| 双语新闻 Bilingual News | 双语对照阅读 分级系列阅读 智能辅助阅读 在线英语学习 |
|
| 双语新闻 Bilingual News | 双语对照阅读 分级系列阅读 智能辅助阅读 在线英语学习 |
| [英文] [中文] [双语对照] [双语交替] [] |
| HONG KONG — Before she became a funeral planner, Connie Wong was a flight attendant for a Hong Kong airline. The sudden end of a career she had cherished for six years brought its own kind of grief, she said. | 香港——在成为葬礼策划师之前，黄锦妍是香港一家航空公司的空姐。她说，她珍惜了六年的职业生涯突然结束本身就是一种哀痛。 |
| It was one of many such losses experienced by residents of the Chinese territory. Hong Kong’s economy began deteriorating in 2019, when a proposed extradition law set off months of fiery street clashes between protesters and police. Then, during the coronavirus pandemic, harsh and constantly evolving restrictions that hewed closely to the mainland’s “zero Covid” policy upended entire industries. Numerous businesses were forced to close, thousands of people left the city, and some of those who remained have had to reinvent themselves. | 香港居民经历了许多损失，这是其中之一。这片中国领土的经济在2019年开始恶化，当时一项拟议的引渡法引发了抗议者和警察之间长达数月的激烈街头冲突。然后，在新冠病毒大流行期间，香港执行内地的“清零”政策，防疫措施十分严厉并且不断变化，颠覆了各行各业。许多企业被迫结业，成千上万的人离开了这座城市，一些留下来的人不得不重新做出选择。 |
| When Cathay Dragon, an arm of Hong Kong’s flagship carrier, Cathay Pacific, shut down in 2020 as travel came to a halt, Ms. Wong was among thousands left jobless. Accustomed to working red-eye flights, she couldn’t sleep at night. | 随着旅行停滞，香港主要的航空公司国泰航空于2020年停运了集团下的国泰港龙航空，黄锦妍是数千名失业者当中的一员。习惯了飞红眼航班的她，晚上睡不着觉。 |
| “Some people lost their family members. Some emigrated. Others lost their health — and not just their body health, but their mental health also,” she said recently. “It’s not just Hong Kongers, but the whole world is experiencing this. It’s hard to face. I’ve lost my job. But life will always bring alternatives.” | “有人失去了家人，有人移民，有人失去了他们的健康——不只是身体健康，还有心理健康，”她最近说。“不只是香港人，全世界都在经历这种情况。很难面对。我失去了工作。但生活总会带来另一种选择。” |
| A Guide for the Grieving | 悲伤者指南 |
| At Cathay Dragon, Ms. Wong, 35, had often asked to be assigned to flights to Kathmandu, Nepal, so she could volunteer there at a children’s home and animal shelter. The pursuit of something similarly fulfilling led her to apply last summer to be a life celebrant at Forget Thee Not, a Hong Kong nonprofit organization that tries to make dignified funerals affordable to families in need. | 黄锦妍现年35岁，她在国泰港龙时经常主动要求分配到飞往尼泊尔加德满都的航班，这样她就可以在那里的儿童之家和动物收容所做志愿者。为了追求类似的使命感，她去年夏天申请成为香港非营利组织“毋忘爱”的“生命颂礼司”，该组织帮助有需要的家庭能够负担得起有尊严的葬礼。 |
| She meets several times a week with families, in an airy room decked with flowers. As she helps them plan ceremonies, she suggests writing notes with memories to leave on or inside the coffin, as a way to show gratitude or let go of grudges as they say farewell. For the funeral of a 4-year-old, Ms. Wong decorated the seats with cutouts of the girl’s favorite cartoon character. | 她每周来几次，在一个摆放着鲜花的通风房间里跟有需求的家庭会面。当她帮助他们计划葬礼仪式时，她建议在棺材上或棺材内留下写有往事的便条，以此作为告别时表达感激之情或放下恩怨的一种方式。在一个四岁孩子的葬礼上，黄锦妍用女孩最喜欢的卡通人物的剪纸装饰座位。 |
| In some respects, Ms. Wong’s previous job experience turned out to be transferable, she said. Much as she had once found ways to placate passengers facing flight delays, she was now finding workarounds for people in far greater need. | 黄锦妍说，从某些角度来说，她之前的工作经验实际上在这里也是互通的。就像她曾经想办法安抚航班延误的乘客那样，她现在正在为有更大需要的人寻找解决之道。 |
| The adjustment was not easy. After her first few funerals, images of the grieving families replayed in her mind at night. She could barely eat from the stress, and her hair began to fall out. In November, she took sick leave, which lasted for months. Her bosses asked her to reflect on whether this was the right job for her. | 调整心态并不容易。在她最初主持的几次葬礼之后，到了晚上，痛不欲生的家庭成员画面会浮现在她的脑海中。压力让她几乎吃不下东西，还开始掉头发。11月，她休了长达数月的病假。老板要她考虑这份工作是否适合自己。 |
| Ms. Wong returned in April, as Hong Kong was facing its worst outbreak of the coronavirus. Hospitals were strained beyond capacity, and thousands of older people died of Covid-19. She plunged right back in. When relatives could not attend funerals in person after testing positive for Covid, she set up livestreams and narrated the rites. | 黄锦妍于4月返回工作岗位，当时香港正面临最严重的新冠病毒暴发。医院不堪重负，许多老年人死于新冠。她立即投入其中。当逝者的亲戚因新冠检测呈阳性而无法亲自参加葬礼时，她安排直播，讲述仪式的过程。 |
| There are some days when she longs to be flying again. But she says she has found a more far-reaching satisfaction in helping struggling families process a loss. | 有些日子她渴望再次飞行。但她说，在帮助陷入困境的家庭处理亲人亡故的过程中，她发现了一种更深远的满足感。 |
| “The impact of Covid pushed us to face reality,” she said. “We have to adjust.” | “肺炎的影响使我们面对现实，”她说。“我们要适应。” |
| The Covid Cleaner | 新冠清洁工 |
| Though the pandemic all but grounded the aviation industry, Mandi Cheung’s day job as a security guard at an aircraft engineering firm was unaffected. But he quit in March to become a cleaner at a quarantine facility for Covid patients. | 尽管大流行几乎使航空业停滞，但张文迪在一家飞机工程公司担任保安的日常工作并未受到影响。但他在3月辞职，成为新冠患者隔离设施的保洁员。 |
| It was a chance to make “quick money” as he saved up to emigrate to Britain, he said. The six-day-a-week cleaning job paid about $3,000 per month, roughly $1,000 more than his security job had. | 他说，这是一个赚“快钱”的机会，因为他要存钱移民英国。每周六天的清洁工作可以得到约3000美元的月收入，比他的保安工作高出约1000美元。 |
| At the peak of the Covid outbreak this year, Hong Kong’s hospitals and quarantine centers faced a large overflow of patients. Mr. Cheung’s quarantine camp near the Tsing Yi port, which has nearly 4,000 beds, was one of eight hastily constructed facilities. The experience was more harrowing than he expected. | 在今年新冠肺炎疫情最严重的时候，香港的医院和隔离中心面临人满为患的情况。张文迪所在的青衣码头附近的隔离中心有近4000个床位，是匆忙建造的八个隔离设施之一。这段痛苦的经历超过了他的预期。 |
| Mr. Cheung, 35, was not allowed to drink water or use the bathroom while wearing personal protective equipment. He cleaned up toilets and used rapid test kits every day, worrying about taking the virus home. His mother would let him in only after he sanitized his entire body at the door. (As the number of infections plateaued and pandemic fatigue set in, she stopped caring, he said.) | 35岁的张文迪穿上个人防护设备后，不能喝水不能上厕所。他每天打扫厕所，每天都要给自己用快速检测试剂盒，担心把病毒带回家。只有在门口全身消毒后，母亲才会放他进门。（他说，随着感染人数趋于稳定，大流行疲劳开始出现，她就不再操心了。） |
| “Resources were really lacking — the distribution of labor was unequal,” he said. “I was filled with resentment as I worked. I kept telling myself that it would just be for a few months.” | “资源好缺乏，分工极不平均，”他说。“做到我好大怨气。我一直告诉自己，只需要捱几个月。” |
| In the meantime, he had kept taking additional jobs. In May, he put in six-hour shifts at a coffee shop in his neighborhood after working overnight at the quarantine facility. | 在此期间，他一直在其他地方打工。今年5月，他在隔离设施通宵工作后，又在附近的一家咖啡店工作六个小时。 |
| Mr. Cheung had intended to work at the quarantine center for five months, but it closed in June as the number of “V.I.P.s,” as his team leader told him to refer to patients, dwindled. He plans to work full time at the coffee shop until he leaves Hong Kong. | 张文迪本打算在隔离中心工作五个月，但该中心于6月关闭，原因是“VIP”（组长告诉他，这个词是指病人）的数量减少了。他打算在咖啡店做全职工作，直到离开香港。 |
| Before the pandemic, Mr. Cheung ran a nocturnal coffee operation called NightOwl, but it was difficult to sustain financially under Covid dining restrictions. He hopes to open a similar business one day, after emigrating. But he is also curious about new experiences. | 在疫情之前，张文迪经营着一家名为NightOwl的夜间咖啡店，但在新冠的餐饮限制下，它在经济上难以维持下去。他希望移民后有一天能开一家类似的公司。但他也对新的体验感到好奇。 |
| “In the end, I will be exploring a new world,” he said. | “毕竟要去一个‘新世界’探险，”他说。 |
| A Carer for All Ages | 照顾所有年龄的人 |
| As an in-flight service manager for Cathay Dragon, Connie Cheung, 57, had reached the highest rung of her career ladder. Ms. Cheung, who is not related to Mandi Cheung, joined the airline, then called Dragonair, more than three decades ago as a flight attendant. She had recently extended her contract after reaching 55, the retirement age for cabin crew. | 作为国泰港龙航空的机上服务经理，57岁的康尼·张的职业生涯已经达到了顶峰。30多年前，她加入了当时名为港龙航空的公司做空姐。55岁（这是空乘人员的退休年龄）之后，她还与公司续签了合同。 |
| She was caring for her grandson and her daughter-in-law when the airline shut down in 2020. She decided to take a series of government courses in postnatal care, learning how to perform breast massages and boil hearty herbal soups. She started training to be a pui yuet, or nanny, for infants and a carer for new mothers, and in 2021, she began her second career. | 当航空公司在2020年关闭时，她正在照顾孙子和儿媳。她决定参加一系列有关产后护理的政府课程，学习乳房按摩和熬制添加了中草药来补身体的汤。她开始接受培训，成为照顾婴儿和新妈妈的“陪月”，即保姆。2021年，她开始了自己的第二职业。 |
| “Now I’m a beginner again,” Ms. Cheung said. | “现在我又成了一个初学者，”康尼·张说。 |
| She and a friend, Wing Lam, 48, another in-flight service manager turned postpartum nanny, trade tips on how to manage germophobic mothers and grumbling grandparents. They joke about how their sleek suitcases have been replaced by metal carts, which they haul from the subway to wet markets to buy groceries for the meals they cook for their clients. | 她48岁的朋友林颖华也是一名机上服务经理，后来也当上了产后保姆，两人就如何应付有洁癖的母亲和牢骚满腹的祖父母交换心得。她们开玩笑说，她们把时髦的行李箱换成了金属推车，推着这样的车子坐地铁到菜市场，为客户买菜做饭。 |
| When she lost her airline job, Ms. Cheung had been making roughly $4,500 a month plus benefits, like health care. Now, she makes about $3,300 a month. Ms. Lam, for her part, misses the thrill of managing a plane crew, despite the stress and uncertainties that came with every flight. | 康尼·张失去在航空公司的工作之前，月薪加上医疗保险等福利约为4500美元。现在，她每个月能挣3300美元。林颖华则怀念管理机组人员的那种兴奋感，尽管每次飞行都会带来压力和不确定性。 |
| In May, Cathay Pacific sent recruitment emails to thousands of laid-off employees, asking them to reapply — for entry-level positions. | 今年5月，国泰航空向数以千计的下岗员工发送了招聘邮件，要求他们重新申请初级职位。 |
| Ms. Lam holds out hope that the airline will rehire senior staff. But in the meantime, she plans to use her in-flight managerial experience as a nanny agent, matching carers with parents. She has begun training people who are new to the industry, including former flight attendants. | 林颖华希望该航空公司将重新聘用高级员工。但与此同时，她计划利用自己在飞机上的管理经验作保姆代理，为护理人员和父母牵线搭桥。她已经开始培训这个行业的新人，包括以前的空姐。 |
| Ms. Cheung is staying the course. Her calendar has filled up as clients have referred her to other expectant mothers. While the work is unstable — she’ll get no requests one month, then several the next — she hopes it will soon pay for family vacations. | 康尼·张会继续做目前的工作。她的日程已经排满了，因为客户把她介绍给了其他准妈妈。虽然这份工作不稳定（她可能这个月不会收到工作邀请，下个月就会收到好几份），但她希望这份工作很快就能让她支付全家度假的费用。 |
| She said she could see herself taking care of babies for the next 10 years: “I have found my new direction in life.” | 她说，她可以想象自己未来10年里都在照顾孩子：“我找到了我人生的新方向。” |
OK阅读网 版权所有(C)2017 | 联系我们