又中又英｜worrywart

Relatives and friends often tell me I am a worrywart. An article in the Washington Post last week made me even more of a worrywart. The article scared the hell out of me for a while, but I managed to calm down eventually. It said health experts had warned the White House another coronavirus pandemic could come roaring back during the next two years. The experts agreed the new pandemic could be even worse than the one caused by the omicron variant. A worrywart is a person who often worries, even about unimportant things. If something scares the hell out of you, it means it shocks or frightens you.
The expression "come roaring back" means to become successful again. If the economy is in a bad situation but suddenly improves, you can say the economy has come roaring back. The expression can also be used to describe something that has become active again, such as a pandemic. The experts who sent the warning report to the White House agreed there’s a 20 percent chance of a new wave similar to the omicron outbreak. But one well-known biologist said the chance of a new omicron-type wave could be as high as 40 percent.
The warning coincided with a US government decision to end the public health emergency on May 11. The health emergency has lasted over three years. The WHO last week also said the pandemic is no longer a global health emergency. After reading the article I told myself there is no need to be a worrywart because it is not certain the pandemic would come roaring back.

我的亲戚和朋友常跟我说我是个杞人忧天者（worrywart）。上星期在《华盛顿邮报》刊登的一篇报道，更令我忧心忡忡（worrywart）。那篇报道吓得我半死（scared the hell out of me），但过了一阵子后我终能平静下来。它说，健康卫生专家向白宫发出警报，另一场新冠病毒全球大疫症，将于未来两年内卷土重来（come roaring back）。那些专家们都认为，新一场全球大疫症会比 omicron变种引发的病症更为严峻。A worrywart是一个杞人忧天的人，即使是一些琐碎的小事亦会忧心忡忡。若某事物 scares the hell out of you，即它令你震惊或吓怕了你。
习语“come roaring back”是指东山再起，又再成功。若经济很差但突然复苏，你便可以说经济起死回生，the economy has come roaring back。这个习语也可以用来形容某事物再度活跃起来，例如全球大疫症。给白宫发送警示报告的专家们认为，会有百分之二十的机会出现跟 omicron爆发相类似的新一波疫症。但一个知名的生物学家说，爆发新一波类近omicron疫症的机率，可高达百分之四十。
这个警示发布的同时，美国政府亦决定于五月十一日结束公共卫生紧急状态。这一公共卫生紧急状态已经维持超过三年了。世界卫生组织上星期亦说，全球大疫症不再是全球卫生紧急事件。读过那篇报道后，我跟自己说，不用杞人忧天（worrywart），因为并不确定全球大疫症真的会死灰复燃（come roaring back）。

mickchug@gmail.com
Michael Chugani褚简宁
中译：七刻