2020年经济学人 美国新冠肺炎激增(1)

United States

美国版块

The virus

病毒

Here it goes again

卷土重来

America is in the midst of an extraordinary surge of covid-19

美国正处于新冠肺炎异常激增的时期

On the same weekend that Florida smashed the single-day state record for cases of covid-19—reporting over 15,000 in one day— Disney World, the gargantuan¹ theme park in Orlando, opened its doors to masked revellers. At the start of June, when cases and deaths looked to be declining after reaching the terrible milestone² of 100,000 dead, America appeared to have managed its epidemic³ as well as Europe— neither superbly nor awfully⁴. Both began opening then at roughly the same time.

佛罗里达州报告一日内新增新冠肺炎病例超过15000例，打破了新冠肺炎病例的单日纪录，就在这同一个周末——位于奥兰多的大型主题公园迪士尼世界向戴口罩的游客们敞开了大门。六月初，美国新冠肺炎死亡人数达到10万这个可怕的里程碑之后，新增病例数以及死亡人数似乎在下降，美国似乎和欧洲一样控制了疫情，控制过程既不出色，也没有很糟糕。两者几乎在同一时间进行开放的。

There was one difference, however. Some American states began reopening even as infection looked to be growing, as governors sought to cast off the shackles⁵ of locked-down life and a half-open economy. Bars crowded with thirsty patrons, restaurants reopened. There were some mass gatherings⁶, whether to protest against racial injustice⁷ or to attend the president’s restarted rallies. Six weeks later, America is facing a secondary surge of cases quite unlike any other country. Having muddled⁸ along just about as well as other Western democracies, America now looks to be exceptional, in a disastrous⁹ way.

但也存在一点差异。即使感染人数似乎在增加，一些美国州还是开始重新开放，州长们试图摆脱封锁的生活以及半开放的经济的桎梏。酒吧里挤满了饥渴的顾客，餐馆重新开张了。也开始出现了一些群众集会，无论是抗议种族不平等，还是参加总统的重新开始举行竞选集会。六周后，与其他国家不同，美国面临着第二轮的病例激增的情况。美国之前和其他西方民主国家一起得过且过来捱过病毒，但现在看来，美国是个例外，并使美国处于灾难状态。

Some states, like California, which seemed to be early success stories in containing covid have also been beset¹⁰ by surges. On July 13th Gavin Newsom, the governor, announced that bars, indoor restaurants and cinemas would be closed to arrest the spread of the virus. On the same day schools in Los Angeles and San Diego announced that for 600,000 pupils the fall semester would begin online-only.

加利福尼亚州等的一些州似乎是遏制病毒感染的早期成功案例，但现在也受到了第二波病毒激增的侵扰。7月13日，州长加文·纽森宣布，酒吧、室内餐厅和电影院将关闭，以阻止病毒的传播。同一天，洛杉矶和圣地亚哥的学校宣布，秋季学期将只对60万名学生进行网上授课。

Predicting the course of the virus has proved remarkably¹¹ difficult. When Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott, the Republican governors of Florida and Texas, delayed stay-at-home orders in March they seemed to be inviting¹² the virus to spread. That wave has now arrived as predicted, only three months late. Governors did not heed¹³ the warning signs—a rise in the share of tests coming back positive, reports of increased hospitalisations—until too late.

事实证明，预测病毒的传播过程非常困难。当佛罗里达州和德克萨斯州的共和党州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯和格雷格·阿博特在3月份推迟居家令时，他们似乎是在邀请病毒传播。这股浪潮现在如期而至，只晚了三个月。州长们并没有注意到这些警告信号——检测结果呈阳性的比例上升，关于住院人数增加的报道——意识到的时候一切都太迟了。

1 gargantuan   

adj.巨大的，庞大的

参考例句：

• My gargantuan,pristine machine was good for writing papers and playing solitaire,and that was all.我那庞大的、早期的计算机只适合写文章和玩纸牌游戏，就这些。
• Right away,I realized this was a mistake of gargantuan proportions.我立刻意识到这是一个巨大的错误。

2 milestone   

n.里程碑；划时代的事件

参考例句：

• The film proved to be a milestone in the history of cinema.事实证明这部影片是电影史上的一个里程碑。
• I think this is a very important milestone in the relations between our two countries.我认为这是我们两国关系中一个十分重要的里程碑。

3 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

4 awfully   

adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地

参考例句：

• Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。
• I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。

5 shackles   

手铐( shackle的名词复数 )； 脚镣； 束缚； 羁绊

参考例句：

• a country struggling to free itself from the shackles of colonialism 为摆脱殖民主义的枷锁而斗争的国家
• The cars of the train are coupled together by shackles. 火车的车厢是用钩链连接起来的。

6 gatherings   

聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集

参考例句：

• His conduct at social gatherings created a lot of comment. 他在社交聚会上的表现引起许多闲话。
• During one of these gatherings a pupil caught stealing. 有一次，其中一名弟子偷窃被抓住。

7 injustice   

n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利

参考例句：

• They complained of injustice in the way they had been treated.他们抱怨受到不公平的对待。
• All his life he has been struggling against injustice.他一生都在与不公正现象作斗争。

8 muddled   

adj.混乱的；糊涂的；头脑昏昏然的v.弄乱，弄糟( muddle的过去式)；使糊涂；对付，混日子

参考例句：

• He gets muddled when the teacher starts shouting. 老师一喊叫他就心烦意乱。
• I got muddled up and took the wrong turning. 我稀里糊涂地拐错了弯。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 disastrous   

adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的

参考例句：

• The heavy rainstorm caused a disastrous flood.暴雨成灾。
• Her investment had disastrous consequences.She lost everything she owned.她的投资结果很惨，血本无归。

10 beset   

v.镶嵌；困扰，包围

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• The plan was beset with difficulties from the beginning.这项计划自开始就困难重重。

11 remarkably   

ad.不同寻常地，相当地

参考例句：

• I thought she was remarkably restrained in the circumstances. 我认为她在那种情况下非常克制。
• He made a remarkably swift recovery. 他康复得相当快。

12 inviting   

adj.诱人的，引人注目的

参考例句：

• An inviting smell of coffee wafted into the room.一股诱人的咖啡香味飘进了房间。
• The kitchen smelled warm and inviting and blessedly familiar.这间厨房的味道温暖诱人，使人感到亲切温馨。

13 heed   

v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心

参考例句：

• You must take heed of what he has told.你要注意他所告诉的事。
• For the first time he had to pay heed to his appearance.这是他第一次非得注意自己的外表不可了。