Michael Chugani 褚简宁 - give it up｜又中又英

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. This well-known proverb is simple to understand. It means if you fail to achieve something the first time, you should try until you succeed. I failed in my first driving test for a licence but I tried again and passed. Students sometime fail in a subject but they can pass if they study harder and try again. This proverb was meaningful for the Hong Kong government during the first few waves of the coronavirus pandemic. It tried to succeed with its dynamic zero strategy to end the pandemic. It succeeded for a while at first but failed when new variants of the coronavirus spread in Hong Kong.

Yet the government still believes in the proverb if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. My suggestion is give it up because the strategy is not working. To give it up means to ask the audience to clap hands if they enjoyed a show. But to give it up also means to stop trying to do something. Tens of thousands of Hong Kong people were being infected daily during previous waves of the pandemic. Thousands are now being infected daily again. Instead of if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again, Hong Kong needs a new playbook. The whole world except for mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan has already decided to give it up and live with the coronavirus.

The word “playbook” means a sports team’s plan for a game but used this way it means a plan or strategy to achieve something, such as success in a political campaign or a business. It is similar to “game plan” which means a plan for achieving success. A virus is much smaller than a human eye can see but as the coronavirus has shown it can be smarter than humans. We should not try to be smarter than a virus. We should just try to control it with vaccines and medicines and learn to live with it.
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If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. 这句知名的谚语很简单，容易理解。它的意思是若你想达成某事，第一次不成功，便应再接再厉，直至成功。我的第一次驾驶考试失败了，但我再试一次，最终通过并取得车牌。学生们有时会有某些科目不及格，但他们若能努力温习，再试一次，亦能通过考试。这句谚语对于香港政府在头几波新冠病毒疫情期间是有意思的，政府尝试在清零政策上取得成功，遏止疫情。它一开始的时候确实成功了一段时间，但当新冠变种病毒在香港蔓延时就失败了。

然而，政府至今仍然相信这句「一次不成，再试一次」（if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again）的谚语。 我的提议是give it up，因为这个策略根本行不通。To give it up本身是指若观众认为一个表演好看，就请为其鼓掌；但to give it up也指放弃做某事。在之前几波疫情期间，每天有数以万计的香港人受到感染，现在每天又有数以千计的人受到感染。香港与其「一次不成，再试一次」（if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again），不如要本新的playbook吧。除了中国内地、香港、澳门和台湾以外，全世界都已决定放弃（give it up），与新冠病毒共存。

Playbook一字是指一队体育队伍参赛的战术攻略手册，但在这里是指去达成某事的计划或策略，例如在政治运动又或生意上取胜。它跟“game plan”的意思相近，后者是指取胜的计划。病毒比起人类肉眼所能看见的要微小得多，但新冠病毒亦展示了它可以比人类更聪明。我们不应尝试比病毒聪明，好应尝试用疫苗和药物控制它，同时学习与它共存。中译：七刻
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Michael Chugani 褚简宁