WUE·纽约 | 这对美国老夫妇从法国滑雪回来，一切都变了

Original 地球er 地球公场 2022-08-09

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在人类可以移居火星之前，我们还生活在同一个地球。不分国界，不分种族，不分信仰，不分时区，我们都是观念上的地球公民。在这个地球公场，让我们呼吁理解、联结、合作、彼此支撑与爱。

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截至5月15日，全球Covid -19病毒确诊病例超过440万，累计死亡超过30万，累计痊愈超过155万。美国确诊超过141万，死亡85,898例，痊愈246,414例。

纽约作为美国疫情的“震中”，截至当地时间14号，纽约州确诊案例已达338,617例，死亡27,448例。但值得关注的是，近一个月来，纽约州的死亡率和住院率都在呈下降趋势，疫情似乎在逐步得到控制。

4月26日，纽约州长Andrew Cuomo曾提出，纽约州将于昨天（5月15日）起启动“复工”，按阶段逐步恢复经济，“居家令”逐步解除。当地时间5月14日晚，州长Cuomo宣布，原定于15日到期的“居家禁令”已延长至5月28日，紧急状态令中的“执行机制”也将持续到6月13日。纽约州五个地区将正式开始进入重新开放的第一个阶段，而纽约市不在这次开放名单内。

Chen和Pat是生活在纽约州40多年的一对老夫妇。他们热爱滑雪，二月中下旬，疫情在美国只有零星案例时，他们正好去法国进行一年一度的滑雪度假。随后两人又去了西班牙和葡萄牙。欧洲20多天旅程，3月再次回到纽约时，眼前的一切像变了一个世界。

在受邀为地球公场“WUE计划”写下的“纽约疫情记录”里，Chen和Pat分享了他们在旅行途中感受到的“疫情初期的欧洲”，以及回到美国后在纽约的居家隔离生活和对疫情的审视与反思。在他们眼里，这次疫情就像宗教里“闭关静修”（retreat），可以想清楚到底什么对人生最重要。同时也相信，人类经历过各种灾难，这一次，也能度过去，要看到乌云背后的希望（silver lining）。

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疫情之下的纽约是什么样的？在今天的文章开始之前，和大家分享一个来自Spike Lee（斯派克·李）的短片——NEW YORK NEW YORK。Spike Lee是美国电影制作人、导演，曾获得奥斯卡金像奖终身成就奖。来看看他眼中的纽约。视频来源：Instagram @officialspikelee

今天要分享的，是Chen和Pat分享的疫情记录。Chen和Pat夫妇用英文写作，为了方便中文读者阅读，我们把中、英文的内容在此处分享，英文原版文章放在今天第二条推送。

二月中旬，我们一家人正在法国沉浸在一年一度的冬季滑雪假期，当时并没有太关注到关于美国出现新冠病毒的消息。

While concentrating on our family annual ski vacation in France in the middle of February, we did not pay much attention to the news about Coronavirus.

Chen与Pat和家人在法国滑雪。图源：Chen&Pat

去法国滑雪，在西班牙、葡萄牙与疫情擦肩

我们离开纽约之前，关于新冠病毒，我们只是知道在一月底中国的武汉疫情开始变得严重，中国采取了一些应对疫情的措施。而我们二月中旬离开纽约时，美国还一片安宁，疫情只是报纸上国际新闻版的消息。

We had only learned before the trip the news that the Wuhan area in China was plagued by a Coronaviruses epidemic. The situation over there became very serious and the government sealed off the whole area. When we left home in the middle of February, life in the U.S. was quite normal. The Coronavirus epidemic was only news in newspapers, far away from us.

所以，在滑雪度假村的那两周，我们每天的注意力都放在想着第二天和女儿女婿一家，去哪里滑雪，再到哪个餐厅解决午餐，如何与外孙女外孙子玩Scopa游戏。每日被雪山环绕，我基本没有查看新闻。

Even when we were on the ski slopes, our attention focused on where to ski the next day and at which restaurant to have lunch or how to play a card game, Scopa, with our grandchildren. Just like a regular skier. Surrounded by beautiful white snow ski mountains, I seldom checked the news.

今年和我们一起相约到法国滑雪的，除了女儿一家四人，还有我们一位意大利好朋友的女儿，我们都从纽约出发。还有我的大儿子，他从加拿大多伦多出发。我们的计划是：大家一起在法国滑雪两周，年轻人回去工作、孩子们回去上学；我和太太Pat会继续去西班牙、葡萄牙旅行。我们退休了，有足够的“假期”。

With us skiing in France were my daughter’s family of four, my oldest son coming from Toronto, Canada and the daughter of our good friend who is Italian. Our plan was after two weeks of skiing together, the young people would go back to work or to school. I and my wife, Pat, would continue to visit Spain and Portugal for one week. Since we are retired, we have plenty of time to travel.

Chen与Pat和孙女在法国滑雪图源：Chen & Pat

但是，没有想到的是，两个星期过去后，新闻变得越来越大。我先是看到《华尔街日报》的消息说，一个爱滑雪的英国人在新加坡感染了病毒，到法国滑雪时，又感染了他的5个英国同伴。

However, no one could predict that three weeks went by and the news became bigger and bigger. First, we read the news from the Wall Street Journal that an English person was infected with Coronavirus in Singapore and then he spread it to another 5 people while he went to ski in the French Alps.

接着，看到欧洲的一些国家开始采取“减缓措施”来检查入境的游客，一些国家关闭了它们的国际航线。

Some countries in Europe started to take mitigating measures to check tourists entering their countries. Even some countries started to cancel their international commercial flights.

我们夫妇两人还是按原计划从法国飞到了西班牙，航班还算顺利。回想在西班牙和葡萄牙那一周，当地人看起来还都算平静，至少在那时，一些公共活动也都照常进行。

We followed our original plan, flied to Spain from France, and the whole trip was pretty smooth. Now I recalled that week in Spain and Portugal, people there were seemingly calm and carried on their normal activities.

圣地亚哥大教堂图源：网络

我记得，在西班牙，我们还看到它们在举行狂欢节，那时疫情还没有阻止西班牙人的热情。我们主要的目的地，是去圣地亚哥大教堂（西班牙朝圣者之路的终点站）。我们到过圣地亚哥徒步四次了，但这次又去了。当时，一路见到的人戴口罩的并不多，人们好像也并不紧张。

I remember, In Spain, we had a chance to watch their Carnaval, and the pandemic hadn’t impacted their celebration. Our main purpose during this Spain trip is to visit the magnificent cathedral in Santiago. Although we have been in Santiago four times and are still not tired of it. We didn’t see many people wear the mask nor they were cautious about the pandemic.

后来我们又去葡萄牙呆了四天。葡萄牙虽然是个小国家，但是有着丰富的历史和文化。我们主要在里斯本，那是座美丽的小城，那几天我们几乎很轻松地步行逛了整座城市，感受着它的当下和历史。在当时在那个环境里，真得感觉不太到欧洲人有多么紧张疫情。

After that, we spent four days in Portugal. Although she is a small country, she has a rich history and culture. Lisbon is beautiful. We walked easily throughout the city on foot. We still could see its glorious past. It was quite pleasant. As pleasant as the beautiful Lisbon, you didn’t feel the tension and cautiousness of the coming pandemic.

所以到后来，看到西班牙的疫情蔓延迅速，葡萄牙也实行了历史上首次“全国紧急状态”，真得很感慨这场病毒的破坏力。

With the swift spread of the covid-19 in Spain and even it caused the first ‘national emergency’ in Portugal history. It’s hard to imagine during our trip at that time, and it is difficult to comprehend the impact of the virus.

回到美国，纽约像是变了一个世界

在欧洲呆了20多天，我们也开始有些焦虑并且希望尽快回到美国的家。

We spend more than three weeks in Europe, near the end of the trip, we started to get anxious and hoped to go home soon.

幸运的是，在欧洲的“防疫政策”变得越来越严之前，我们大家都顺利回到了家。那时，孩子们都比我们提前回到了纽约、多伦多。我们早先订好的回纽约的航班没有取消，也在3月7号顺利回到了纽约。

We were glad the whole family returned home before more restrictions were introduced in Europe. In the meantime, our children went back to Toronto and New York before us. We went back home to New York on March 7th.

疫情在纽约爆发以后，新罗谢尔成为了纽约州第一个被封锁的地方，国民警卫队入驻管理，统一向居民派送食物和生活物资。图源：dailymail

回到纽约后，我们得知，纽约州的第一个新冠病毒确诊病人就在新罗谢尔——离我们家几英里距离的隔壁镇。我们日常购物的超市Costco就在那个镇。那时，约1.6公里以外的New Rochelle已经被列为封锁区,国民警卫队已经进驻管理，统一向居民派送食物和生活物资。

At home, the first Coronavirus case occurred in New Rochelle which is the next town to us, just a few miles away from our home. We usually go to shop for food at Costco in that town. One mile in diameter surrounding the affected family area was sealed off and the national guard were also sent there delivering food or other essentials to the residents.

从那以后，我们也不再去那边的超市采购食物。很快，在纽约市和其它州陆续更多病例出现。

Since then, we do not shop for food in that town any more. A few days later, more cases were found in New York City and in other states.

也是在那时，美国也陆续采取了一些应对疫情的措施：像是强调勤洗手、遵守社交距离、在家远程工作，店铺关闭除了药店、超市等基本必要服务，餐厅也只提供外卖服务，学校也关了，人们都在家隔离。我女儿一家回到纽约不久，她和先生开始在家工作，孩子们的学校也关了。纽约市的主干街道几乎都空了。短短一周时间，我们像到了另一个世界。

At the same time a series of mitigating measurements were implemented in the country, like washing hands frequently, social distancing, working at home, stores closing except for essential services, restaurants are for take-out only, school closing, people staying at home. The major streets in New York City were virtually empty. My daughter’s family came back to New York. Not long afterward she and her husband also had to work from home and the school for her kids closed. It seemed to us that we were in a different world.

受到新冠肺炎的影响，纽约市难得的出现了空空荡荡的场景。图源：网络

而就在一个月前，纽约的年轻人每天去上班，学校都是开的，餐厅里挤满了人。我们去法国前一天晚上，在意大利好友的儿子开的餐厅，吃了旅行前的最后一餐。我还记得那天晚上餐厅里的笑声。

Just one month ago, young people went to work every day, schools were open and restaurants were filled with customers. And we had a great meal at an Italian restaurant owned by my good Friend’s son. The conversation and laughter still echoing in my memory.

如今，新闻照片上看去，往日鲜活的纽约变得像一座空城。同样，远在欧洲的意大利也深受重创。【点击链接🔗，查看《一个中国留学生的意大利疫情故事》】

The vivid New York City looks like an empty city from recent news photos. Italia in Europe was also hit hard by the pandemic.

疫情之下，人们纷纷居家隔离，许多城市成为了空城。上图为意大利的街头，下图为美国纽约的街头。图源：Twitter @NYC_Alive @UrbanwearTS

相比纽约，加拿大的防疫措施也差不多。我的大儿子在加拿大多伦多工作，他回到多伦多后，需要“自我隔离”，开始为期两周的居家远程工作。我想，相比可能被滞留在欧洲，在家隔离式上班已经好多了。如今，两个月多，他仍然在家办公，甚至这期间还换了一个新工作。【点击链接🔗，查看《11岁加拿大女孩眼中的疫情是什么样的？》】

Compare to New York State, the situation of social distancing was similar in Toronto, Canada. My oldest son works there. He has to work at home for two weeks when he returned from France. Working from home is much better than being trapped in a foreign country. After two months, he still works at home and even he changed to a new job.

居家隔离就像宗教里的“闭关静修”

对我们夫妇来说，呆在家里并不是一件坏事。因为一个月的欧洲旅行，我们也累了。这段时间正好可以不受打扰做一些想做的事，也不必急于做些什么。每天，我们可以试着整理下花园，读读书，在院子里散散步，看几部电影，打扫房间。关于生活物资的采购，我们也减少了去超市的次数，改为每两周去一次。

Staying home for us is not a bad. We are retired. It gives us more time to do what we want to do without interruptions and less rush. Every day we can do more gardening, reading, walking and watching movies on the TV or cleaning the house. We have cut down our shopping trips to Costco to buy food to every two weeks.

纽约的一家超市前，人们在排着队等待。图源：USA Today

值得一提的是，纽约州政府建议各个超市设立了专门供老年人的购物时间，一来避免人多，二来也避免人们囤积货物，导致老年人购物时货物已经售罄。超市还限制一次进入购物的人数。我看到，人们在外排队等候时，彼此都自觉地保持6英尺的距离。

At the supermarket, they have set up special times for seniors to go to the store to avoid crowds. They also limit the number of people going into the store at one time. People voluntarily stay 6 feet apart and wait in line patiently outside the store.

我能感觉到，在疫情下，人们变得更文明了，反而不那么急躁鲁莽。我们的邻居，一家犹太人，会主动问我们是否需要什么帮助。是不是很好？

We feel people are more civilized now and less rushed. Our neighbors, a Jewish family, always ask us what we need. Isn’t that nice to hear?

“居家隔离令”让社区更加安静，也让邻里之间彼此更加关爱。图源：Chen&Pat

我和太太Pat都是天主教徒，疫情蔓延后，我们的教堂暂时关闭了，实际上全纽约的教堂几乎都关闭了。但是Pat感觉，隔离在家的状态，很像宗教里的“闭关静修”，你可以借这个机会静下来想想什么是你人生里最重要的。对我来说，在家隔离也像《圣经》里的逾越节。我们都很焦虑甚至恐慌，等待着这次疫情可以Pass Over 我们。

Pat and I are Catholic. Our parish church, actually all churches in New York, are closed. She feels that staying at home is like a religious retreat, just concentrating on what is important in life. To me, stay-home is like the story of Passover in the Bible. We all anxiously wait for this pandemic Pass over us.

FaceTime里的孩子们与Zoom里的兄弟姐妹

由于每个人都要遵守在家隔离，我们也不能去看望住在附近的女儿一家。我怀念我们以前每周末在一起的时光。往常，每到周末我们会去运动场看孙子孙女打球。小孩子们总是长得很快。如果疫情不能尽快控制，我们几个月不见面，孩子们可能一下长大变了样子。

Since we are all staying at home, we cannot visit our children’s families nearby. We miss family gatherings. We miss watching our grandchildren’s ball games on the weekend. Grandchildren grow so fast. They change their look if we don’t see them in a month.

Chen和Pat夫妇的孙子孙女，孩子总是长大的很快。图源：Chen&Pat

所以我们现在经常用视频电话沟通，但毕竟不是面对面相处。你能用视频电话和小孩子聊什么呢？我们8岁的孙子就在视频那头说：我不知道要跟你说什么。

Now we do a lot of FaceTime with them but FaceTime is not personal contact. How much you can talk to children on FaceTime? Our grandson said to us “I don’t know what to say to you.”

最近，我们倒是用视频电话和国外的朋友们经常联系。Pat共有10个兄弟姐妹，他们大多住在波士顿地区。他们那里也采取了类似的防疫措施。这段时间，我们也是用facetime或zoom和他们对话、互报平安。这也是第一次体验这么多兄弟姐妹的面孔都在视频屏幕中。这算是网络时代的优势？

Recently, we also do FaceTime more often with our friends overseas. Pat has ten siblings. Most of them live in the Boston area. Boston too has the same restrictions as New York. We do FaceTime or Zoom with her family to talk and to share our feelings. To virtual visit more than eleven people on a computer screen at the same time is quite an experience. Isn’t the internet wonderful?

居家隔离像宗教里的“闭关静修”，也让人们更看重大家庭里的亲情。图源：Chen&Pat

（本段的中文译文因不知名原因无法通过审核，所以只能让大家自行翻译啦。本段大意：纽约州的学校都关闭，孩子们都在进行远程学习。纽约州的学校要到9月才开学。这对于那些有着学龄孩子但父母都要上班的家庭来说，真是件头疼的事。）

The school children here are fortunate indeed. Although their school is closed, they learn online. Teachers assign homework and check attendance online. Our grandchildren spend several hours each day doing online learning. They also learn Tae-Kwon-Do online. Their instructor can watch their movements. Our grandchildren passed the yellow belt test and were promoted last weekend. The latest news is that schools in New York State will remain closed until September. That will cause a lot headache for the working parents who have young children.

因为人们都在家呆着，很多人有了大量时间上网。最大的行为肯定是网上采购生活物资。亚马逊最近的网络订单破了历史记录。他们甚至计划再雇佣5万个员工！另外，呆在家里，很多人的体重也涨了好几磅。我看到有专家预测，因为疫情明年可能还会迎来一个小小的“婴儿潮”。我觉得很有可能。【点击链接🔗，查看《疫情下的“性生活”会不会引发“婴儿潮”？》】

Because people stay home, many have to time to surf on the internet. Shopping on line is a big business. Amazon receives a record number of orders. They even want to hire 50000 workers! By staying home people also easily add a few pounds. Some experts even predict by next year there may be a baby blip. That is quite possible.

期待“乌云背后的幸福线”

鲜花设计师Lewis Miller把鲜花装饰在了曼哈顿街头的角角落落。“华尔街公牛”对面“无畏的女孩”也被披上了鲜花袍。哪怕在逆境之中，纽约也依然灿烂和倔强。图源：网络

在我们一生中，我们经历过很多恐怖的事，就像毁灭性的飓风。从核战争到人口大爆炸，从疟疾到艾滋病。我们都从中走过来了。这次的新冠疫情确实恐怖。然而，我们还是要有信心，人类的力量能胜过这次灾难。我们的社会应该付出更多努力和关注，解决最基本的健康问题。这是否算是不幸中的一线希望？

In our lifetime we have experienced many scary, potentially catastrophic storms. From nuclear wars to population explosions, from malaria to HIV diseases. We avoided them all. The Corona virus pandemic is scary. However, we are optimistic and confident that human ingenuity will defeat this pandemic. Our society will pay more attention to our basic health issues. Isn’t that a silver- lining?

好消息是，新罗谢尔的那位纽约州新冠病毒“零号感染者”—— 50岁的犹太律师已经出院（4月27日），新罗谢尔市也解封了。更重要的，现在全球有80个国家在努力研发对抗新冠病毒的疫苗。上一周，美国FDA批准了瑞德西韦在美国作为对抗新冠病毒的紧急用药。也有新闻报道说，到这个夏天尾声有疫苗会研发出来。如果这是真的，会给人们一些信心回归正常生活。我希望它是真的！

The good news is that the first patient from Coronavirus in New Rochelle was discharged from the hospital and the area where his family lives is opened again. The more important news is that more than 80 companies throughout the world are racing to develop Coronavirus vaccines or therapeutic treatments. Last week the FDA approved Remdesivir by Gilead to treat Coronavirus on an emergency basis. And it is also reported that vaccines may be available by late summer. If it is true, that will give people confidence to return to normalcy. I hope it will be true!

——END——

Chen与Pat夫妇：两人都是资深纽约客。先生Chen在中国台湾长大，30多岁时移居纽约。太太Pat在美国长大。两人都喜爱户外运动、滑雪和露营。如今已退休。图片为Chen与Pat今年二月底在法国滑雪。

文中记录代表作者个人观点。更多内容可参看WUE2020计划往期目录。

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