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And COVID-19, it turns out, was the greatest gift that the enemy could have hoped for. Helplessness met its evil twin, a partner in crime that would only magnify its mad power: isolation. In March, when major U.S. cities joined others worldwide in locking down as a defense against the virus, Americans who could work remotely figured out how to do their jobs at home. So many didn't have that privilege and lost their jobs, with no means to pay their rent or mortgage and no way to feed their families. Hunger became a major theme of 2020, presenting challenges even in countries with the means to assuage it. At the same time, parents across the world, no matter their means, hustled to take care of—and homeschool—their kids.
事实证明，新冠病毒是敌人希望得到的最好的礼物。无助遇到了它邪恶的孪生兄弟，一个只会放大疯狂力量的共犯：隔离。今年3月，当美国的大城市和世界各地的其他城市一样实行封锁以抵御病毒时，那些可以远程工作的美国人懂得了如何在家办公，但也有很多人没有这种特权，他们失去了工作，无法支付房租或抵押贷款，无法养活家人。“饥饿”成了2020年的主题，即使那些有办法缓解饥饿的国家也面临着挑战。与此同时，世界各地的父母，不管收入如何，都在家里忙着照顾孩子、教育孩子。
Meanwhile, essential workers, from grocerystore clerks to transportation professionals to hospital nurses and physicians, continued to show up for duty. We'd see clips of health care workers in the news, their faces marked by hours of wearing PPE, their eyes leaden with weariness. Sometimes unable to hold back tears, they'd describe a new addition to their daily routine: watching patients die when they could no longer keep them alive. At a designated time each evening, many of us leaned out of our windows, armed with pots and wooden spoons or just our oddball cacophony of human voices, and raised a ruckus in support of those workers. It was the least we could do, at a time when we had no idea what to do.
同时，一些重要的工作人员，从杂货店店员到交通运输专业人员，再到医院护士和医生，仍在岗位上坚守。我们在新闻里看到了医护人员的镜头，从他们的脸上能看到几个小时穿戴个人防护装备的痕迹，他们眼神疲倦，时而忍不住流泪。他们描述着自己的新日常：看着病人在自己的无能为力之下死去。每晚有一个固定的时间，我们很多人会从窗户里探出身子，手里拿着锅和木勺，或者只是发出奇怪刺耳的声音，制造骚动支持那些工作人员。这是我们在举足无措的时候唯一能做的事情了。
That began in March, the onset of a period in which most of us felt encased in our own lonely snow globes, looking out at a world that seemed to be falling apart. Realistically, the world had started falling apart long before: horrific Australian bushfires had been raging for months and would not be quelled until midyear—just in time for wildfire season in the American West, with its own brazen cycle of devastation. Pictures from either of these scenes—unsettling orange skies in normally paradisiacal parts of California, aerial views of doomy plumes of smoke covering the Australian landscape—would feel apocalyptic in any year. But in 2020, with so many of us hunkered down inside, it was particularly alarming to reckon with the fragility of the natural world. To think of it burning away—not least because we humans have failed it with our poor stewardship—invites despair.
这始于3月，那段时间伊始，多数人都感觉自己被困在一个孤独的雪球里，注视着一个濒临崩溃的世界。其实，世界早就开始崩溃了：可怕的澳大利亚丛林大火肆虐了数月之久，直到年中才被扑灭。与此同时美国西部的野火也开始肆虐，造成了巨大的破坏。在这两场大火的场景照之中——加利福尼亚那些平日里天堂般的地区的上空呈现着令人不安的橙色，从航拍图中可以看到笼罩着澳大利亚大地的可怕浓烟——不管在哪一年都会感觉是世界末日。但在2020年，我们很多人都被隔离在家，想到大自然的脆弱，心情尤其沉重。想到大自然正因人类的管理不善而燃烧殆尽，绝望感不觉袭来。
译文由可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载。
