國家地理:為了結束這場流行病 我們必須相信科學(13)

Much depends on what happens in the coming months.

未來幾個月將發(fā)生什么會是極其關鍵的。

Imagine, for the sake of argument, that the epidemiological curves I've obsessed over all year ultimately play out in our favor, and we can return to some semblance of normal. Imagine that effective treatments are found that make COVID-19 short-term and curable for just about anyone. Imagine that a vaccine is developed soon and that a significant portion of the world population gets it. If all that happens, why wouldn't we emerge from this with a greater appreciation of the scientific enterprise in all its messy brilliance?

純粹想象一下，假設我已經(jīng)關注了一整年的流行病曲線圖最終呈現(xiàn)了對我們有利的結果，而我們回到類似之前的正常生活；假設有效的治療方法出現(xiàn)了，能夠縮短COVID-19的病程并幾乎治愈任何人；假設疫苗很快就研發(fā)出來，全世界相當數(shù)量的人口都能注射。要是以上的假設都成真了，難道我們不該因此更懂得欣賞科學事業(yè)在混亂中所展現(xiàn)的卓越能力嗎？

I try to hold on to that hope, despite the catcalls of politicians and "personal choice" zealots who second-guess everything the scientists do. I try to tell myself that sometimes our better angels prevail. And that there's an army's worth of better angels -- scientists, educators, doctors, nurses, public health advocates -- who, since that eerie image of the spiky coronavirus started haunting our collective dreams, have been working tirelessly toward a happy ending.

我努力懷抱這個希望，盡管政治人物與堅信“個人選擇”的狂熱分子總是高聲批評科學家，質(zhì)疑他們所做的一切。我試圖告訴自己，有時善良的天使會獲勝。而我們有一大群善良的天使--科學家、教育者、醫(yī)生、護理師、公共衛(wèi)生專家--自從新冠病毒那個多棘的恐怖形象開始成為我們的集體夢魘之后，這些人就一直努力不懈地工作，想要創(chuàng)造一個美好結局。

That's the ending I'm trying to believe in, where we emerge from this with a renewed appreciation of science as humanity's best chance of salvation from suffering and untimely death.

這是我想要相信的結局，我們從中再次懂得欣賞科學，視其為將人類從痛苦和早逝中拯救出來的最佳選擇。