大使疫情手记 (双语4) —— 十三年首次下厨

Geoff Raby与前中国驻澳大利亚大使傅莹女士

作者：Geoff Raby

中文：罗曼

转自朱雀艺术

前澳大利亚驻华大使、艺术收藏家、经济学家、专栏作家 Dr Geoff Raby AO 原计划于二月底返回北京，后因疫情爆发滞留悉尼。朱雀艺术特别开设【号外】专栏，连载大使的疫情手记。今日连载至第4篇。

大使疫情手记

十三年首次下厨

事态从今天开始变得严重起来，简直史无前例——第三阶段社交限制令今日开始生效。我们本来一直在考虑与几个北京朋友明天一起逃往野外的国家公园，现在也随之取消。我们决定继续遵守规定，除了尽可能花更长时间在户外步行锻炼外，其余时间都好好待在室内。

悉尼今晨有雨，于是我们将日常锻炼改到傍晚，然后在海港旁欣赏了日落。海水与云层像两片金属薄板一样，在海港大桥尽头的海平面处交相辉映。

政府的法令已经生效。今天在路上已经看不到两人以上的同行者了。有时，两对夫妻碰巧遇见，聊天时也都保持着安全的社交距离。在我每天散步的地方，社交距离几乎成为荣誉的象征。人们给予彼此最大的间隔，远远超过了官方规定的1.5米。

澳洲已实行海关限制10天，入境控制并未减轻，反而逐步加强。澳洲目前的疫情局面大概就是两个半月前的中国，所以如果一切顺利的话，到六月中旬，我们可能就能达到中国目前的情况，想起来就犯愁。

几个住在中国的外国朋友告诉我，在中国开始执行居家限制令时，最初两周他们很不习惯，但随着时间流逝，隔离成为了常态。众所周知，人类的适应力超越想象。人类可以适应各种社会政治制度，无论是自由民主国家、共产主义国家、甚至是在法西斯主义统治下或者其他任何形式的社会中，人类都会为生存做出调整，我们适应环境的能力不是一般的强。

或许我们已经走在了疫情曲线的前面。今日有媒体报道称，新感染率正在下降。作为一个经济学家，尽管我不敢妄称自己为数学家，不过我知道在数学家眼里，二阶导数为负。这意味着疫情的增幅正在放缓，而这是一个好消息。然而，现实一点地说，我们不太可能在第三阶段封锁的几个月后就看到情况有任何改善。我们明显还有很长一段路要走。

在中国生活的13年里，一直有阿姨负责我的饮食起居，如今我终于找回了做饭的魅力。我开始重拾烹饪，仿佛从未间断过。在派驻中国之前，我的厨艺还不错。在我堪培拉的住处，我曾经自己掌勺，为前中国驻澳大利亚大使，久负盛名的付莹女士烹制了一顿两人私宴！

Geoff Raby’s Pandemic Journal 4

Rediscovering the joy of cooking after 13 years

So today it has become serious, as if it wasn’t before. But today Stage 3 restrictions on social interaction came into force. We had been thinking of skiving off tomorrow to a national park wilderness with a couple of Beijing friends. Not now. We have decided to keep with the program and spend our time indoors, other than the exercise walking we are (cheekily!) stretching into longer and longer time outdoors.

Sydney was wet this morning. We shifted the daily exercise to the late afternoon and a steely sunset over the harbour. The water and clouds met at the horizon past the Bridge like two flat metal sheets.

The government’s edicts have already taken effect. Gone today were any groups beyond two, tough occasionally two sets of couples had run into each other, perhaps accidentally, and were standing chatting but all at safe social distances. You can see it now where I walk. Social distancing is almost becoming a badge of honour. People are giving each other the widest berth possible, far more than the obligatory one and half metres.

A full ten days in and instead of relief, the restrictions are now much greater. We’re roughly where China was two and half months ago, so if all goes well by mid-June we might be where China is today. It is hardly a cheery thought.

My foreign friends in China tell me the first two weeks of house restraint were strange but in time it started to become more and more normal. Humans are remarkably adaptable. We know that. People adjust to all types of social and political systems. They live reasonably well-adjusted lives in liberal democracies, under communism and fascism, and everything else in between. We are supremely adaptable beings.

Perhaps we are also ahead of the curve. News today is that the rate of new infections is decreasing. For the mathematicians among us – and I’m not one but rather a simple economist – the second derivative is negative. It means the rate of increase is slowing. This is very good news today. Nevertheless, realistically, we are unlikely to see any amelioration in our condition of Stage 3 lockdown for months. It is clear we’re in for a long haul. 

I have re-discovered cooking after 13 years in China with an 'A Yi'. Cooking has come back to me as if it had never been interrupted. Before China I was a good cook. I had even, in my apartment in Canberra, cooked aux deux for Her Excellency, Mme Fu Ying, the Chinese Ambassador to Australia.