封鎖中的意大利

MILAN — You glance at the headlines, just before going to bed on a Saturday evening, to discover your town has been put in lockdown. Or is about to be. It’s not clear. Apparently, the order hasn’t been signed yet. Social media shows people rushing to the station, mainly for the last trains south. This is Milan, economic dynamo of Italy, the only city in the country that has grown stronger and richer through the long years of stagnation since the financial crisis of 2008. An enormous number of people who work here are from the south. If the city is shutting down for the coronavirus, they want to be home.

米蘭——在周六晚上睡前瀏覽一下新聞頭條，發(fā)現(xiàn)你自己的城鎮(zhèn)已經(jīng)被封鎖了。或者即將被封鎖。說不好。顯然，禁令還未簽署。社交媒體顯示，人們急忙趕到車站，主要是為了登上去往南方的最后一班火車。米蘭是意大利的經(jīng)濟發(fā)動機，是這個國家自2008年金融危機以來的長期經(jīng)濟停滯中唯一一個越來越強大和富裕的城市。大量的南方人在這里工作。如果城市因冠狀病毒而封鎖，他們想回家。

On Sunday morning, my partner and I eat breakfast listening to Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte addressing the nation. A recording made in the small hours. It was utterly irresponsible, he tells us, for someone to leak a rough draft of the order before it had been finalized. It caused immense confusion. Still, the fact remains that 14 million people in northern Italy are now in lockdown — and we’re among them. But thousands of people have already left, very likely taking the virus with them. The governors of the southern regions of Calabria, Campania and Puglia are furious and announce that these arrivals will face restrictions.

周日早晨，我和我的伴侶邊吃早餐邊聽朱塞佩·孔特(Giuseppe Conte)總理的全國講話。這是在深夜錄制的一段錄像。他告訴我們，有人在禁令最終定稿之前將一份草稿泄露了出去，這是極其不負責任的。這引起了極大的混亂。不論怎樣，意大利北部目前有1400萬人被封鎖——其中就有我們。但是成千上萬的人已經(jīng)離開，很可能攜帶著病毒。南部卡拉布里亞、坎帕尼亞和普利亞大區(qū)首長大怒，并宣布這些抵達者將面臨限制。

That’s the kind of world we’re in now. In just two weeks, all the usual certainties have gone. It’s been a spiritual exercise in letting go. You paid for season ticket on the subway, now you realize subway travel is the surest way of getting the disease. You have a subscription to the gym, the gym is closed. So is the cinema. Your tickets for concerts and football games are useless. Your children can’t go to school. Or university. Even mass is canceled.

這就是我們目前所處的世界。在短短兩周內，所有日常的確定性都消失了。這是一場斷舍離的靈修練習。你買了地鐵季票，現(xiàn)在發(fā)現(xiàn)坐地鐵肯定會得病。你買了健身房會員，而健身房關門了。電影院也是一樣。你的音樂會門票和足球賽門票都用不上了。你的孩子去不了學校?；蛉ゲ涣舜髮W。甚至彌撒也被取消了。

What’s the mood? Initially, indignation. Two weeks ago, when the first restrictions came in — banning all kinds of gatherings and closing pubs, though not actually restricting our movement — we were sure they’d overdone it. A cafe owner in downtown Milan told me angrily that one of the best weeks of the year had been blown: carnival, Fashion Week. Hoteliers complained of 90 percent cancellations. Then we saw the number of infections shoot up: a hundred a day. Two hundred, three hundred. On Sunday, 769 in Lombardy alone. On Saturday, Antonio Pesenti, the head of Lombardy’s intensive crisis care unit, predicted that “by March 26 we will have 18,000 sick people, 3,000 of whom will be needing assistance to breathe.” The places in intensive care in particular are under pressure. The hospitals in Milan are already planning to move non-coronavirus patients in intensive care to hospitals in other regions.

這是一種什么心情?起初是憤慨。兩周前，當?shù)谝粋€限制到來——禁止各種聚會并關閉酒吧，盡管實際上并沒有限制我們的行動——我們確信他們做得過頭了。米蘭市中心的一家咖啡館老板生氣地告訴我，一年中最棒的幾周告吹了：狂歡節(jié)、時裝周。酒店經(jīng)營者抱怨90%的訂單取消。然后我們看到感染數(shù)量猛增：一天一百例。兩百例，三百例。周日，光是倫巴第就有769例。周六，倫巴第危重癥監(jiān)護病房負責人安東尼奧·佩森蒂(Antonio Pesenti)預測：“到3月26日，我們將有1.8萬個病人，其中3000人需要呼吸輔助。”重癥監(jiān)護室將尤其受到壓力。米蘭的醫(yī)院已經(jīng)在計劃將重癥監(jiān)護中的非冠狀病毒患者轉移到其他地區(qū)的醫(yī)院。

This is sobering. Day by day there has been a greater awareness of the need to keep your distance from people, the importance of not shaking hands. Suddenly the elevator stinks of disinfectant. A man opening a door for you stands way back. You realize the girl on the cash desk in the supermarket is wearing rubber gloves. She apologizes when she sneezes and assures you it’s only a sinus condition. A manager complains to a boy at the deli counter that he should have said at once that his next-door neighbor has tested positive.

這讓人一下警醒起來。日復一日，越來越多的人意識到與他人保持距離的必要性，不握手的重要性。突然間電梯充斥著消毒劑的刺鼻氣味。一個為你開門的男人站得遠遠的。你發(fā)現(xiàn)那個超市收銀臺的女孩戴著橡膠手套。她打噴嚏時向你道歉，并向你保證這只是一種鼻竇疾病。一位店長向熟食店柜臺的一個男孩抱怨說，他應該早點說他的隔壁鄰居的測試結果呈陽性。

Everybody is being asked to think not just for themselves, but also for the community. Milan is a highly fragmented city. There are all kinds of ethnic groups — Chinese, Arabs, Hispanics, Filipinos, Indians, any number of Romanians and Slavs, Italians from every region. Even the locals are quite sharply divided between working and middle classes. And of course many of us communicate more online than on the street, speaking to people like ourselves in other countries and continents. But inevitably the virus is bringing a new awareness that we all share the same physical space, Milan, Italy. We really live here, and we sink or swim together. Perhaps we will even have to get to know each other, albeit without shaking hands. I sense a new spirit of unity.

人們不僅需要為自己，還要為社區(qū)著想。米蘭是一個高度分散的城市。有各種各樣的種族，包括華裔、阿拉伯裔、西班牙裔、菲律賓人、印第安人、還有一些羅馬尼亞人和斯拉夫人，以及來自各個地區(qū)的意大利人。即使是當?shù)厝耍诠と穗A級和中產(chǎn)階級之間也存在隔閡。當然，我們中的許多人在線上的交流比在街上的多，與身在其他國家和大洲的、和我們相似的人交談。但是不可避免地，這種病毒正在帶來一種新的認識，即我們都在意大利米蘭，共享著同樣的實體空間。我們是真實地生活在這里，我們一同沉浮。也許，我們甚至必須彼此了解，即使不去握手。我感受到了一種新的團結精神。

The fallout for the economy will be huge. But paradoxically the government is very likely to be strengthened. The governing coalition is an association of two main parties (the center-left Democratic Party and the maverick Five Star Movement) who disagree on so much that their only reason for staying in office together has been to avoid an election that would favor the right-wing League party, led by the authoritarian and xenophobic Matteo Salvini. But now they have a major issue that’s easy to agree on and that will give them a chance to be united and decisive on behalf of the nation. Support for Mr. Salvini has begun to dwindle.

對經(jīng)濟的影響將是巨大的。然而吊詭的是，政府很有可能因此得到加強。執(zhí)政聯(lián)盟是由兩個主要政黨(中左翼的民主黨和特立獨行的五星運動[Five Star Movement])組成的，它們之間的分歧實在很大，以至于他們保持連任的唯一理由是避免舉行有利于右翼政黨聯(lián)盟黨(League)的選舉，聯(lián)盟黨由專制和排外的馬泰奧·薩爾維尼(Matteo Salvini)領導。但是現(xiàn)在，他們很容易在所面臨的主要問題上達成共識，這將使他們有機會團結一致并代表國家發(fā)揮決定性作用。對薩爾維尼的支持已開始減少。

The government can also spend money. The Stability and Growth Pact, an agreement shared by all members of the European Union, requires Italy to keep its deficit within strict parameters. Even when every economic indicator would suggest the need to invest and spend, as in the present prolonged period of near-zero growth, the government is obliged to beg Brussels for the right to introduce this or that incentive. These requests are frequently denied, and the politicians appear powerless.

政府還可以支出。經(jīng)歐盟所有成員國同意的《穩(wěn)定與增長公約》(Stability and Growth Pact)要求意大利將赤字控制在嚴格范圍內。即使每一項經(jīng)濟指標都表明有必要進行投資和支出，比如當前已經(jīng)持續(xù)很長時間的接近零增長，政府也不得不乞求布魯塞爾賦予它這種或那種刺激經(jīng)濟的權利。這樣的要求經(jīng)常遭到拒絕，政客們似乎也無能為力。

But in an emergency as dramatic as this, the government is in a position to seize control. The importance of the nation-state is suddenly obvious: Italians must decide for Italians. Measures to spend 7.5 billion euros, around $8.4 billion, have been announced. More, probably much more, is to follow. Businesses are to be compensated, parents with children of school age are to be given babysitting vouchers, a huge investment is being made to purchase medical equipment and increase hospital capacity. One suspects that when, God willing, the emergency is over, there will be those who will not want to relinquish this newfound power and the sense of identity and responsibility it brings.

但在這樣的突發(fā)緊急情況下，政府有機會掌握控制權。民族國家的重要性突然變得顯而易見：意大利人必須自己為意大利做決定。政府已宣布了價值75億歐元(約合84億美元)的措施。接下來還會有更多，或許更多。企業(yè)將得到補償，家有學齡兒童的父母將得到保姆代金券，一項巨大的投資正用于購買醫(yī)療設備和醫(yī)院擴容。人們懷疑，如果情況允許，當緊急狀態(tài)結束時，會有一些人不愿意放棄這種新掌握的力量，以及它所帶來的身份認同和責任感。

For the moment, though, it’s us — ordinary citizens — who feel powerless. Again and again the word “fight” is being used. The metaphor of battle is deployed: We must combat the virus. Yet it turns out the best way to do so is to stay home, which hardly feels like fighting. All the same, when you do run into people, heading for the shops or the pharmacy, the awareness that you must avoid each other is creating a new complicity, like a dance where you can’t touch. One can only hope something of this shared understanding will remain.

但就目前而言，感到無能為力的是我們這些普通公民。“戰(zhàn)斗”這個詞被一再使用。戰(zhàn)爭的隱喻已經(jīng)展開：我們必須與病毒作戰(zhàn)。但事實證明，最好的辦法是待在家里，這幾乎不像是在斗爭。盡管如此，當你去商店或藥店的路上遇到人時，必須避免同對方接觸的感覺正在創(chuàng)造一種新的合謀關系，就像一場無法觸碰對方的舞蹈。人們只能希望，這種共識中的某些東西能繼續(xù)存在下去。