國家地理:為什么旅行是一項基本的人類活動(2)

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We are an adaptive species. We can tolerate brief periods of forced sedentariness. A dash of self-delusion helps. We're not grounded, we tell ourselves. We're merely between trips, like the unemployed salesman in between opportunities. We pass the days thumbing though old travel journals and Instagram feeds. We gaze at souvenirs. All this helps. For a while.

我們是適應(yīng)力強的物種。我們能夠忍受短時間無法移動。一點自我催眠是有幫助的。我們告訴自己并沒有被禁足，只是處于兩次旅程之間，就像失業(yè)的銷售員只是在等待下一個機會。我們靠翻閱舊旅行日志和滑Instagram動態(tài)消磨日子。我們盯著旅游紀(jì)念品出神。這些都有幫助，至少一陣子。

The travel industry is hurting. So are travelers. "I dwelled so much on my disappointment that it almost physically hurt," Paris-based journalist Joelle Diderich told me recently, after canceling five trips last spring.

旅游業(yè)受到重創(chuàng)，旅人也很痛苦。住在巴黎的記者喬埃樂·迪德里奇，光是去年春天就取消了五個行程，她跟我說：“我一直沉溺于失望當(dāng)中，幾乎連身體都真的痛起來了。”

My friend James Hopkins is a Buddhist living in Kathmandu. You'd think he'd thrive during the lockdown, a sort-of mandatory meditation retreat. For a while he did.我的朋友詹姆斯·霍普金斯是住在尼泊爾加德滿都的佛教徒。想象中他在封城期間應(yīng)該可以怡然自得，就像參加一次不能不去的禪修避靜。有一陣子他確實如此。

But during a recent Skype call, James looked haggard and dejected. He was growing restless, he confessed, and longed "for the old 10-countries-a-year schedule." Nothing seemed to help, he told me. "No matter how many candles I lit, or how much incense I burned, and in spite of living in one of the most sacred places in South Asia, I just couldn't change my habits."但是我最近一次跟詹姆斯Skype通話時，他看起來憔悴低落。他坦承自己越來越坐立不安，想念“之前一年跑十個國家的行程表?！彼f似乎做什么都無濟于事?！安还茳c多少蠟燭或燒多少香，就算是住在南亞數(shù)一數(shù)二的神圣地方，我還是改變不了習(xí)慣?！?/p>

When we ended our call, I felt relieved, my grumpiness validated. It's not me; it's the pandemic. But I also worried. If a Buddhist in Kathmandu is going nuts, what hope do the rest of us stilled souls have?

跟他聊完后，我松了口氣，覺得我的躁動不安有理有據(jù)：問題不在我，而是疫情。但同時我也感到憂慮。假使連加德滿都的佛教徒都快抓狂，我們這些不安于室的凡夫俗子還能有什么希望？