好怀念没有疫情的2019

刚刚，官方宣布专八考试延期到下半年。

有人欢喜有人忧，疫情改变了我们太多太多。

怀念那没有疫情的日子。

无注释原文：

Why it will be so hard to return to ‘normal’

BBC

24th April 2020

Amid crisis and disruption, we crave the calm of normality. But can we ever really define what “normal” is?

I’m writing this in my home office, wearing my bathrobe. I am currently placed under a stay-at-home order, which requires me to stay in my house unless I need to travel for very specific reasons, like shopping or health needs. Besides my husband and neighbour, I haven’t spent physical time with anyone in more than a month. I speak with my parents over video chat, and call other family members over Facebook Messenger. I stay abreast of friends’ lives thanks to their many regular updates on social media. I do most of my shopping online. I spend a fraction of my day outside.

How abnormal! And yet even before Covid-19 hit, I often sat writing in my home office, staying connected with my family and friends via various technologies, shopping online. The stay-at-home order may be new, but I can’t pretend that social distancing is unprecedented. Our technologies and social media have been distancing us from each other for years.

Of course, I am one of the lucky ones. Around us, local economies are faltering. Healthcare systems are strained. People continue to unexpectedly lose their loved ones, and regret that they couldn’t be with them in their final moments.

This has led many of us to wonder about normality: when will things “return to normal,” and what will a “new normal” look like? As one article discussing the disruptions Covid-19 has brought to Life As We Know It puts it, “It’s tempting to wonder when things will return to normal, but the fact is that they won’t – not the old normal anyway. But we can achieve a new kind of normality, even if this brave new world differs in fundamental ways.”

By this standard, the old normal is the one in which our healthcare systems and governments are not prepared to deal with things like Covid-19; the new normal, in contrast, is mostly like the old normal, except in this one we are prepared for global pandemics.

The new normal, in other words, changes what was wrong but keeps what was right with the old normal. But if the old normal was wrong, then why did we call it normal? Similarly, if the new normal is different from the old one, how can we pretend we’re still dealing with “normal”?

What does “normal” really mean, anyway?

***

The word “normal” appears straightforward enough. But like many of our words, as soon as we begin thinking about it, it starts to fall apart at the seams.

Take, for instance, the first entry in Merriam-Webster’s dictionary definition of normal: “conforming to a type, standard, or regular pattern”, as in “He had a normal childhood”. In the same vein, the entry continues, the word means “according with, constituting, or not deviating from a norm, rule, or principle.”

In a fascinating Philosophy Talk podcast, philosopher Charles Scott notes that the word normal possesses a certain kind of authority or “power to divide and distinguish things”. The word sneakily passes from description to prescription. We start with a widely observable fact and quickly construct a hierarchy with our observable fact placed at the very top. The fact with which we started our process of categorisation becomes the standard or norm, and everything that diverges from that norm is not just different but abnormal and therefore less than normal.

But as Scott asks, why do we judge normal to be better than abnormal? Being overweight is fairly normal in the United States – many doctors, however, seem to encourage their patients to be abnormal in this regard. What he is getting at is that our concept of normal pulls double duty; it tells us that what is, ought to be.

As sociologist Allan Horowitz points out, the dilemma that “normality” forces upon us is that “in most cases no formal rules or standards indicate what conditions are normal”. In the absence of such rules, those who wish to identify normality will normally turn to one of three different definitions. The first is the statistical view, “where ‘the normal’ is whatever trait most people in a group display”. Normal is what is typical, what most people do – which means it is impossible for any individual to be normal.

Most people have two legs and the ability to breathe, and possess desires for sociality so these conditions are seen as normal. The trouble with seeing normal in this way is that it may trick us into accepting statistically widespread phenomena as good. A majority of Nazi Germany’s citizens, Horowitz notes, supported policies of racism and genocide in the 1930s and 1940s. Was Nazism, then, a “normal” philosophy for humans to hold?

The second way of defining “normal”, says Horowitz, is as some sort of ideal, which comes through in the word’s etymology. In Latin, norma referred to a carpenter’s square, which assisted tradesmen in establishing a perfect right angle. The norm provided a concrete standard that, if followed, allowed the user to reproduce a specific pattern. Normal-as-ideal, then, might be in harmony with normal-as-ubiquitous, but it might be quite different. So, for instance, Nazism may have been widespread in Germany, but it was not normal because it did not live up to the ideal society we wish to achieve. On the other hand, random acts of kindness, even when they are in short supply, might be seen as normal in an aspirational sense: we want compassion to be a guiding norm in our societies.

The third definition looks to evolutionary science and defines normality “in terms of how humans are biologically designed by natural selection to function”. What is normal for a human being, then, are all those behaviours which makes it fit to thrive in its particular niche. The capacity to feel shame when betraying a loved one is normal in this scheme, as is the desire for one’s offspring to survive.

These three definitions of normality – (1) statistical, (2) aspirational, (3) functional – often end up sliding into each other during everyday conversation. This collapse is evident in many of our discussions about what “the new normal” will look like once Covid-19 is under control. The new normal will mean that most of us will go back to most of what we were doing before the pandemic struck (1), but that our societies will make changes for the better (2), which will end up being good for the survival of our communities (3).

So we kind of want to go back to where we were, but we also kind of don’t. We want things to be the same, but we also want them to be different. We want to return to normal but we know deep down that our journey won’t be a return so much as a departure.

***

In a few months, my life will “return to normal”. I’ll sit at home writing essays in my lavender robe, staying in touch with family members via video chatting, and creating excuses for not working out as much as I’d like to.

For others, it will be a longer road. Some local businesses will reopen; others will shutter. Some people will never come back from the ICU. Some people will continue to struggle to fill their food pantries or pay their rent.

We will all continue to face daunting challenges for which we are not prepared. Scientists and medical providers will try and outsmart these challenges; they will succeed in some ways, but the challenges will keep coming. Modern medicine, as advanced as it is, is still, in the grand scheme of things, relatively young.

In the past 500 million years, our planet has witnessed five mass extinctions. Many scientists believe we are currently living through a sixth. At some point in the future, our species will no longer be considered the pinnacle of evolution, human beings having been surpassed by other forms of life.

And yet despite the enormous challenges we face on individual, local and global levels, we will remind ourselves and each other that we will get back to normal.

Perhaps if there is something to hold onto in all of this, it is not our definition of normality but our insistence on saying “we will”. We’re not sure what exactly the future will look like – which is why we prefer to discuss it in the familiar terms of the good ol’ days – but we know that it’s coming to greet us.

That we will continue on, that we will, has always been the norm not only of humanity, but of all life, as French philosopher Henri Bergson pondered in the early 20th Century. Bergson used the term élan vital to describe the mysterious impulse toward an open future that seems to animate all life. In fact, this impulse is what life is. Life, says Bergson, “since its origins, has been the continuation of one and the same impetus which separates itself into diverging lines of evolution”.

Whatever it is, however we name it, it seems to always be our normal: we will.

- ◆ -

注：中文文本为BBC官方译文，仅供参考（节选）

含注释全文：

Why it will be so hard to return to ‘normal’新冠疫情后我们将难以回到旧日的“常态”

BBC

24th April 2020

Amid crisis and disruption, we crave the calm of normality. But can we ever really define what “normal” is?

身处新冠肺炎疫情爆发危机和日常生活被打破的状态之中，我们渴望正常生活的宁静。但是我们真的能够界定何为生活之“常态”吗？

作动词，表示“渴望（得到）；热望”，英文解释为“to have a very strong desire for sth”举个🌰：

She has always craved excitement.

她总渴望刺激。

🎬电影《雷神》（Thor）中的台词提到：You long for battle. You crave it. 你期待战争 你渴望它。

I’m writing this in my home office, wearing my bathrobe. I am currently placed under a stay-at-home order, which requires me to stay in my house unless I need to travel for very specific reasons, like shopping or health needs. Besides my husband and neighbour, I haven’t spent physical time with anyone in more than a month. I speak with my parents over video chat, and call other family members over Facebook Messenger. I stay abreast of friends’ lives thanks to their many regular updates on social media. I do most of my shopping online. I spend a fraction of my day outside.

我坐在家里的办公室，身穿浴袍，在写这篇文章。我目前被要求居家隔离，这即是说，除非因为非常特殊的原因需要外出，比如购物或健康需要，我必须呆在家中。除了我的丈夫和邻居，我已经一个多月没有亲自见过任何人。我和父母通过视频聊天，通过Facebook Messenger给其他家庭成员打电话。由于朋友们经常在社交媒体上更新他们的信息，所以我能及时了解他们的生活。我大部分的购物都是在网上。我每天只有很少时间出门。

表示“浴衣，浴袍”，英文解释为“a loose piece of clothing like a coat, usually made of thick towelling material, worn informally inside the house, especially before or after a bath”

stay abreast of / keep abreast of sth 表示“了解…的最新情况；跟上…的最新进展”，英文解释为“to make sure you know all the most recent facts about a subject or situation”举个🌰：

I try to keep abreast of any developments.

我努力了解所有新的进展情况。

表示“少量”，英文解释为“A fraction of something is a tiny amount or proportion of it.”举个🌰：

She hesitated for a fraction of a second before responding.

她犹豫了一下才回应。

How abnormal! And yet even before Covid-19 hit, I often sat writing in my home office, staying connected with my family and friends via various technologies, shopping online. The stay-at-home order may be new, but I can’t pretend that social distancing is unprecedented. Our technologies and social media have been distancing us from each other for years.

这种生活很不正常！然而，甚至在新冠病毒疫情爆发之前，我已经常坐在家里办公写作，通过各种技术与家人和朋友保持联系，以及在网上购物。居家隔离令或许是新的，但我不能假装保持社交距离也是前所未有的新事。我们的技术和社交媒体让我们彼此疏远已有好几年时间。

表示“史无前例的，空前的；绝无仅有的”，英文解释为“never having happened or existed in the past”举个🌰：

This century has witnessed environmental destruction on an unprecedented scale.

环境在本世纪遭到了空前的破坏。

🎬电影《星运里的错》（The Fault in Our Stars）中的台词提到：You are so busy being you that you have no idea how utterly unprecedented you are. 你太忙于做自己 都没有意识到自己是那么的令人心动。

Of course, I am one of the lucky ones. Around us, local economies are faltering. Healthcare systems are strained. People continue to unexpectedly lose their loved ones, and regret that they couldn’t be with them in their final moments.

当然，在当下的危机中我是幸运者之一。在我们周围，当地经济正在衰退。医疗体系不堪重负。不断有人意外地失去他们的挚爱，并为不能在挚爱弥留时刻伴随他们走完人生最后一程而抱恨。

表示“衰弱；动摇；犹豫；畏缩”，英文解释为“to lose strength or purpose and stop, or almost stop”举个🌰：

The dinner party conversation faltered for a moment.

晚宴上的谈话出现了一会儿冷场。

1）表示“（关系）紧张的，恶化的”，英文解释为“If a relationship is strained, problems are spoiling it.”举个🌰：

Relations between the two countries have become strained (= difficult) recently.

最近两国关系变得紧张起来。

2）表示“紧张的，焦虑的，神色不安的”，英文解释为“showing that someone is nervous or worried”举个🌰：

She was looking strained and had dark circles beneath her eyes.

她显得焦虑不安，眼睛下面有了黑眼圈。

📍strain作动词，表示“（使）紧张，（使）承受压力；拉紧，绷紧；损伤”，英文解释为“to become stretched or to experience pressure, or to make something do or experience this”举个🌰：

I've put on such a lot of weight recently - this dress is straining at the seams.

我最近胖了很多——这条裙子穿上后紧绷绷的。

This has led many of us to wonder about normality: when will things “return to normal,” and what will a “new normal” look like? As one article discussing the disruptions Covid-19 has brought to Life As We Know It puts it, “It’s tempting to wonder when things will return to normal, but the fact is that they won’t – not the old normal anyway. But we can achieve a new kind of normality, even if this brave new world differs in fundamental ways.”

这让我们许多人对“常态”产生不少疑问，比如我们的生活何时才会“回归正常”?“新的常态生活”又会是什么样子？正如一篇讨论新冠疫情给我们熟知的生活带来何种破坏的文章所说，“人们很想知道生活什么时候会恢复到往常一样，但事实是回不去了，至少不会恢复到旧有的生活常态。但我们可以实现一种新的常态，尽管这个美丽新世界根本上已与以往有所不同。”

熟词僻义，可以表示“写，说；表达，表述”，英文解释为“to write something；to express something in words”举个🌰：

We're going to have to work very hard, but as he so succinctly put it, there's no gain without pain.

我们不得不努力工作，就像他十分精辟地指出的那样，不劳则无获。

表示“诱人的，吸引人的；使人禁不住想尝试（或拥有）的”，英文解释为“If something is tempting, it makes you want to do it or have it.”举个🌰：

In the end, I turned down her tempting offer of the trip.

最后，我拒绝了她去旅行的诱人提议。

By this standard, the old normal is the one in which our healthcare systems and governments are not prepared to deal with things like Covid-19; the new normal, in contrast, is mostly like the old normal, except in this one we are prepared for global pandemics.

按照这个标准，旧的常态是指我们的医疗卫生系统和政府对类似新冠疫情大爆发这类全球性公卫危机毫无防备的常态，未来新常态与此相反，虽然基本上与旧常态相似，不过将会做好准备应对任何传染病在全球的大流行。

The new normal, in other words, changes what was wrong but keeps what was right with the old normal. But if the old normal was wrong, then why did we call it normal? Similarly, if the new normal is different from the old one, how can we pretend we’re still dealing with “normal”?

换句话说，新常态将改变过去的错误，但会保留过去正确的做法。但如果旧的常态是错的，那么我们为什么称其为常态？同样，如果新常态与旧常态有区别，我们怎么能假装我们谈的仍然是“常态”？

What does “normal” really mean, anyway?

那么，所谓“常态”，到底是什么意思呢？

***

The word “normal” appears straightforward enough. But like many of our words, as soon as we begin thinking about it, it starts to fall apart at the seams.

“常态”，或曰“正常”，这个词看起来直白易明。但就像人类的许多词语一样，一旦我们认真思考细究其词义，这个词就会分解出多个含义。

表示“散架；崩溃”，英文解释为“If something is coming apart at the seams or is falling apart at the seams, it is no longer working properly and may soon stop working completely.”举个🌰：

Our university system is in danger of falling apart at the seams.

我们的大学体系处在崩溃的危险之中。

Take, for instance, the first entry in Merriam-Webster's dictionary definition of normal: “conforming to a type, standard, or regular pattern”, as in “He had a normal childhood”. In the same vein, the entry continues, the word means “according with, constituting, or not deviating from a norm, rule, or principle.”

例如，韦氏词典对“正常”（normal）一词的第一条定义是：“符合某种类型、标准或规则的”，如“他有一个正常的童年”。第二条定义大致相同，意思是“符合、构成或不偏离规范、规则或原则的”。

conform to/with 表示“遵守，遵照；符合，达到；依照”，英文解释为“to obey a rule or reach the necessary stated standard, or to do things in a traditional way”举个🌰：

Before buying the baby's car seat , make sure that it conforms to the official safety standards.

购买婴儿车之前，要确保它符合官方的安全标准。

表示“（说话、写作）风格；方式”，英文解释为“in a particular style of speaking or writing about something”举个🌰：

A number of other people commented in a similar vein.

其他一些人也以类似的腔调评论。

除了表示“组成”，等同于make up，还有“构成，被视为，被算作”的意思，英文解释为“If something constitutes a particular thing, it can be regarded as being that thing.”，如：constitute a professional and legal offence 构成职业和法律犯罪；举个🌰：

Failing to complete the work constitutes a breach of the employment contract.

不能完成工作被视为违反雇用合同。

The rise in crime constitutes a threat to society.

犯罪率上升对社会构成了威胁。

🎬电影《空中危机》（Flightplan）中的台词提到：A teddy bear does not constitute an inaccurate passenger manifest. 有一只泰迪熊并不代表 乘客名单出了错。

🎬电影《从足球流氓到黑帮崛起3》（Rise of the Footsoldier 3）中的台词提到：High on drink and pills does not constitute as a defense. 醉药 醉酒 不能作为辩护证据。

deviate /ˈdiːvɪˌeɪt/意思是“背离，偏离，违背”，英文解释为“to change what you are doing so that you are not following an expected plan, idea, or type of behaviour”，通常用法是deviate from ...，如：飞机偏离正常航线 deviate from its normal flight path；完全背离了媒体职业道德 completely deviate from professional media ethics.

In a fascinating Philosophy Talk podcast, philosopher Charles Scott notes that the word normal possesses a certain kind of authority or “power to divide and distinguish things”. The word sneakily passes from description to prescription. We start with a widely observable fact and quickly construct a hierarchy with our observable fact placed at the very top. The fact with which we started our process of categorisation becomes the standard or norm, and everything that diverges from that norm is not just different but abnormal and therefore less than normal.

哲学家查尔斯·斯科特（Charles Scott）在他一段令人倾倒的哲学演讲播客中指出，“正常”这个词具有某种权威或“分割或区分事物的权力”。这个词偷偷地将客观的“描述”变成了主观的“界定”。我们从一个广泛可见的事实开始，然后迅速构建出一个层次结构，将我们可见的事实置于这个结构的最顶端。因而，我们用以进行分门别类的事实就变成了标准或规范，所有偏离那个规范的不仅是异类，而且是非常态的，不怎么正常的。

表示“拥有；具有”，英文解释为“to have or own something, or to have a particular quality”举个🌰：

I don't possess a single DVD (= I don't have even one DVD).

我一张DVD光盘都没有。

1）表示“方案；计划；建议；秘诀”，英文解释为“A prescription is a proposal or a plan that gives ideas about how to solve a problem or improve a situation.”举个🌰：

So what is his prescription for success?

那么他认为成功的诀窍是什么？

2）表示“处方”，英文解释为“A prescription is the piece of paper on which your doctor writes an order for medicine and which you give to a pharmacist to get the medicine.”举个🌰：

The new drug will not require a physician's prescription.

这种新药不需要医生的处方。

3）表示“处方药”，英文解释为“A prescription is a medicine that a doctor has told you to take.”举个🌰：

I'm not sleeping even with the prescription he gave me. 

我服用了他开给我的处方药还是睡不着。

hierarchy /ˈhaɪə.rɑː.ki/ 表示“等级制度；层次”，英文解释为“a system in which people or things are arranged according to their importance”举个🌰：

Some monkeys have a very complex social hierarchy.

有些猴群中出现了非常复杂的种群等级。

表示“（道路）分叉；出现差异；发生分歧”，英文解释为“to follow a different direction, or to be or become different”举个🌰：

They walked along the road together until they reached the village, but then their paths diverged.

他们一直沿着那条路走到那个村子，然后才分开。

But as Scott asks, why do we judge normal to be better than abnormal? Being overweight is fairly normal in the United States – many doctors, however, seem to encourage their patients to be abnormal in this regard. What he is getting at is that our concept of normal pulls double duty; it tells us that what is, ought to be.

但正如斯科特所质问的，为什么我们认为正常要比不正常好？身体超重在美国是相当正常的现象，然而，许多医生似乎鼓励他们的病人在这方面应该要不正常。斯科特想表达的意思是，我们所谓的正常概念带有双重任务，第一告诉我们是什么，第二告诉我们应该是什么。

As sociologist Allan Horowitz points out, the dilemma that “normality” forces upon us is that “in most cases no formal rules or standards indicate what conditions are normal”. In the absence of such rules, those who wish to identify normality will normally turn to one of three different definitions. The first is the statistical view, “where ‘the normal’ is whatever trait most people in a group display”. Normal is what is typical, what most people do – which means it is impossible for any individual to be normal.

正如社会学家艾伦·霍洛维茨（Allan Horowitz）所指出的，“常态”强加给我们的困境是，“在多数情况下，不存在正式的规则或标准表明何种情况属于正常”。没有可依照的规则，那些希望确定常态的人通常会求助于3种不同定义中的其中一种。第一种是统计学观点，“正常”指的是群体中多数人表现出的任何特征。正常就是有代表性的，大多数人所做的，这意味任何单独个体是不可能为正常。

dilemma /dɪˈlɛmə/ 表示“（进退两难的）窘境，困境；进退两难的局面”，英文解释为“a situation which makes problems, often one in which you have to make a very difficult choice between things of equal importance”举个🌰：

He was faced with the dilemma of whether or not to return to his country.

他面临着是否回国的艰难选择。

表示“特征，特性，品质”，英文解释为“a particular characteristic that can produce a particular type of behaviour”举个🌰：

His sense of humour is one of his better traits.

具有幽默感是他更讨人喜欢的特点之一。

Most people have two legs and the ability to breathe, and possess desires for sociality so these conditions are seen as normal. The trouble with seeing normal in this way is that it may trick us into accepting statistically widespread phenomena as good. A majority of Nazi Germany’s citizens, Horowitz notes, supported policies of racism and genocide in the 1930s and 1940s. Was Nazism, then, a “normal” philosophy for humans to hold?

大多数人有两条腿，有呼吸的能力，有社交的欲望，所以这些状态被视为正常。以这种方式界定“正常”的问题在于，它可能会误导我们把统计上普遍存在的现象当作好事来接受。霍洛维茨指出，纳粹德国的多数公民支持20世纪30年代和40年代的种族主义和种族灭绝政策，那么，纳粹主义应该是人类持有的“正常”哲学吗？

表示“欺骗，诱骗，哄骗”，英文解释为“to deceive someone, often as a part of a plan”举个🌰：

He tricked the old lady into giving him two hundred dollars.

他骗这个老妇人给了他200美元。

phenomena /fɪˈnɒmɪnə/  phenomenon的复数形式，表示“现象”。

genocide /ˈdʒɛnəʊˌsaɪd/ 表示“大屠杀；种族灭绝”，英文解释为“Genocide is the deliberate murder of a whole community or race.”

The second way of defining “normal”, says Horowitz, is as some sort of ideal, which comes through in the word’s etymology. In Latin, norma referred to a carpenter’s square, which assisted tradesmen in establishing a perfect right angle. The norm provided a concrete standard that, if followed, allowed the user to reproduce a specific pattern. Normal-as-ideal, then, might be in harmony with normal-as-ubiquitous, but it might be quite different. So, for instance, Nazism may have been widespread in Germany, but it was not normal because it did not live up to the ideal society we wish to achieve. On the other hand, random acts of kindness, even when they are in short supply, might be seen as normal in an aspirational sense: we want compassion to be a guiding norm in our societies.

霍洛维茨说，定义“正常”的第二种方式是一种完美理念，其词源来自拉丁语norma一词，本意指的是木匠的矩形尺，可用来帮助商人度量完美的直角。该规范提供了一个具体的标准，如果遵循该标准，用户则可复制出特定的模式。那么，这个“完美即正常”的定义可能与统计意义“普遍存在即正常”的定义是相容的，但也可能互不兼容。例如，纳粹主义可能在德国曾很普遍，但并不能视为正常，因为纳粹主义不符合我们希望实现的美好社会。另一方面，随意的善行，即或并不多见，也可能被视为一种正常的愿望，因为我们希望人类的同情心成为我们社会的一种指导性规范。

etymology /ˌet.ɪˈmɒl.ə.dʒi/ 表示“词源学；词源说明”，英文解释为“the study of the origin and history of words, or a study of this type relating to one particular word”举个🌰：

At university she developed an interest in etymology.

上大学时她对词源学产生了兴趣。

ubiquitous表示“无所不在的”，英文解释为“If you describe something or someone as ubiquitous, you mean that they seem to be everywhere.”举个🌰：

Coffee shops are ubiquitous these days.

如今好像到处都是咖啡馆。

意思相近的一个形容词：

📍pervasive表示“到处存在的，到处弥漫着的，遍布的”，英文解释为“Something, especially something bad, that is pervasive is present or felt throughout a place or thing.”如：the pervasive influence of mobile phones in daily life 手机在日常生活中无处不在的影响。

表示“同情；怜悯”，英文解释为“a strong feeling of sympathy for people who are suffering and a desire to help them”。

The third definition looks to evolutionary science and defines normality “in terms of how humans are biologically designed by natural selection to function”. What is normal for a human being, then, are all those behaviours which makes it fit to thrive in its particular niche. The capacity to feel shame when betraying a loved one is normal in this scheme, as is the desire for one’s offspring to survive.

第三个定义借助演化论科学，按“人类是通过自然选择适者生存的生物学设计来行动”这样的概念来界定何为常态。因此，对于人类这个物种来说，所有能使其适应特定环境而繁衍不息的行为都是正常的。以此原则，背叛了爱人会感到羞耻的能力是正常的，如同人类想要自己的子孙后代绵延不绝的意愿也是正常的。

niche /niːʃ/ 1）表示“（尤指本人合意的）适合的工作（或职位）；称心的工作”，英文解释为“a job or position that is very suitable for someone, especially one that they like”举个🌰：

He has carved/made a niche for himself as a financial advisor.

他成为了财务顾问，为自己找到了合适的发展方向。

2）表示“合宜的小环境”，英文解释为“an area or position that is exactly suitable for a small group of the same type”如：an ecological niche. 生态龛。

These three definitions of normality – (1) statistical, (2) aspirational, (3) functional – often end up sliding into each other during everyday conversation. This collapse is evident in many of our discussions about what “the new normal” will look like once Covid-19 is under control. The new normal will mean that most of us will go back to most of what we were doing before the pandemic struck (1), but that our societies will make changes for the better (2), which will end up being good for the survival of our communities (3).

这3种对“正常”，或曰“常态”一词的界定，1）是统计意义的范畴，2）是理想意义的，3）是演化功能上的。在我们的日常交谈中，这三层含义常常会交互在一起。在我们讨论新冠病毒之流行受到控制后，我们未来生活的“新常态”将会是什么样子之时，“常态”之词义的多重性就很明显。我们所谓的新常态意味着我们大多数人将会回到新冠肺炎大流行爆发前我们所做的大部分事情（即第一层定义的常态），但是我们的社会将会做出改善（这是第二层意义的常态），而最终将有利于我们社区的生存（符合演化论的第三层定义）。

So we kind of want to go back to where we were, but we also kind of don’t. We want things to be the same, but we also want them to be different. We want to return to normal but we know deep down that our journey won’t be a return so much as a departure.

所以新常态是我们有点想回到过去的生活，但也有点不想。我们希望生活依旧，但我们也希望有所改变。我们想要回归正常，但我们内心深处知道，我们的旅程不会是一次完全的回归或完全的重新启程。

***

In a few months, my life will “return to normal”. I'll sit at home writing essays in my lavender robe, staying in touch with family members via video chatting, and creating excuses for not working out as much as I’d like to.

几个月后，我的生活将“回归正常”。但我仍会穿着淡紫色的睡袍坐在家里写论文，通过视频聊天与家人保持联系，为自己尽量不出门找借口。

lavender /ˈlæv.ɪn.dər/ 1）表示“熏衣草”，英文解释为“a plant that has grey-green leaves like needles and small, pale purple flowers; the dried flowers and stems of the plant that are used in soap, etc. because of their strong, pleasant smell ”如：a lavender bush 熏衣草丛。

2）表示“淡紫色”，英文解释为“a pale purple colour”。

For others, it will be a longer road. Some local businesses will reopen; others will shutter. Some people will never come back from the ICU. Some people will continue to struggle to fill their food pantries or pay their rent.

对其他人来说，回归常态将是一条较长的路。一些地方企业要重新开业做生意，一些企业则将倒闭关门。有人再也不会从重症加护病房回到家中。有人将继续努力设法填满他们的食品储藏室或支付他们的租金。

1）shutter作名词，通常复数，原意表示“活动护窗；百叶窗”，英文解释为“one of a pair of wooden or metal covers that can be closed over the outside of a window to keep out light or protect the windows from damage”，如：to open/close the shutters 打开/关上护窗。

2）作动词，可以指关上百叶窗，也有“（暂时或永久地）停业”的含义（to close down a business or activity）。

📍《经济学人》（The Economist）一篇讲述疫情影响的文章中提到：As covid-19 shutters businesses and leaves supermarket shelves bare, ...随着新冠肺炎导致众多企业关闭，超市货架空空如也，

We will all continue to face daunting challenges for which we are not prepared. Scientists and medical providers will try and outsmart these challenges; they will succeed in some ways, but the challenges will keep coming. Modern medicine, as advanced as it is, is still, in the grand scheme of things, relatively young.

我们大家都会继续遭遇意想不到的艰巨挑战。科学家和医疗服务提供者将努力智胜新的挑战，他们会取得一些成功，但新挑战仍将持续不断而来。尽管现代医学已很先进，但在历史的长河中，现代医学仍然很年轻。

daunting /ˈdɔːntɪŋ/ 表示“使人气馁的，吓人的；使人畏缩的；令人发怵的”，英文解释为“Something that is daunting makes you feel slightly afraid or worried about dealing with it.”举个🌰：

He and his wife Jane were faced with the daunting task of restoring the gardens to their former splendour.

他和他的妻子简当时面临着恢复花园昔日风采的艰巨任务。

📺英剧《唐顿庄园》（Downton Abbey）中的台词提到：and those standards can at first seem daunting. 这些规矩起初令人望而生畏。

📺美剧《绝命毒师》（Breaking Bad）中的台词提到：Just the idea of owning a car wash seems daunting, 收购洗车房的主意听起来不切实际。

表示“（智力上）超过，胜过；智胜”，相当于outwit。

📍outwit表示“（智力上）超过，胜过；智胜”，英文解释为“to get an advantage over someone by acting more cleverly and often by using a trick”举个🌰：

In the story, the cunning fox outwits the hunters.

在这个故事里，狡猾的狐狸智胜了猎人。

In the past 500 million years, our planet has witnessed five mass extinctions. Many scientists believe we are currently living through a sixth. At some point in the future, our species will no longer be considered the pinnacle of evolution, human beings having been surpassed by other forms of life.

在过去的5亿年里，我们的星球经历了5次物种大灭绝。许多科学家认为，我们目前正在经历第六次大灭绝。在未来的某个时候，我们人类的物种将会不再被认为是生命演化的顶峰，人类将有可能被其他形式的生命所超越。

pinnacle /ˈpɪn.ə.kəl/ 表示“极点；顶点，顶峰”，英文解释为“the most successful or admired part of a system or achievement”举个🌰：

By the age of 30 she had reached the pinnacle of her career.

她在30岁时事业达到顶峰。

surpass表示“优于；超过”，英文解释为“If one person or thing surpasses another, the first is better than, or has more of a particular quality than, the second.”举个🌰：

He was determined to surpass the achievements of his older brothers.

他决心超过他的几位哥哥的成就。

And yet despite the enormous challenges we face on individual, local and global levels, we will remind ourselves and each other that we will get back to normal.

尽管我们在个人、各自地方和全球层面上面临着巨大的挑战，但我们将提醒自己和彼此，我们一定会回归常态。

Perhaps if there is something to hold onto in all of this, it is not our definition of normality but our insistence on saying “we will”. We’re not sure what exactly the future will look like – which is why we prefer to discuss it in the familiar terms of the good ol’ days – but we know that it’s coming to greet us.

或许，如果在这困难的时候有什么是我们坚守不弃的东西，那应该不是我们对常态的定义，而是我们坚持说“我们一定会”回归常态的决心。我们不确定未来到底会是什么样子，这就是为什么我们更喜欢用旧日好时光这些熟悉的词语来讨论何为正常，但我们知道常态一定会到来。

表示“美好的过往”，英文解释为“If you talk about the good old days, you mean a time in the past when you believe life was better.”举个🌰：

I wish my grandma would stop going on about the good old days.

我希望祖母不要把那些陈年往事如数家珍地讲个没完。

That we will continue on, that we will, has always been the norm not only of humanity, but of all life, as French philosopher Henri Bergson pondered in the early 20th Century. Bergson used the term élan vital to describe the mysterious impulse toward an open future that seems to animate all life. In fact, this impulse is what life is. Life, says Bergson, “since its origins, has been the continuation of one and the same impetus which separates itself into diverging lines of evolution”.

我们将继续前进，我们一定会继续前进，这不仅是人类，也是所有生命的永恒准则，正如法国哲学家亨利·柏格森（Henry Bergson）在20世纪初对世界的思考一样。柏格森将赋予所有生命以活力，推动开放性未来的神秘力量，称之为生命冲力（élan vital）。事实上，这种冲力就是生命本身。柏格森说，生命“自其起源而始，一直延续不断，这同一原始生命冲力最后演化出不同的生命路线”。

表示“沉思；考虑；琢磨”，英文解释为“to think about sth carefully for a period of time”举个🌰：

She pondered over his words.

她反复琢磨他的话。

1）表示“动机；动力；刺激”，英文解释为“something that is the driving force behind or reason for something else”如：a creative/commercial impulse 创作冲动/商业动机。

2）表示“冲动，突然的强烈欲望”，英文解释为“a sudden strong wish to do something”举个🌰：

I had this sudden impulse to shout out "Nonsense!" in the middle of her speech.

在她发言时我突然想大喊“一派胡言！”。

impetus /ˈɪmpɪtəs/ 表示“推动，促进，刺激”，英文解释为“something that encourages a particular activity or makes that activity more energetic or effective”举个🌰：

The recent publicity surrounding homelessness has given (a) fresh impetus to the cause.

最近围绕无家可归者的宣传对这一事业是个新的推动。

Whatever it is, however we name it, it seems to always be our normal: we will.

无论是什么样，也无论我们如何称呼，我们人类永恒的常态似乎就是：我们人类生命的顽强意志。

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