Michael Chugani 褚簡寧 - Wearing　thin｜又中又英

The conventional wisdom always was that China would keep its zero-Covid policy for the time being. But last week, out of the blue, China loosened its policy. It relaxed many of the zero-Covid restrictions. Mainland officials reassured the public that the Omicron variant spreading in the country is mild compared to earlier variants. China has now also ended an app that tracks travel within the country. The expression “conventional wisdom” means a generally accepted view about something. If something happens out of the blue, it means it happens unexpectedly. Hong Kong yesterday also ended the amber health code for arrivals. Residents will no longer need to use the Leave Home Safe app when entering premises.

This decision by the government was long overdue. The patience of many Hong Kong people was wearing thin. If your patience wears thin, it means you are becoming less patient about something or getting annoyed about something. The patience of restaurant and bar owners have been wearing thin for a long time because strict Covid rules have caused many to lose money. Despite the easing of rules, many experts believe Hong Kong’s economy will remain in dire straits unless all restrictions are lifted. If something is in dire straits it means it is in a difficult situation.

It’s time for Hong Kong to end all restrictions, including multiple tests for tourists. I would like to make a correction to a previous column where I said AD means after the death of Christ, a common mistake. A reader correctly noted it means in the year of the Lord.
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一直以來，普遍看法（conventional wisdom）皆認為中國目前還會維持它的清零政策；但上星期，出人意表地（out of the blue），中國放寬了它的政策，鬆綁了許多清零的防疫措施。內地官員向公眾保證，在國內傳播的Omicron變種比起早前的變種病毒株更為輕微。中國現在亦已終止使用應用程式去追蹤市民在國內的出行活動。習語「conventional wisdom」是指對某事情的一般看法或共識。若某事happens out of the blue，意即它毫無預警地突然發生。香港昨天亦取消了入境人士的「黃碼」。香港居民進入處所，毋須再掃描「安心出行」應用程式。

政府的這個決定，實在是姍姍來遲。許多香港人的耐性日漸wearing thin——若你的耐性wears thin，意即你對某事逐漸失去耐性，或感到厭煩。餐廳和酒吧東主已經有很長一段時間等得非常不耐煩（wearing thin），因為嚴苛的防疫措施令他們許多人損失慘重。儘管放寬了措施，許多專家認為香港經濟仍然會停留在dire straits之中，除非取消所有防疫措施——若某事情是in dire straits，意即它處於水深火熱、險峻的困境之中。

香港是時候終結所有防疫措施了，包括要求抵港旅客做多個檢測。我在此想糾正之前在專欄中所說，公元後AD是指耶穌基督死後的年份，這是一個常見的錯誤。一位讀者正確地指出，它的意思是「主的年份」。
mickchug@gmail.com
中譯：七刻
Michael Chugani 褚簡寧