The spread of COVID-19 has exposed how vulnerable people are while living modern urban lifestyles. The sharing economy, working in open offices, commuting, living in crowded city apartments and reusability in the service industry have all created the perfect storm for a pandemic.
新冠肺炎疫情的蔓延暴露出，現(xiàn)代都市生活方式之下的人們是如此脆弱。共享經(jīng)濟(jì)、開(kāi)放式的辦公環(huán)境、上下班通勤、城市公寓中擁擠的生活環(huán)境、服務(wù)行業(yè)的重復(fù)利用現(xiàn)象都為疾病大流行創(chuàng)造了完美的條件。

Although the sharing economy may be beneficial – it’s cheaper to rent than to own – sharing things is a great way to spread virus. How does one practice “social distancing” when they are expected to share cars, bikes, apartments and even the same work spaces?
盡管共享經(jīng)濟(jì)或許令人受益 —— 租比買(mǎi)要便宜 —— 但共享物品卻是傳播病毒的一大途徑。人們?cè)诠蚕砥?chē)、自行車(chē)、公寓甚至是相同的辦公場(chǎng)所時(shí)，又如何能做到“保持社交距離”呢？

The business trend of using open office, which can squeeze more people into a smaller space, is working against us. In this type of office, workers don’t have their own desk or work station – everything is shared. Sometimes, computers, keyboards and chairs are also shared, which is less hygienic.
使用開(kāi)放式辦公室能夠讓更小的空間擠下更多人辦公，這種商業(yè)趨勢(shì)正在起反作用。在這種辦公室中，員工們沒(méi)有自己的桌子或是工位 —— 一切都是共享的。有時(shí)，電腦、鍵盤(pán)還有椅子也是共享的，也更不衛(wèi)生。

This is called “hot desking”, which is an office organization system that involves multiple workers rotating use of a single work station. Fortunately, more employees are working from home now during the pandemic, but that won’t last forever.
這種方式被稱(chēng)為“辦公桌輪用制”，在這種辦公組織體系下，多名員工輪流使用一個(gè)工位。幸運(yùn)的是，疫情期間更多的員工開(kāi)始居家辦公，但這并非長(zhǎng)遠(yuǎn)之計(jì)。

To get to and from work in the city, you must commute back and forth. Subways and buses are the most common forms of transportation in the city for people without cars. They are often overcrowded during rush hours, creating the perfect condition for spreading a virus.
在城市中上下班就必須經(jīng)歷往返通勤的過(guò)程。對(duì)于沒(méi)有私家車(chē)的人而言，地鐵與公交是城市中最常用的出行方式。高峰時(shí)段的地鐵公交往往擁擠不堪，為病毒傳播創(chuàng)造了完美條件。

Residents of cities living in small apartments also seem to be at a disadvantage during the pandemic. This sort of living arrangement forces residents to rely on the constant availability of food and products in supermarkets. Stockpiling daily necessities for a long period of self-isolation is nearly impossible.
居住在小公寓中的城市居民在疫情期間似乎也有不利之處。這樣的居住條件讓居民們都會(huì)選擇隨時(shí)去超市采購(gòu)食物商品。為長(zhǎng)期居家隔離而囤積生活必需品幾乎是不可能的事。

In order to be mindful about the environment, reusability is a common practice in the restaurant industry. Reusable cups and eating utensils are used more often than the disposable variety. Unfortunately, reusing objects increases the chance to spread a disease. For example, Starbucks coffeehouses recently stopped refilling customers’ reusable cups in order to control the spread of the virus.
考慮到環(huán)境因素，重復(fù)利用的現(xiàn)象在餐飲業(yè)內(nèi)十分常見(jiàn)?？芍貜?fù)使用的杯子和餐具比一次性的要更常用。而糟糕的是，可重復(fù)利用的物品增加了傳播疾病的幾率。比如，為控制病毒傳播，星巴克咖啡店近期暫不接受為顧客自帶可重復(fù)使用的杯子續(xù)杯。

No doubt people like to be social, but viruses can take advantage of our social nature, so we must be mindful to reduce our interactions with others for the time being. Perhaps it’s time for us to rethink society’s urban lifestyle to reduce the spread of future pandemics.
毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)，人們喜歡社交生活，而病毒也利用了我們的社交天性，因此我們必須暫時(shí)注意減少與他人的互動(dòng)?；蛟S我們是時(shí)候該反思社會(huì)的都市生活方式，從而減少未來(lái)疫情的傳播。

以上文章內(nèi)容選自《21世紀(jì)學(xué)生英文報(bào)高中版》，詳情請(qǐng)見(jiàn)《21世紀(jì)學(xué)生英文報(bào)高中版》高一787期