Amy 阿爾法醫學英語 4天前
受新冠疫情影響，許多國家實行封城隔離措施，往日喧譁不再。學校關門、工廠停工、社交疏遠……所有人的日常生活都受到了前所未有的影響。
目前這種大規模封鎖政策對於世界各國來說並不是長久之計，因為它將帶來巨大的社會和經濟損失。因此，各國現在急需研究出各自的“退出戰略”（exit strategy)，即如何在適當時候逐步取消限制，恢復正常。目前，部分國家疫情趨緩，已經開始著手解除封鎖，復工復產。今天我們結合《經濟學人》4月16日和18日的兩篇文章，來看看各國的解封狀況和解封后的注意事項。
先來看一下兩篇文章的標題：
https://www.economist.com/international/2020/04/16/governments-are-starting-to-ease-restrictions
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2020/04/18/fumbling-for-the-exit-strategy
haze指的是名詞“霧靄”，hazy是它的形容詞，用來形容一個人的想法時就是“不太清楚的，模糊的；拿不定主意的”意思，有種“一頭霧水”的感覺。
Fumble在這裡是一個不及物動詞，意思是“笨手笨腳地做某事；亂摸亂找某物”，有種“摸著石頭過河”的感覺。
通過標題中的兩個副詞“gradually”“cautiously”，兩個形容詞“hazy”“ill-prepared”，還有一個動詞詞組“fumble for”，我們能明顯感覺到各國政府在放寬限制復工復產方面也是一臉茫然，一路摸著石頭過河，態度是循序漸進、慎之又慎，誰都不敢對自己制定的exit strategy打包票，可謂是戰戰兢兢如履薄冰。
http://news.sohu.com/s2012/dianji-1062/
各國在制定exit strategy、放寬限制的時候主要糾結點有兩個，一是從何下手，二是何時下手：Government planners do not know which restrictions they should begin to ease and when.
對於這個問題，世衛組織的Mike Ryan表示沒有明確統一的標準答案，但是可以肯定的是，當新增病例的數量開始逐漸下降時，當醫院出現越來越多的空床位時，政府就可以開始考慮適合自己的exit strategy了：
“There are no absolutes here,” says Mike Ryan of the World Health Organisation (who); the evidence that when countries reach a specific number of cases they should take particular actions does not yet exist. The accepted wisdom is that countries can begin to consider easing restrictions when the number of new cases is tapering off, and their hospitals have free beds—in other words, when they can accommodate a surge in infections that could follow the easing of a lockdown.
這一段中有一個描述數量增減的詞組taper off，它的意思是“（數量、程度等）逐漸減少”。這個詞組的意思可以由taper這個動詞的本義聯想記憶：taper意思是“（使）逐漸變窄”，當座標圖中的這條線到x軸的距離越來越窄時，數量就變得越來越少，我用顫抖的雙手畫了以下這幅圖，希望可以幫助大家理解。
另外，具體應該如何放寬限制，比如是否還需要強制戴口罩、學生是否可以返校、工廠是否可以復工之類的問題，各國還應該從自身角度出發，權衡多方利弊，選擇恰當穩妥的exit strategy：
Governments need to choose from the menu of options（從很多選項中選一個） by comparing the costs of each measure with the benefits it brings（權衡利弊）—and the calculus will differ in different countries. Should masks be mandatory? (Yes, if supplies are adequate.) Should schools take pupils back? (More research is needed.) Which industries can safely reopen? (Factories can; hospitality is harder.) Do you shut borders or quarantine travellers? (Quarantine is better.) Policies will evolve as the science improves or the disease flares up. Sometimes, that will mean tightening the rules again.
當你想表達選擇很多，但只能從中選一樣或幾樣時，可以這樣表達：choose from the menu of options
當你想表達“權衡利弊”的意思時，可以這樣表達：compare the costs/disadvantages… of sth. with the benefits it brings
Flare up這個動詞詞組尤指“疾病的突發、復發”，也可以指“怒氣等某種激烈的情緒突然爆發或惡化”，如：
His eczema（溼疹） has flared up again.
She flares up at the slightest provocation（挑釁）.
名詞形式只要在兩個單詞之間加上短橫即可：flare-up，比如a flare-up of violence 暴力衝突加劇，a flare-up in her arthritis 關節炎加劇
為何各國在解封方面如此糾結，如此小心翼翼？因為生怕一不小心讓疫情再次大規模爆發：
And yet, however much exits are needed, they are also hard, because most of the world remains susceptible to a second wave of covid-19.
It is not yet clear that they will do well enough the second time around to prevent a resurgence of the disease.
But unless they act differently the virus willsurge once more.
be susceptible to… 意思是“易受……影響”，在這裡可以和vulnerable替換。比如：
He's highly susceptible to flattery. 他愛聽恭維話。
Some of these plants are more susceptible to frost damage than others. 這些植物中有一些較其他的易受霜凍危害。
另外，susceptible還可以用來形容人“多愁善感”：
She was both charming and susceptible. 她迷人而多情。
從截取的這三句話中，我們可以學到“疫情復發”的花式表達：
a second wave of…
a resurgence of…
surge once more
再加上我們剛剛學到的flare up，這兩篇文章中一共出現了四種表示“疫情復發、捲土重來”的表達。
http://www.laiyuan.com/article/378197.html
瞭解了制定exit strategy的難點和指導原則之後，我們再來看看制定過程中有哪些注意事項：
Every country is different, but already two things are clear. First, governments need to explain to their people that the world is not about to return to normal. Without a vaccine or a therapy, life will be constrained and economies will remain depressed. Second, testing and contact-tracing are vital to keeping the virus at bay.
Contact-tracing即“接觸者追蹤”，也可以說成the tracing of contacts。拓展一下，我們常說的“密切接觸者”就是close contacts，而負責追蹤接觸者的工作人員就是contact tracers。
防止病毒傳播，除了用stop, prevent之類的動詞，還可以怎麼說？這一段教會我們一個詞組keep sb./sth. at bay，意思是“不讓敵人接近；防止問題產生不好的影響”。如果說一個動物be at bay, 那麼就說明它被圍困，無路可逃了，被迫作困獸之鬥。所以，當我們使某人或某件事處於at bay的狀態時，就說明它已經被我們牢牢制服，無處可逃了。
https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/stag-at-bay-on-a-rocky-shore-100350
由此我們知道，檢測（testing）和接觸者追蹤（contact-tracing）在後續解封的過程中是一個至關重要的環節，具體的好處有哪些？
Managing this part-locked-in, part-let-out world depends on testing. Testing can tell governments about the running rate of infections and which measures work and which do not. It isolates new cases, allowing the tracing of their contacts, helping arrest the spread of the disease. The better the testing, the less all-embracing（無所不包的；概括一切的） the social distancing（保持社交距離） needs to be, because infected people are routinely removed from the population—in theory it could replace distancing altogether.
核酸檢測可以幫政府預測感染率，知道哪些措施是有效的，哪些是無效的。更重要的是它可以使新增病例得到及時的隔離，追蹤病例的接觸者，從而有效控制病毒的傳播。某種程度上來說，檢測的範圍如果足夠全面，人們甚至都可以不再進行如此嚴格的居家隔離。
這一段中出現了另一個可以替換stop和prevent的詞——arrest。Arrest除了有大多數人熟知的“逮捕”的意思，還有“阻止；中止”的意思，如：They failed to arrest the company's decline.他們未能阻止公司的衰落。
及時且廣泛的檢測對解封后防止疫情復發有至關重要的作用，然而理想很豐滿，現實很骨感，檢測所需要的材料和人員在有些國家供不應求：
Testing capacity everywhere has been growing. But at its current pace America will take months to attain（努力獲得） the level needed for effective contact-tracing, says Mr Fraser. In many countries, the crimped global supply of materials, including reagents (chemicals necessary for tests), means that testing is reserved primarily for those hospitalised with covid-19 and health-care workers. The dearth of reagents（試劑） means that Austria may not be able to increase its testing as planned, even though it has the capacity to carry out ten times the number of tests it conducts now.
Reagents are not the only thing in short supply. Swabs（拭子） to take samples from patients, glass tubes, machines and trained technicians（技術人員） with protective masks and gloves are also scarce. With so many different inputs, bottlenecks can easily occur.And when every single country in the world needs enormous supplies, it will be a while before there is no shortage of them.
從這兩段話我們可以學到四個關於“短缺”的表達：
The dearth of …
The shortage of…
… be in short supply
… be scarce
瞭解了放寬限制過程中的注意事項，我們再看幾個關於各國解封狀況的片段。我們先從中國的情況說起，中國在復工復學後的許多措施對其他國家來說很有借鑑意義：
片段一
China offers a snapshot（大致情況；簡況） of what this means. Since restrictions were relaxed there the streets have filled up, many people have gone to back to work and life has become more liveable. However, consumers remain anxious so some of them stay at home.
In China, however, the easing of lockdown has been accompanied by stringent（嚴厲的；受嚴格約束的） efforts to identify and quarantine those infected and their close contacts. In some areas restaurants must sign in every customer—and if any later test positive to notify（通知） those who visited at the same time. China’s strategy suggests that Europe and America’s plans to stop infections after they lift（解除） their lockdowns with masks, good hygiene（衛生） and social distancing（保持社交距離） may not be enough.
片段二
Like the lockdowns themselves, many of these new rules are transplants from China, which has, its government says, avoided a second wave of infections. In Beijing employers must keep their employees separated, so many firms have only a fraction（少量） of their workers on-site（值班） each day, with the rest working at home where possible. Restaurants must limit the number of customers to keep them apart. Chinese schools which have welcomed back their students have introduced measures to minimise infections: constant ventilation（通風） of classrooms; extra spacing between desks; frequent cleaning and disinfecting（消殺）; the reduction of the size of classes;staggered dismissal times（錯峰放學）, to avoid crowding; assigned seating and installation of partitions（隔板） in dining areas. The list goes on and on. And officials stress that they will pull back and make adjustments if they see signs of a second wave.
https://www.fjshuchi.com/news/hmmbjbhhh8ulm9u.html
再來看看別的國家復工復產復學的狀況如何：一些歐洲國家已經重新開放了幼兒園、學校和商店，美國東西海岸的幾個州也開始了對復工復產的籌劃。
片段一
Governments around the world are trying to work out how to exit their covid-19 lockdowns. Several other European countries, including Austria, Germany, Norway and the Czech Republic, are reopening nurseries（幼兒園）, schools and shops as their efforts to stop the spread of covid-19 start, as in Spain, to pay off (see table). In various American states discussions of exit strategies are gaining traction（越來越受市場歡迎）. In New York state, where covid-19 has killed more than 10,000 people in just a month, the total number of cases in hospitals is starting toplateau. On April 13th, along with five other states on the east coast, it disclosed（使公開） it was working on a strategy for reopening the region’s economy. On the same day three states on the west coast, including California, announced a similar project.
這一段中又出現了另一個描述數字增減狀況的動詞——plateau。Plateau這個詞作名詞時意思是an area of flat land that is higher than the land around it，也就是高原。作動詞時非常形象，意思是“穩定；停滯”，與名詞中的flat含義相關聯。
這一段中還有兩個表示“公開；宣佈”意思的詞，分別是disclose和announce，大家可以替換使用。
片段二
Ideas for exiting the covid-19 lockdown are spreading faster than the virus ever did. Spain has let builders return to work, Italy has opened stationers（文具店） and bookshops, Denmark is allowing children back into nurseries and primary schools. South Africa’s opposition（在野黨） is calling for a relaxed “smart lockdown”. In America President Donald Trump has been sparring（爭論） with state governors over who should decide what reopens when.
在復工復產的同時，針對新冠的疫苗也在加緊研製。除了研發疫苗，還應該關注疫苗是否能公平有效地分配，工廠是否有足夠的生產能力，拒絕個別國家對疫苗的壟斷：
No wonder the world is racing for a vaccine. This is a global effort as it should be—no country has a monopoly on science. Again, though, to produce and distribute a vaccine fast and efficiently calls for hard work today. Without investment now, even before a vaccine has been proven, there will be a shortage of manufacturing capacity, disrupting routine vaccinations for diseases like measles（麻疹） and polio（脊髓灰質炎）. For as long as there is a shortagesome countries may try to corner the market, leaving health workers and the most vulnerable at risk elsewhere.
這一段我們可以學到和“壟斷”相關的一個名詞和一個動詞：monopoly和corner。Mono-這個詞根表示“單個；一個”，“一”家獨大即是壟斷；corner我們可以理解為將市場逼到一個小角落供自己一人享用，即壟斷。
最後，我們再來回顧總結一下今天有哪些表達可以“詞以類記”。
- 描述數據的增減起伏：
Taper off v.逐漸減少
Plateau v.穩定；停滯
- 防止；阻止：
keep sb./sth. at bay
arrest sth.
- 缺少；不足：
The dearth of…
A shortage of…
… be in short supply
… be scarce
- （疫情）復發、捲土重來：
a second wave of…
a resurgence of…
… surge once more
… flare up
- 公開；宣佈：
Disclose
Announce
- 壟斷：
Monopoly n.
Corner v.
復工復產後，我們仍需面臨新的挑戰，萬萬不可鬆懈。
文章來源：
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2020/04/18/fumbling-for-the-exit-strategy
https://www.economist.com/international/2020/04/16/governments-are-starting-to-ease-restrictions
參考資料：
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/world-52005618
圖片來源：
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2020/04/18/fumbling-for-the-exit-strategy
https://www.economist.com/international/2020/04/16/governments-are-starting-to-ease-restrictions
http://news.sohu.com/s2012/dianji-1062/
http://www.laiyuan.com/article/378197.html
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供稿：Amy
編輯：西瓜籽
審核：TS
