从笼罩全球的噩梦中逃离

I get the same question every time I talk with friends and family outside of China: "How is the COVID situation?" 
每次我跟亲朋好友打越洋电话时，他们总会问我同样的问题：中国的新冠疫情怎么样了？
They're not only asking because they want to confirm the actual realities with someone on the ground they personally know and trust. They're also asking because they don't know at all.
他们之所以这样问，不仅是因为信任我，觉得我不会隐瞒实情，还因为他们对此真的一无所知。
And the fact that they don't say a lot about the international media ecosystem. Indeed, after months of questioning China's early COVID response, most global media, especially Western outlets, have forgone covering the country's subsequent containment.
他们的不知情反映出当前国际的媒体形式。实际上，国际对中国早期采取的新冠应对措施已经质疑数月之久。如今，全球大多数媒体，特别是西方媒体，早已不再遮掩中国抗疫取得进展的相关报道了。
As a colleague recently pointed out, the graphs Western media present ranking the responses of different countries and regions often omit China entirely. And that's despite the fact that the country has essentially brought the epidemic under control. As such, life has returned to normal … mostly.
前段时间，我的一位同事说，西方媒体针对世界其他国家和地区对抗疫情的成效做了排名，榜单却把中国排除在外，但其实疫情在中国早已得到有效控制，也就是说，中国人民的生活基本已经恢复正常了。
My son is back in kindergarten. My daughter is back in primary school. My wife is teaching university courses in brick-and-mortar classrooms. And our kids have also resumed such extracurricular activities as martial arts classes.
我儿子的幼儿园已经开学，女儿也已重返小学课堂，我的妻子是一名大学讲师，如今也回归到教室授课了。孩子们的课外活动也重启了，他们又可以去上武术课了。
I noticed that the same day my son first returned to kindergarten was also the day when the colleague pointed out foreign media's lack of coverage of China's successful containment. It was also a day, one of many, where zero new COVID-19 cases were reported on the Chinese mainland.
那名同事提起外国媒体掩盖中国实情的那天，恰巧就是我儿子返校的第一天。就在当天，我还看到了中国大陆很多地区新冠新增病例为0的报道。
Many of us felt like we were waking up to a nightmare around early February, when many things — most things — were uncertain. The only thing that was for sure was that there was a dangerous new virus that was transforming life in ways we couldn't anticipate.
大多数事情目前仍然存在变数，因此我们当中很多人都有种从二月初就开始的那场噩梦中苏醒过来的感觉，唯一能确定的是，新冠病毒无可避免地改变了人类的生活方式。
We didn't know when the lockdowns would end, when schools would reopen, when we'd be able to go outside freely, and what the infection and death rates would be. Most of us wondered if — feared — we may contract the virus.
疫情爆发之时，所有人都不知道这场噩梦何时才能结束，学校何时复学，人们何时才能自由出行，也不知道究竟还会有多少人受到感染，又会有多少人在疫情中死去。我们大都生活在恐惧之中，因害怕被病毒感染而人心惶惶。
Today, in China, it feels like we've awakened from that nightmare. Life is essentially back to normal, with a few tweaks like temperature checks and health-app scans. Our kids must wear facemasks all day at school and bring their own tableware. The times for pickups and drop offs have been tightened.
如今，生活在中国的我们真的有种逃离噩梦的解脱感。最开始的几周里，我们每天都要接受体温检测和健康码扫描。渐渐地，生活开始回归正轨，只不过孩子们每天都需要佩戴口罩和携带个人餐具，家长接送的时间也比以往严格。
Small stuff, in the big picture. And the big picture is that life is mostly as it was before the outbreak. And I hear a tinge of congratulatory envy in the voices of US friends in particular, as US states relax lockdowns and move toward reopening despite high infection rates.
纵观全局，这点细微的变化便不足为提，因为人们的生活已经在很大程度上恢复到疫情爆发前的样子了。我将中国的近况分享给美国朋友，他们在替我高兴的同时，也表露出一丝羡慕之情，因为美国目前的病发率还是很高，国家却又在这种情况下放宽隔离，复学复工，着实让人堪忧。
I've also discovered few such friends realize how China has made great strides toward economic recovery. It has done as well in this regard as could be realistically hoped for, given the circumstances.
我的朋友们几乎很少有人知道中国是如何在疫情带来的沉重打击后实现经济复苏的。鉴于当时的情况，中国在这方面确实不负所望，圆满完成实际预期任务。
I also believe it's especially telling that, amid the severe global economic crisis, the country abandoned previously expected GDP growth targets but did not abandon its mission to totally eliminate extreme poverty this year.
看到中国的努力，我认为这尤其能说明，这个国家在这场全球性经济危机中虽然放弃了此前预期的GDP增长目标，但却没有放弃要在今年实现彻底脱贫的使命。
This truly demonstrates a people-centered approach. And it shows the leadership's priorities — that is, the well-being of all, including the most vulnerable.
这真正体现了中国“以人民为中心”的办事风格，也显示了中国领导集体始终将包括弱势群体在内的全体人民利益看作重中之重。
The biggest disruption for our family, at this point, is that we can't make our annual trip to our hometowns to see our families. The worst part of this is that our parents will miss at least a year of their grandkids' lives. And children are, in many ways, practically different people from year to year, even month to month when they're as young as our 5-year-old.
这次疫情给我家带来的最大麻烦，就是不能像每年一样回美国老家看看。我的父母会因此错过孙子孙女们至少一年的生活趣事，这实在太糟糕了。处于成长期的孩子真是一年一个样，五岁大的娃娃甚至每个月都在变化。
Still, at this point, we're happy that if we're "stuck" anywhere, it's in China, which has been our home for 14 years. That is, a home where the outbreak has been brought under control, where life has basically returned to normal, and where we can safely work, study and live as the pandemic rages elsewhere.
而在新冠病毒肆虐全球的今天，我们是被“困”在了中国，这个我们生活了14年的地方。在这里，新冠疫情已经基本得到控制，生活也已恢复正常，人们可以安全地办公学习，这对我们家而言也算是一种“不幸中的万幸”吧。