Michael Chugani 褚簡寧 - mask mandates｜又中又英

December 1 was freedom day in Taiwan. I don’t mean freedom in a political sense. I consider December 1 freedom day because Taiwan lifted the outdoor mask mandate. It was a breath of fresh air for the outdoor mask mandate to end. The word “mandate” has several meanings but used this way it means a government order to do something. A mask mandate, therefore, is a government order to wear facemasks. Most countries have already ended outdoor mask mandates although some still require masks indoors and on public transport.

A breath of fresh air can mean a brief period of breathing fresh air outdoors but can also mean something new that makes the situation exciting. Both meanings can apply to the end of an outdoor mask mandate. People can finally breathe fresh outdoor air because there is no rule to wear a facemask. The end of the outdoor mask mandate is a breath of fresh air because it is new and exciting. I was excited when Taiwan ended the outdoor mask mandate. The US ended the indoor and outdoor mask mandate a long time ago.

I was so used to not wearing a mask in the US that I had to shift gears and start getting used to wearing a facemask when I arrived in Taiwan. To shift gears used this way means to suddenly change what you have been doing. I tried to shift gears again on December 1 by not wearing a facemask outdoors. But when I went outdoors, everyone was still wearing one except for a foreigner I saw. Taiwanese people are so used to wearing facemasks it’s hard for them to shift gears.

十二月一日是台灣的「自由日」——我指的不是政治意義上的「自由」；我認為十二月一日是自由日，因為台灣解除了戶外口罩令（mask mandate）。戶外口罩令（mask mandate）結束，令人耳目一新（a breath of fresh air）。Mandate有幾個意思，但在這裏是指政府下的一項命令、指令 ；因此，a mask mandate就是政府下令要市民佩戴口罩。大部份國家即使要求在室內和公共交通工具上戴口罩，但都已經結束了戶外口罩令（mask mandates）。

A breath of fresh air可以指在戶外呼吸片刻的清新空氣，但也可以指一些帶來起色、生氣的事物，令環境耳目一新。這兩個意思同樣可以應用到戶外口罩令（mask mandate）的結束：因為沒有規定要戴口罩，人們終於可以在戶外呼吸新鮮空氣；而結束戶外口罩令（mask mandate），同樣令人感到耳目一新（a breath of fresh air），因為這是令人感到新鮮而興奮的。台灣解除戶外口罩令（mask mandate），我實在很興奮。美國在很久以前已經全面結束了室內和室外的口罩令（mask mandate）。

我習慣了在美國不用戴口罩，因此來到台灣之後，我必須要 shift gears，開始習慣去戴口罩。To shift gears在這裏是指突然改變你一直在做的事。十二月一日，我又嘗試調整（shift gears），在戶外不戴口罩；可是當我外出時，除了我見到的一個外國人，人人都還在戴口罩。台灣人已經太習慣戴口罩了，很難要他們去調整、改變做法（shift gears）。中譯：七刻
Michael Chugani 褚簡寧