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在这个圣诞假期不仅应纪念因感染新冠而去世的 170 万人，还应赞颂人类的韧性和精神，以及科学和技术所取得的成功。
全文共 550 个词， By The editorial board
Festive cheer may feel in short supply this holiday season amid rising concerns over the spread of a more infectious strain of coronavirus. Yet despite the multitude of miseries the pandemic has inflicted, the year has witnessed extraordinary scientific endeavour. The Christmas period should be not only a time to remember the 1.7m people lost to Covid-19, but to celebrate the resilience and spirit of the human race — and the success of science and technology — in the face of a deadly killer.
由于人们对一种更具传染性的新冠病毒毒株传播的担忧日渐加剧，这个圣诞假期的节日欢乐气氛或许淡了一些。然而，虽然这场大流行病造成了许多不幸，但这一年见证了科学工作者作出的非凡努力。这个圣诞假期不仅应纪念因感染新冠而去世的 170 万人，还应赞颂人类在面对这一致命病毒时所表现出的韧性和精神，以及科学和技术所取得的成功。
Even while much of the world was forced to close down in the spring to halt the spread of the disease, researchers were racing to develop a vaccine. The global health emergency brought about unprecedented collaboration in the form of data sharing and mobilisation of resources between academia, governments, philanthropic organisations and private companies. These initiatives enabled the development of the Covid vaccines that are already being distributed to millions of people. Researchers managed to complete a process that on average takes 10 years in just 10 months — without cutting corners on normal standards of design,testing and manufacture.
在今春世界大部分地区为阻止疫情传播而被迫实施封锁之际，研究人员就已在争分夺秒地研发疫苗。这一全球卫生紧急事件带来了前所未有的协作，学术界、各国政府、慈善组织和私营企业一起分享数据和调动资源。这些积极举措确保了新冠疫苗的成功研发，已经在分发的疫苗可以为数百万人接种。研究人员成功地仅用 10 个月时间就完成了一个通常需要 10 年的过程，而且在设计、试验和生产环节都遵照正常标准。
Technology has helped economies through the crisis. Advances that would have been unthinkable as recently as the financial crisis 12 years ago allowed governments to all but shutter their economies yet keep vital activity, including that of their financial institutions, alive. The widespread installation of fast broadband and the recent emergence of new online platforms such as Zoom have allowed millions to work from home, and lessened the economic damage.
科技帮助各经济体应对这场危机。12 年前金融危机爆发时还不可想象的技术进步，让各国政府在几近封锁经济的同时，又能保持关键活动（包括金融机构活动）的运行。高速宽带的普及和近年来出现的Zoom等新在线平台，使无数人得以居家办公，从而减少经济损失。
There have been other scientific breakthroughs which, in a normal year, would have dominated the headlines. In March, a man from London became only the second person in the world to be cured of HIV. In August, the World Health Organization announced the eradication of wild poliovirus in Africa following its disappearance in Nigeria. As recently as the 1990s, polio was paralysing 75,000 children a year in Africa. And in November, researchers from DeepMind, the UK-based artificial intelligence company, announced they had cracked a challenge that has eluded scientists for decades: how to determine a protein’s 3D shape from its amino-acid sequence, an advance that could accelerate dramatically the discovery of new drugs.
我们还见证了其他方面的科学突破，如果在正常年份，它们本会占据新闻头条。3 月，伦敦一名男子成为世界上第二名被治愈的艾滋病病毒感染者。8 月，世界卫生组织（WHO）宣布，随着野生脊髓灰质炎病毒在尼日利亚消失，这种病毒已在非洲绝迹。就在上世纪 90 年代，该病毒每年还导致 7.5 万非洲儿童瘫痪。11 月，总部位于英国的人工智能公司DeepMind的研究人员宣布，他们破解了一个困扰科学家数十年的难题：如何根据一个蛋白的氨基酸序列来确定它的 3D形状。这一突破有望极大地加快新药的研发。
Science also triumphed in other areas this year, not least in the US. Here, outgoing president Donald Trump openly fought against science and sidelined his scientific advisers — exemplified by Dr Anthony Fauci — but was ultimately beaten. Rarely has there been a more head-on clash between scientific analysis and political will.
今年，科学在其他领域也取得了胜利，尤其是在美国。即将卸任的美国总统唐纳德·特朗普（DonaldTrump）曾公开反对科学，并排挤以安东尼·福奇（Anthony Fauci）博士为代表的科学顾问，但特朗普最终落败。科学分析与政治意志之间很少出现如此激烈的正面冲突。
Challenges remain, from the safe and equitable delivery of the vaccines to dealing with the social inequalities that the pandemic has both exposed and exacerbated. The successful inoculation of the world’s population will also help governments to overcome the rise of the anti-vaxxer movement. For policymakers, the response to Covid-19 holds a lesson for what is possible when faced with a lethal challenge; governments should apply this to the looming emergency of climate change.
各种挑战依然存在，从如何安全和公平地分配疫苗，到应对因新冠疫情而暴露并加剧的种种社会不平等。如果全世界的人能成功接种疫苗，还将有助于各国政府战胜日渐兴起的“反疫苗运动”。对政策制定者而言，应对这场疫情带来了一个经验：面对致命挑战时可以做到什么；各国政府应将此经验应用于迫在眉睫的气候变化问题上。
Pandemics are an age-old scourge, from the bubonic plague to the 1918 flu pandemic. What has been different this time, as social epidemiologist Dr Nicholas Christakis recently pointed out, is that humanity has been able to respond in real time with effectual medicines. After such a challenging year, the triumph of science — both practically and symbolically — is a crucial source of solace.
大流行病——从黑死病到 1918 年大流感——是一种古已有之的灾难。正如社会流行病学家尼古拉斯·克里斯塔基斯（Nicholas Christakis）博士最近指出的，这一次的不同之处在于，人类能够利用有效的药物实时做出回应。在经历如此充满挑战的一年后，科学的胜利成了一个带给人们慰藉的重要来源，无论是实际意义上还是象征意义上。