纽约时报 | 针对中国的旅行限制是一场闹剧
新传专业英语资料、考研英语作文批改、读外刊学英语
2024新传考研群 754845758
by 西西
近期，一些国家针对中国公民采取歧视性入境限制措施引发巨大关注。比如，美国疾病控制与预防中心发布通告称，自2023年1月5日起，对中国出发的乘客恢复新冠核酸检测要求。
刚好，1月5日，《纽约时报》刊发了这篇文章，文章的核心观点是：美国此举是种族歧视，将加重仇视亚裔的情绪。由于篇幅较长，文章略有删减。
NYT
Guest Opinion
针对中国的旅行限制是一场闹剧
America’s Covid Test Requirement
for Chinese Travelers Is a Farce
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s testing requirement for passengers “on flights originating from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), including the Special Administrative Regions (SAR) of Hong Kong and Macau,” will once again invite a racial backlash against Asian people in America.
backlash：（尤指对政治或社会事件的）强烈反应，反对a strong feeling among a group of people in reaction to a change or recent events in society or politics
美国疾病控制与预防中心（简称CDC）对「搭乘来自中华人民共和国、包括香港和澳门特别行政区的航班入境」的旅客进行检测要求，也将再次引发针对美国亚裔的种族不满情绪。
Even though the CDC requirements are not a nationality-based travel ban, history told me to brace for xenophobic panic. I didn’t need to wait long before the Biden administration swiftly rolled out a new policy requiring travelers from China to present negative Covid-19 tests before entering the United States.
xenophobic：仇外的，惧外的
尽管CDC的要求并不是以国籍划分的旅行禁令，但历史告诉我，要为仇外恐慌做好准备。果不其然，拜登政府马上就推出了一项针对来自中国的旅客在进入美国前出示新冠阴性检测证明的新政。
Some public health experts have been quick to call out the new policy as useless in addressing the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy, whose country has in place a similar testing requirement, called for the European Union to follow Italy’s lead in adopting the same policy but was denied by most member states on grounds of inefficacy.
on grounds of ：以……为理由；根据……
一些公共卫生专家立刻指出，新的入境限制对防止高传染性新冠病毒的传播毫无作用。意大利也采取了类似的入境检测要求，意大利总理焦尔吉娅·梅洛尼呼吁欧盟效仿意大利的做法，但遭到了大多数成员国的拒绝，理由是这种做法无效。
Indeed, without universal testing, contact tracing and masking mandates, selective reinforcement by geographic origin succeeds only in singling out the predominantly Chinese travelers and reviving rampant anti-Asian hate.
的确，如果不进行全员检测、对接触者进行追踪，以及对戴口罩有强制性要求的话，按出发地实行选择性疾控措施的唯一成功之处就是把以中国游客为主的人群挑出来，重新激起猖獗的反亚裔仇恨情绪。
In the place of coherent policy, similar requirements — in America, but also in a handful of other nations, such as Italy, India, Japan and Britain — are nothing more than the violent, involuntary jerk of a giant racist muscle.
美国以及采取了类似做法的其他几个少数国家（如意大利、印度、日本和英国）只不过是在国内巨大的种族主义情绪影响下做出了强烈的条件反射，而不是采取了合乎逻辑的政策。
For the better part of this year, the mainstream narrative in America has been that the pandemic is over and Covid is no longer a true danger. President Biden said so himself, and just 12 percent of all adults in the United States still view Covid-19 as a severe health risk.
在2022年的大部分时间，美国的主流说法是大流行病已经结束，新冠病毒不再是一个真正的危险。拜登总统本人就这样说过，美国只有12%的成年人仍将新冠病毒疾病视为严重的健康风险。
Even amid the winter “tripledemic,” no nationwide viral mitigating action has been taken, and pundits gleefully ridicule masking as fringe activism.
即使在冬季「三疫」暴发后，政府也没有在遏制病毒上采取全国性的行动，还有人幸灾乐祸地把戴口罩嘲笑为狂热的活跃分子行为。
Troubling reports of debilitating long-Covid symptoms and multiple reinfections have done little to influence policy, but as soon as China reopened to the world, the administration mobilized.
有关使人身心衰弱的「长新冠」症状和多次再感染的令人不安的报告，对防疫政策没有产生多大影响，但一旦中国重新向世界开放，政府就马上行动起来。
The official narrative cites concern that a surge of infections in China could spawn a more dangerous variant, even though the newest omicron subvariant, XBB.1.5, with documented immune-evasive properties, is spreading rapidly in the United States without triggering nationwide mask mandates or alarm.
官方的说法是，这样做是因为担心中国的感染病例激增可能会导致更危险的变异株出现，尽管已被证明免疫逃避能力更强的奥密克戎最新亚变异XBB.1.5已在美国迅速传播，却并没有导致戴口罩的全国性强制令，或引起人们的惊慌。
Why does the administration drag its feet on XBB.1.5 but treat the “China variant” as a dangerous, volatile plague that must be kept from invading America?
drag one’s feet on：故意拖拉；逃避责任；消极怠工
为什么政府不对XBB.1.5采取行动，反而把所谓的「中国变异株」视为必须阻止其进入美国的危险易爆瘟疫呢？
This echoes the early-2020 travel ban on passengers from China, a racist policy decision that focused on the spread of the coronavirus from China while ignoring European travelers who brought it to New York.
这与2020年初对来自中国的旅客实行的旅行禁令如出一辙，是一项种族主义政策，只关心从中国传出来的新冠病毒，无视将病毒从欧洲带进纽约的旅客。
By treating only Covid from China as a real danger and domestic cases as presumably milder, the U.S. government effectively endorses the centuries-old trope of Asians as the “diseased other” and the notion that the coronavirus is, in fact, the “China virus.”
美国政府只把来自中国的新冠病毒视为真正的危险，把在国内传播的毒株视为想必更温和的感染，这种做法实际上是在重弹亚洲人是「病态另类」的几百年的老调，重提新冠病毒实际上是「中国病毒」的观念。
This places Asians in America once more in the cross hairs of racist scapegoating.
这让美国的亚裔再次成为种族主义者针对的替罪羊。
The days of heightened anti-Asian violence are barely behind us, and I fear a return of vulnerable elders being harmed in public, of shouted slurs.
反亚裔暴力加剧的日子还没有过去，我已经开始担心易受伤害的老年人将在公共场合受到伤害、被大声辱骂。
Just last year, the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act addressing anti-Asian violence passed with rare bipartisan support from both chambers of Congress. Even this legislation could prove to be an empty gesture now that the Biden administration is creating policies that actively promote the xenophobia it claims to stand behind eradicating.
2021年刚通过的针对反亚裔暴力问题的《新冠病毒疾病仇恨犯罪法》在国会两院获得了罕见的两党支持。就连这项立法也将变得空洞，因为现在拜登政府正在制定政策，促进其宣称要铲除的仇外心理。
We know a lot more about Covid than we did three years ago, and there is so much that can be done to actually protect Americans from new strains.
我们对新冠病毒疾病的了解已比三年前多了很多，而且在真正保护美国人免受新毒株的侵害上仍有很多可做的事情。
Dr. Lucky Tran of Columbia University’s Irving Medical Center told me, “If the U.S. is really worried about variants and the spread of Covid through travel, it should require negative tests for all travelers, no matter where they come from, and reinstate the mask mandate for public transportation.”
哥伦比亚大学欧文医学中心的露琪·陈博士告诉我，「如果美国真担心变异株，以及通过旅行传播的新冠病毒疾病的话，它就应该要求所有旅行者提供新冠阴性证明，无论他们来自哪里，并恢复要求使用公共交通工具的人戴口罩的强制令。」
The coronavirus knows no nationalities or borders, and treating it as a uniquely Chinese problem not only serves to pathologize Asian people but also fails to protect the American public, whose understanding of how the virus spreads and harms depends on consistent and scientifically rigorous messaging from the government.
新冠病毒不分国籍和国界，将其视为中国人特有的问题不只是将亚洲人病态化，也无助于保护美国公众。美国公众对病毒传播以及危害的理解靠来自政府的一致且科学严谨的信息。
The racialization of a pandemic is a result of a diseased mind-set, which almost three years into the pandemic is no longer acceptable. The good news is we already have the cure for that.
将新冠病毒种族化是病态思维的产物，经历了近三年的大流行后，这种思维已不可接受。好消息是我们已经有了针对这个问题的解决办法。
本文来源：《纽约时报》，公号推送为节选，完整版请阅读原文。
若需要电子版，后台回复关键词：闹剧
新传专业英语、考研复试英语、公众号资料获取等；
扫码添加英语小助手杨杨微信（aichuanbo2022）
更多关注
新传英语｜小红书｜@爱英语的西西
新传考研｜公众号｜爱传播新传考研
新传考博｜公众号｜心传考博与学术
实习就业｜公众号｜寻一校招