美学者讲述隔离经历：回到美国才感到中国更安全丨外媒说
美国格林内尔学院音乐系副教授托尼·珀曼（Tony Perman）14日在美国全国广播公司（NBCNews）网站发表文章，讲述自己在中国和美国两地的两次隔离经历，并客观对比了两国人民和政府对待疫情的态度。
在标题里，作者说，我觉得在中国比回到美国更安全（"I felt safer there than back in the US"）。
摘要：我们的放任主义态度、个人自由至上以及政府领导的完全缺失，让美国人感到困惑并暴露在风险中。
托尼·珀曼一家在上海隔离六周后返美，飞机一落地，他就在机场感受到了两国防疫措施的不同。
Our anxiety was triggered as soon as we stepped on American soil. In China, airport medical checks happened before we were allowed into areas with other passengers. At Chicago O’Hare International Airport, we waited in line with hundreds of other passengers at border security before finally being identified as having just returned from China.
刚踏上美国的土地，我们就感到一阵焦虑。在中国机场，人们必须先经过医疗检查，才能进入与其他乘客共用的区域。而在芝加哥奥黑尔国际机场，我们先与数百名乘客一起在入境安检处排队等待，然后才被确认我们是从中国回来的。
在知道他们一家从中国返回后，美国疾控中心的人员给他们量了体温，并告知他们尽可能自我隔离14天。
Airport staff never even asked where we were going.
机场工作人员甚至没问过我们要去哪里。
美国隔离生活开始后，他更加明显地感觉到两国人民在抗疫这件事上，对比之强烈，可不仅仅是机场这点差别（the differences are stark well beyond their airports）。
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公共利益vs个人自由
在中国，自我隔离是每个人都认可的共同义务。
In China, the obligation to isolate felt shared and the public changed their habits almost immediately. Sterilization, cleanliness and social distancing were prioritized by everyone at all times.
在中国，人们认为隔离是一项共同义务，公众几乎立刻改变了习惯。所有人都时时刻刻把消毒、清洁和保持社交距离放在首位。
prioritize /praɪˈɒrɪˌtaɪz/：优先考虑
而在美国，个人自由很重要。
In contrast, individual liberty is the engine that drives American exceptionalism. There are certainly valid questions about how much of it to sacrifice in the name of the public good, but our laissez-faire attitude, prioritization of personal freedom and utter lack of government leadership have left Americans confused and exposed.
相比之下，个人自由是推动美国例外论的引擎。当然，个人为了公共利益可以作出多大牺牲，确实是值得探讨的问题，但我们的放任主义态度、个人自由至上以及政府领导的完全缺失，让美国人感到困惑并暴露在风险中。
American exceptionalism：美国例外论。美国文化中的一个理念，认为美国是个与众不同、独特优越的国家。
laissez-faire /ˌleseɪ ˈfeə(r)/ ：自由放任政策
❷
在中国：去趟超市量4次体温
在美国：隔离全靠自觉
作者讲述了自己在中国隔离期间观察到的各种严格措施：
Every building required a temperature reading by security guards before entry. On my last excursion to a big supermarket before we left, I had my temperature taken four times between my apartment door and the produce section.
进每一栋楼前都有保安量体温。我回国前最后一次去超市，从出公寓门到超市农产品区这一路，就被量了4次体温。
Government offices and hospitals required travel history questionnaires to prevent anyone who’d been near the virus outbreak epicenter of Hubei from entering.
相关政府单位和医院在进门口要求人们填写旅行史问卷，避免有湖北旅行史的人进入大楼。
同时，全社会都严格自律并互相监督。
Because everyone was isolated due to a complex mix of state mandates, housing authority restrictions, peer pressure and a deep sense of personal responsibility, flaunting those expectations by going out in public without masks or gathering in crowds was noticeable, frowned upon and even rebuked.
政府命令、小区限制、同伴压力和强烈个人责任感融合成的一种复杂状态，使得每个人都在进行隔离。所以，不戴口罩外出或人群聚集在一处就变得格外瞩目、引人不满，甚至会遭到指责。
mandate /ˈmændeɪt/：命令
frown upon：皱眉；不赞成；不同意
rebuke/rɪˈbjuːk/ ：指责
而在美国，根本没人管你有没有居家隔离。
Here, if we didn’t decide to isolate ourselves, who would know? 在这里，如果我们决定不自我隔离，又有谁会知道？
We’ve also been told not to bother with masks, and temperature-taking is an afterthought.
官方也告诉我们不用戴口罩，测量体温也不过是事后补救的办法。
❸
人人为我，我为人人
由于带着根深蒂固的西方意识形态，作者无法判断中国政府的做法是对还是错，但他认为这些措施是管用的（Rightly or wrongly, the Chinese state’s heavy-handed approach seemed to work）。
他尤其认可每个中国人自觉展现出的责任感，认为这值得美国人学习。
There are lessons to be learned from the Chinese people... including everybody must accept their own responsibility, vulnerability and complicity — sacrificing “rights” for the collective good — or many of us will die.
值得从中国人民身上汲取的经验包括：每个人都必须接受自己的责任、脆弱性和连带关系——为了集体利益牺牲“权利”，否则，我们中许多人将失去性命。
collective：集体的
尽管作者看待中国政治体制还带着西方固有偏见，但他感受到中国人有一种“人人为我，我为人人”（ all for one and one for all）的道德观念。
There was a palpable “all for one and one for all” ethos. palpable /ˈpælpəbl/：可感知的; 明显的 ethos /ˈiːθɒs/：道德观；理念
而在美国，联邦政府对公众几乎没有有效的指导，责任都压在潜在病毒感染者身上。
With so little federal guidance, there is a trickle-down economy of responsibility and it is up to the potentially diseased to keep nondiseased people safe, while any government or collective provisions seem wholly inadequate.
联邦的指导屈指可数，责任也呈现出滴漏效应的特点，完全要靠潜在感染者来保护未感染者的健康，同时任何政府或集体的规定都显得苍白无力。
trickle-down economy：滴漏经济学，指在经济发展过程中，并不给与贫困阶层特别的优待，而是降低对富裕阶层的税收以激发经济增长和创造就业，从而实现总体经济繁荣。
provision：规定
❹
威胁者vs无辜者
作者在中国有一种强烈的感受，即在全民抗疫的过程中，每个人都是平等的存在。谁都可能是病毒携带者，谁都可能有被感染的风险。人人都戴着口罩，人人都有责任防止病毒传播。
In each of these moves to quell the spread of infection, it felt as if everybody was treated the same. There was never one set of guidelines for people who were potential infection risks and another for innocent bystanders. We were all at risk; we were all potential threats. Everyone was equally responsible for avoiding infecting others.
在为遏制病毒扩散而采取的每一项措施中，每个人似乎都得到了同等对待。从来都不是一套指导原则针对具有潜在感染风险的人，而另一套指导原则针对无辜旁观者。我们都面临风险；我们都是潜在威胁。每个人在避免感染他人方面都负有同样的责任。
而在美国，“潜在感染者”和“自认健康者”有着明显的分别。
潜在的病毒携带者是一个威胁，而其他自认健康的人则事不关己高高挂起。
There’s a clear distinction between the contagious and the “innocent” who shouldn’t have to change their behavior for anyone because individual liberty is a greater value than collective deference.
有传染性的人与“无辜”者之间有着明确区别，后者不必为任何人改变自己的行为，因为个人自由的价值大于集体顺从。
更糟糕的是，华裔成为了被歧视和攻击的对象。
People who appear Chinese are particularly being targeted with harassment and blamed in the US, reinforcing the divide between threat and innocent.
在美国，外貌像华裔的人尤其会受到骚扰和指责，威胁者与无辜者之间的割裂又加深了一层。
这种把疾病政治化的作法，令作者痛心疾首。
In our already polarized country, we don’t need another social division. And every day the disease is politicized in this way is a day when the virus’s utter disregard for passports and party affiliation gives it the upper hand.
我们这个国家已经足够分化的了，别再来一种新的社会分裂了。而且，疾病以这种方式被政治化的每一天，都是这种无视护照和党派隶属关系的病毒占据上风的一天。
❺
美国人该怎么办
文章的最后，作者对比了中国和美国的现状。他说，美国政府无法阻止疫情扩散，美国人民自己要负起责任来。
We left Shanghai as the city was showing signs of flickering optimism. New cases were rare. Life was returning to normal, and the millions of quarantined residents were emerging tentatively from the shadows.
我们离开上海时，这座城市正显示出若隐若现的乐观迹象。新增病例很少。生活正在回归正常，数以百万计被隔离的居民试探性地从隐蔽处探出头来。
We entered the US as a country in panic. Guidelines shift from day to day and agency to agency. Coronavirus tests and adequate health facilities are in short supply. It’s clear that the government can’t stop the spread.
我们进入美国时，全国正处于恐慌中。指导原则一天一变，每个机构都不一样。新冠病毒检测盒和卫生设施供应不足。显然，美国政府无法阻止病毒扩散。
We can’t simply hope high-risk people manage to avoid infecting others. It is up to all of us and each of us. We are all threats and we are all innocents.
我们不能只寄望于高危人群不去感染他人。真正要靠的是我们所有人、每一个人。我们都是威胁者，我们都是无辜者。
编辑：大春
来源：美国全国广播公司 参考消息
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