CGTN快评 | 缅怀逝者 礼赞生命 Mourn the past and celebrate life

今年的清明节多了些不一样的情感。人们不仅追忆亲人，更特别珍视和感激那些在抗疫过程中舍己为人的同胞们。灾后重建的道路可能会漫长而曲折，让我们追忆过往，砥砺前行。
This year's Qingming Festival more than evokes connections with families, it makes one value the sacrifice of others with greater depth and broader appreciation. Rebuilding life after trauma can be a long and winding path. We mourn the past and carry on in the days ahead.

At 10 a.m., sirens sounded, colleagues rose from their seats, and the office came to a halt.

4月4日上午10点，防空警报鸣响，办公室的同事们纷纷放下手中的工作，从座位上站起来致敬默哀。 

It's not every day one hears such sound throughout Beijing and the country, and much rarer when it happens on an important holiday like Qingming Festival. But then, it's not a usual Qingming Festival.

并非每天都能在北京和全国各地听到这样的警报声，在清明节这样的重要节假日期间更是少见。因为，今年的清明节并不普通。 

Saying this year is special is an understatement. Over the past months, Chinese people, along with the rest of the world, buried more of their loved ones than it should've been. COVID-19 has taken 55,000 lives, more than 3,000 of them are from China. The traditional families spring outings are now canceled by the need to avoid large public gatherings – those suffering or recuperating from tragedy are not likely to be in the mood to enjoy the season.

今年很难仅用“特别”一词来形容。在过去的几个月中，中国人民与世界各国人民一道送走了许多本不该逝去的亲人。新冠肺炎夺走了55,000多条生命，其中3000多人来自中国。今天，许多家庭放弃了传统的春游活动，避免大型公众聚会。而那些仍在遭受病毒折磨或正在康复的人们，无论是从精神还是从身体上来讲，都可能无法享受这个春暖花开的季节。

This morning, Chinese President Xi Jinping attended a mourning ceremony in Beijing. The country remembers the lives lost to the disease.
今天上午，中国国家主席习近平在北京出席了悼念仪式，缅怀那些在新冠肺炎疫情中逝世的同胞。国家不会忘记他们。

Qingming has always been a festival in which happiness goes alongside sadness. For many, it is the chance to mourn the deceased. Also, it gives families – past and present – an opportunity to come together, reconnect or refresh the connection between one another. Parents find solace in standing in front of their fathers' and mothers' tomb and telling them about the year that has gone by. Kids, while many still trying to grasp the gravity of the time, find joy in this short respite from school and light their relatives' day with their youth and, simply, life.

清明节历来是一个悲喜交加的节日。对于许多人而言，这是一个悼念逝者的日子。家人团聚，叙旧话新。家长们站在父母墓前，讲述过去一年的故事，从中收获慰藉。孩子们虽然还未能完全参透清明祭扫的意义，但可以从短暂的假期中找到欢乐，他们的青春活力给家人带来轻松愉悦。 

Today, however, is layered with other emotions. This year's Qingming more than evokes connections with families, it makes one value the sacrifice of others with greater depth and broader appreciation.

然而，今年清明节又多了些不一样的情感。人们不仅追忆亲人，还特别珍视和感激那些在抗疫过程中舍己为人的同胞们。 

At the height of the outbreak, it simply felt like getting through a day without health problems was pure luck. Luck does play its part. But those who've spent their days – in some cases, lives – on the frontline might have a different say in this. Some of them went through more than their share of pain and loss so that their families, friends, the country and, without any exaggeration, the world might be able to mitigate the impact of the virus.

在疫情最严重的时候，人们感觉健康活过一天就是幸运的。但是对于那些在抗疫一线度过无数日日夜夜（有时甚至走完一生）的人而言，运气是靠不住的。他们中的一些人忍受着莫大的痛苦和损失，只为确保亲人、朋友、国家甚至全世界少受疫情折磨。

2020年2月22日，湖北省武汉市第一医院医护人员在进入隔离病房前互相帮助穿戴防护服。（新华社）

Medical staff and military personnel have put themselves in jeopardy and danger so that the rest could avoid being infected or suffering at the hand of the disease. Those who've spent months confined to their apartments and their residential areas gave up parts of their lives to facilitate a more effective national response to the pandemic.

医务人员和军人们舍生赴险，保护大家免受感染和疾病折磨。那些居家隔离数月的人们放弃了一部分原本属于自己的生活，来支持国家更有效地应对疫情。 

As the country tries to step out of the crisis and people work their way back to normal, the day is for remembering these people and those who are still at the forefront of holding the disease at bay – whether within China or outside. Some may say that living is the continuation of their lost loved ones' lives. But, the deceased are irreplaceable.

中国正在逐步走出危机，人民也在复工复产。今天是我们共同纪念这些国内外的勇士们以及那些仍坚守在抗疫一线的工作人员的一天。有人可能会说，逝者已矣，生者如斯。但是，逝者是无法替代的。

But it is the living's duty and, if I may, obligation to live every day to the fullest – both in the individual and collective sense. Throughout months of the crisis, we've come to know about stories of strangers using their own resources to provide whatever material and emotional support they can to those who are suffering and to countries who've chosen to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with us despite not being influenced by the disease at the time.

但不管是作为个人还是集体的一份子，生者有责任也有义务做到不负韶华，只争朝夕。在疫情期间，我们听到许多感人的故事，素昧平生者利用自己的资源向受疫情影响的人们提供物质和情感支持，并且向此前未受疫情影响、但却一直与我们并肩抗疫的国家提供援助。 

We've also seen unfairness, injustices, and prejudice. We've borne witness to loopholes within our system, to people who insist on traveling or moving around knowing they've contracted the disease and to foreigners and foreign powers who indiscriminately treat anyone who shares our heritage – or in their eyes, look like us – with discriminatory and racially-charged rhetoric, harassment, and violence.

我们也目睹了种种不公平、不公正和带有偏见的现象。我们认识到了自身应对机制的漏洞，看到了明知感染却坚持旅行或走动的人们，也知晓了一部分外国人和外国势力以种族歧视性的言语、骚扰甚至暴力，不分青红皂白地对待亚裔人群。 

It is the living's obligation to repay the kindness others have shown us and to confront the problems that have come to light. Rebuilding life after trauma can be a long and winding path. But this is our responsibility. We mourn the past and carry on in the days ahead.

生者有义务投桃报李，也有义务直面问题，灾后重建的道路可能会漫长而曲折。但这是我们需要肩负的责任。让我们追忆过往，砥砺前行。

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