口罩之道

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If there is a symbol of the current confusion and fear, the misinformation and anxiety, generated by the spread of the new coronavirus, it is the surgical face mask. When history looks back on the pandemic of 2020, those white or baby blue rectangles that hide the mouth and nose, turning everyone into a muzzled pelican, will be what we see.

如果说目前疫情下有一个象征着困惑和恐惧、误传和焦虑的东西，那就是外科口罩。当历史回顾2020的流行病时，我们会看见或白或蓝的矩形口罩遮住了人们的口鼻，每个人都变成戴着口套的鹈鹕的样子。

The masks began appearing almost immediately after the infection was identified, first in Asia, where masks were already common, and then in Europe. These days they are everywhere. (And nowhere — there is a serious face mask shortage).

病毒传染一经确认，口罩就随之出现了，首先出现在戴口罩已经十分普遍的亚洲，之后是在欧洲。现在，它无处不在，然而处处紧缺。

Now photographs of people in masks illustrate almost every news article about the virus, on front pages and social media alike. After all, the contagion itself is intangible: a microscopic organism resting on hard surfaces, transmitted through the air in water droplets from infected individuals. It can’t be seen.

现在几乎每一条有关新冠病毒的新闻头条和社交媒体上都能看到人们戴着口罩的照片。毕竟，病毒本身是无形的，它是一种微小的有机体，栖息在坚硬的表面，通过被感染者接触的水滴和空气传播。我们看不见它。

Even more than bottles of hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes, the mask has become the virus’s avatar; shorthand for our looming dread, desire to hide, inability to protect ourselves, and desire to do something — anything — to appear to take action.

口罩已经超越了洗手液和消毒湿巾，成为病毒存在的象征。错综复杂的情感都浓缩在一片口罩中：迫近的恐惧、躲避的本能、无法自保的无力、有事可做的渴望——以此证明自己没有坐以待毙。

In this it is simply the latest iteration of an object (an accessory?) that has occupied an outsize role in various cultures and our unspoken forms of communication since it was created in the mid-1890s. Face masks — the mouth-and-nose-covering kind, as opposed to the eye-covering kind or the Michael Myers[1] kind, both of which have their own history and set of associations — have long been a fraught symbol.

口罩只是一个对象的最新迭代，自19世纪90年代中期问世以来，它在各种不同文化和我们的交流方式中占据了巨大的地位。用来遮住口鼻的口罩，与眼罩和迈尔斯口罩不同，它们都有自己的历史，但同时还有一系列的联系，长期以来它们一直是令人担忧的象征。

[1]Michael Myers mask：《月光光心慌慌》（Halloween）中，杀人魔Michael Myers所戴的面具，他的造型虽然看起来平凡，却令人令人毛骨悚然，是电影史上最引人注目及最具代表性的面具之一。

They have represented safety and protection from disease and pollution; solidarity; protest; racism; a fashion trend; and now, pandemic. They have been, said Christos Lynteris, a medical anthropologist at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, a sign of “something that hides but also communicates.” It is, he said, “an interesting dialectic, and one very dependent on context.”

纵观历史，口罩被赋予了多重含义：安全、对于疾病和污染的抵御、团结、对抗、种族主义、一种时尚趋势；如今在这之上又增添了一层含义:流行病。苏格兰圣安德鲁斯大学的医学人类学家克里斯托斯·林泰瑞斯说，它们一直是“隐藏但又能够进行交流”的标志。他说，这是一种有趣的方言，而且高度依赖于语境。

How did what is essentially some gauze held on by straps take on so much meaning?

口罩的本质就是给一块纱布绑上带子，它为什么会被赋予这么多的意义？

According to “History of Surgical Face Masks: The myths, the masks, and the men and women behind them,” by John L. Spooner[2], face masks first appeared at the very end of 19th century, used as a protective measure worn by doctors during surgery to prevent airborne bacteria from entering an open wound.

约翰·斯普纳在其所著的《外科口罩的历史：神话，口罩及其背后的男人和女人》中写到，口罩最早出现在19世纪末，医生在进行手术的时候佩戴它，从而防止空气中的细菌进入伤口，起到保护的作用。

[2]约翰·斯普纳，3M公司医疗产品部的教育研究协调员。他在全国各地的护士团体进行了广泛的讲座，内容涉及准备程序和无菌技术。

They were then adopted in 1910 by the Chinese authorities to prevent the spread of pneumonic plague and, Mr. Lynteris[3] said, became “emblematic of medical modernity. They had a double function — both to stop germs and to transform people into scientifically minded citizens.”

口罩在1910年由中国官方引进，用于阻止肺鼠疫的传播，并且如林特里斯先生所说，“成为了现代医学的象征”。“口罩有双重功能——它既能阻断细菌的传播，又能提高公民的科学素养。”

[3]克里斯托斯·林特里斯，医学人类学家。他的研究专注于对传染病流行病，动物对人的感染（动物病），医学视觉文化，流行病学认识论，殖民地医学，全球健康和流行病等对人类构成潜在风险的人类学和历史学研究。

Eight years later, they became a global phenomenon, when they were widely adopted as protection against the Spanish flu.

8年后，口罩作为预防西班牙流感的有效防护措施而被广泛接受。这时，佩戴口罩就成为了一种全球性的现象。

“You can see masks in drawings of fashionably dressed people with masks,” Mr. Lynteris said. “There was a popular acceptance of the mask as part of life.” Though use of the masks receded afterward World War I, they remained popular in China, where masks symbolized care for the community and civic awareness, “even in Communist public health campaigns,” Mr. Lynteris said.

“你可以在一些画作中看到穿着时髦、同时又佩戴口罩的人，”林特里斯先生说，“人们普遍接受了口罩，并将它当做了生活的一部分。”尽管口罩的使用在一战以后有所减少，它在中国还是备受欢迎。在这里，它已经成为了社区关怀与公民意识的象征。“甚至在共产主义公共卫生运动中，口罩也是重要的一部分。”他说。

Then came the SARS epidemic, beginning in 2002, and a mask resurgence, in China and across most of East Asia and Southeast Asia, as well as in the public mind, as a sign of “heath awareness and civic duty.” It is sheer politeness to wear a mask to avoid sneezing on your neighbor.

随后，2002年非典爆发，中国及东亚和东南亚的大部分地区开始大量使用口罩，这使得它重新回到了公众视野中，并成为了人们具备健康意识和公民义务的标志。戴口罩也是一种礼貌的行为，可以防止你对着邻居打喷嚏。

At the same time, as awareness of environmental degradation, pollution and air quality has become a growing topic of conversation, masks took on a different role: as air filters in urban centers and harbingers of the climate crisis — not just in such cities as Mumbai, Beijing, Tokyo and Mexico City, but also, more recently, during the bush fires in Australia.

随着人们对环境退化的认识，环境污染与空气质量成为日益热门的话题的同时，口罩起到了特殊的作用，成为了城市中心的空气过滤器和气候危机的先驱——不仅仅只是在孟买、北京、东京、墨西哥这些城市得到使用，甚至还在最近澳大利亚的丛林大火中发挥了巨大作用。

“There is a certain ‘Blade Runner’-y feeling of embracing our fashionable dystopia that I enjoyed,” one young Australian said in The Guardian of why he had embraced the face mask.

“这像是在推崇一种我喜爱的、时髦的反乌托邦，使我有一种银翼杀手式的体验。”在接受卫报采访、问及为何推崇口罩时，一位澳大利亚的年轻人这样说到。

Little wonder fashion took note — fashion always does, when it comes to items that signal identity — and sensing opportunity, rose to meet it.

难怪时尚界注意到了口罩——当标志身份的物品出现时，时尚界总是能敏锐地察觉到机会并把它融入时尚设计。

The Qiaodan Yin Peng Sportswear collection put face masks on the runway during China Fashion Week in 2014. Masha Ma, a Chinese designer showing in Paris, featured a Swarovski-studded look in her spring 2015 show.

2014年中国时装周期间，乔丹尹鹏运动系列走秀让口罩在T台上亮相。中国设计师玛莎·马在巴黎的时装秀上展示了一系列点缀着施华洛世奇的女装。

Masks were adopted as expressions of — or challenges to — creative identity by the rappers Ayleo and Mateo Bowles (Ayo & Teo), who started wearing them, they told Billboard, because people were making fun of their facial expressions; soon they had become their signature accessory.

饶舌歌手艾里奥和马特奥·鲍尔斯（Ayo & Teo）也开始戴面具。他们告诉《公告牌》杂志，戴面具是为了表达个性，回应外界的质疑，因为人们会取笑他们的面部表情;不久后，口罩就成了他们的标志性配饰。

Over the last three years, brands including Off-White, Palm Angels, Bathing Ape and Fendi have offered designer face masks. Gucci made one for Billie Eilish to wear with her all-Gucci look at the Grammys, as part of her message that her body is her own, for her eyes only.

过去三年里，Off-White、Palm Angels、Bathing Ape和Fendi等品牌都推出了设计师款口罩。Gucci为比莉·艾利什设计了一个口罩来搭配她在格莱美颁奖典礼上的服装。比莉用这样的方式来表达她的身体是属于自己的，没有人有权利随意评论她的身材、评判她的人格。

Less than a month ago, celebrities and models began to post selfies in their masks on social media — most often from airplanes, but also from the street. Here was Bella Hadid on her flight out of Milan, in fedora, scarf and surgical face mask. There was Gwyneth Paltrowen route to Paris in a black Nemen x Airinum breathing mask.

不到一个月之前，名人和模特们开始在社交媒体上发带着口罩的自拍。这些照片大多是在飞机上或街上拍摄的。这是模特贝拉·哈迪德在飞离米兰的航班上戴着软呢帽、围巾和口罩的自拍。另一张是演员格温妮斯·帕特洛在去巴黎途中戴着Nemen x Airinum口罩的自拍。

In part because we attribute so much meaning to the human face and its expressions, to cover it, to hide what is the most naked, accessible, part of yourself, can be deeply unsettling and alienating to those around us.

在某种程度上，因为我们把人的面部表情赋予了太多的意义，如果试图去掩盖它、或是去隐藏这个对于他人来说，你最容易接近也是最坦诚的部分，可能会使我们周围的人深感不安和疏远。

“A mask creates a barrier between you and the world,” said Marine Serre, a young French designer who often works with environmental issues and upcycling . “It protects you, but it also means you can’t get close to someone.”

玛莉·塞勒说：“口罩在你和这个世界之间设置了一道屏障。”她是法国一位经常处理有关环境和回收利用事务的年轻设计师。“口罩保护了你，但那也意味着你不能近距离接触他人。”

Ms. Serre has also noticed a change in the reception of masks.In the past, the masks made many viewers uneasy, Ms. Serre said, but not this season. “People were more and more enthusiastic about it,” she said. “But it’s not really a positive thing, I think. It’s an awkward conversation to have. To sell masks at a premium, as many brands do, during a crisis, can seem like profiteering. Not to mention a perpetuating of class difference. Who can afford to pay for the protection of their choice? And given the medical messages about masks and the new coronavirus, and the fact they don’t necessarily work as a barrier for healthy people, it could also be seen as spreading misinformation.”

塞勒女士同时也注意到了人们对于口罩接受度的变化。过去，口罩让许多人感到不安，但今时不同往日。她说：“人们对此越来越感兴趣，但我认为这并不是什么好事。这是一个难以启齿的话题。比如说，很多品牌会在此次疫情期间高价出售口罩，牟取暴利。更不用说阶级差异的存在向来如此。谁有能力为他们所选择的保护方式买单呢？”

While many Asians countries and the Czech Republic have already made the wearing of masks mandatory, it’s still deabted in America whether there’s a benefit for the general public to wear masks to protect themselves from contracting the coronavirus . As recently as March 31, Surgeon General Jerome Adams said during an appearance on Fox & Friends that he was not recommending masks for healthy people. “Many masks offer only modest protection against the virus, giving a false sense of security.”Adam said.

虽然许多亚洲国家、还有捷克共和国已经强制要求戴口罩，但在美国，戴口罩保护自己免受冠状病毒感染这一措施是否有利于公众，仍在讨论中。就在3月31日，外科医生杰罗姆·亚当斯在福克斯电视台的节目中表示，他不建议健康人群戴口罩。他说：“许多口罩对病毒的防护作用有限，给人一种虚假的安全感。“

Despite all those debates,new guidelines released on 3rd April advise that the mask use is needed to help slow the spread of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. “We now know from recent studies that a significant portion of individuals with coronavirus lack symptoms and that even those who eventually develop symptoms can transmit the virus to others before showing symptoms,” the CDC said in a statement Friday.

尽管存在这些争论，4月3日发布的新指南建议，需要使用口罩来帮助减缓引起COVID-19（2019冠状病毒病）的新型冠状病毒的传播。疾控中心在周五的一份声明中说，“现在，我们从最近的研究中知道，有相当一部分冠状病毒感染者没有症状，甚至那些最终出现症状的人也可能在出现症状之前将病毒传染给他人”。

Perhaps America will reach the point where wearing a mask will be seen, as it is in Asia, as a sign of care and a gesture of community. Where wearing a mask is not a sign of fear and difference, but of human commonality. Perhaps they will remain an uneasy subject, representation of a cratering society.

也许美国将会像亚洲一样，把戴口罩视为一种谨慎负责、关心集体的举措。戴口罩不是恐惧和差异的标志，而是人类的共同点。也许它们仍然是一个令人不安的话题，代表着一个正在崩溃的社会。

Either way, there is no question that this kind of mask, like the tribal ones the anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss wrote about in “The Way of the Masks,” will continue to be layered with the myths that we write to explain our own history.

不管怎样，毫无疑问的是，现在的口罩就像人类学家克洛德·列维—斯特劳斯在《面具之道》中描述的部落面具那样。它们也将承载人类的秘史，就像我们书写以解释历史的神话。