又中又英｜disconcerting - Michael Chugani 褚简宁

As I said in my previous column, it saddens me how severely Omicron has affected Hong Kong, where I was born. It is disconcerting（upsetting）to see Omicron infecting thousands of people daily. It is disconcerting to see many ill patients in temporary beds outside hospitals in the cold weather waiting to be admitted. Hong Kong is a first-world city. Such things should not happen. But the coronavirus is tenacious. If something is tenacious it means it has a strong grip and refuses to accept defeat. When the first virus wave reached the US, hospital beds were full with sick and dying patients in corridors.

That's no longer the case. Most US hospitals now have spare ICU beds. The expression ICU stands for Intensive Care Unit, a hospital room where very sick people are put. I read media reports that said the Hong Kong government has finally moved sick patients in temporary beds outside hospitals to indoors. That is uplifting news. If something is uplifting, it means it makes you feel better. There has been a lot of uplifting news in the US recently. The Omicron pandemic is receding（decreasing, subsiding）as quickly as it was infecting people not long ago. The same thing had happened in South Africa, where Omicron was first detected, and Europe. Omicron infects people quickly but recedes quickly.

I think that will happen in Hong Kong but its dynamic zero policy means it may remain closed while the rest of the world except China and Taiwan open up. Taiwan has said it may open up later this year because it needs to save its economy. Almost all US states have removed rules requiring masks except for schools. One US media organization said mask rules are dropping like flies. This expression can mean a lot of people dying but in this case it means something that is quickly decreasing. Omicron is decreasing so quickly that California is the first US state to say it will treat the coronavirus as endemic, not a pandemic.
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正如我在上一篇文所说的，见Omicron那么严重地侵袭香港，我的出生之地，令我黯然神伤。看着Omicron每天感染数以千计的人，实在令人不安（disconcerting）。许多抱恙的病患者要在寒冷天气下，于医院外的临时病床等待入院，亦令人看得很不是味儿。香港属于第一世界城市，这样的事，委实不应发生。然而，新冠肺炎疫情是tenacious——若某事是tenacious，意即它很顽强、紧紧抓住不放，总不言败。当第一波疫情席卷美国时，医院病床都爆满，走廊尽是病危与垂死的病人。

现在已不再一样了，美国大部份的医院现时都还有空置的ICU病床。习语ICU，是Intensive Care Unit，深切治疗部的简称，是治疗重病伤患的病房。我读到传媒报道指，香港政府终将临时病床的病人转移至室内，那实在是uplifting的新闻——若某事是uplifting，意即它令你感到开心或鼓舞。

我认为香港也会一样，可是其动态清零政策意味着，除了中国内地与台湾以外，世界其他地方都在开放的同时，香港将仍继续封闭。台湾已表明会在今年稍后时间开关，因为他们需要挽救经济。差不多所有美国州份已解除了要戴口罩的规定，除了学校以外。一个美国传媒机构说，口罩令正dropping like flies——这个习语可以指有大批人死亡，但在这里是指某事物正大幅减少。Omicron正快速减退，加州成为美国首个州份，率先宣布会将新冠肺炎视为风土病，而非全球大流行疫症。
中译:七刻
Michael Chugani 褚简宁