。

If you have a fever, any fever, stay home. Push for school closures, now. Anything you can do to stop the spread, because it is spreading in your communities – there is a two week incubation period – and if you do these things now you can buy your medical system time.

如果发烧了，出现任何发烧症状，请一定待在家里。请现在就关闭学校。请竭尽全力阻止病毒传播，因为它会不知不觉在你们社区传播开——它可有两周的潜伏期——如果现在就开始这么做，能够为你们的医疗系统争取更多的准备时间。

And for those who say it is not possible to close the schools, and do all these other things, locking down Italy was beyond anyone’s imagination a week ago.
有人会说，关闭学校不可能，刚刚说的那些事都不可能做到——我想对他们说，一周以前，有谁会想到整个意大利都要封闭。

Soon you will not have a choice, so do what you can now.

很快你们就没有选择的余地了，所以，现在就尽全力行动吧。 

Please share。 

请转告所有人。

来源：英语世界微信公众号

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