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Iodine
126.9045

In Loco Parentis
代父母之职

It was all done in the name of security, of course. My security, your security, national security … it hardly made any difference which. Smoking was banned from public places. Motorcyclists had to wear helmets. Drivers were required to wear seat belts. Airline passengers couldn’t carry nail clippers. Pregnant women weren’t allowed to drink. Hardware clerks had to submit to random drug testing.
当然，所有这些都是以安全的名义进行的。我的安全，您的安全，国家的安全……几乎没有什么不同。公共场所禁止吸烟。摩托车手必须戴头盔。驾驶员被责令系上安全带。航空公司的乘客不能携带指甲刀。孕妇不允许喝酒。五金店店员必须接受随机药物测试。

Some of these laws made sense, of course. Others did not. But they all added momentum to the slow erosion of liberty, and then to the rapid erosion of liberty, and then to the redefinition of liberty as a threat to Our Way of Life. Everyone was required to carry ID cards with their gene-print and retina scan. Contact sports were banned. Distressing news was kept out of the media. Walls were built at every border. International travel was halted. Government finkware was installed in all new computers.
当然，其中一些法律是有其道理的。有的没有。但是它们都在缓慢地侵蚀自由，之后就是快速地侵蚀自由，再之后就是重新定义自由，说那威胁到我们的生活方式的一个东西。每个人都必须携带身份证件，证件里记录着他们的基因指纹和虹膜图。运动被禁了。令人不安的消息不会出现在媒体之中。每个边界都筑起了城墙。国际旅行也暂停了。所有新生产的计算机中都安装了政府的流氓软件。

The day dawned when everyone’s existence was finally safe. Free of danger, violence, sex, or human contact. Free of hate or envy or jealousy or lust or even love. Nothing new or unexpected ever happened. One day was much the same as another.
终于，每个人的生活都无比平安的那天终于到来了。没有危险，暴力，性，或是人和人的联系。没有仇恨，羡慕，嫉妒，情欲甚至爱。没有任何新的或意外的事情发生。一天与另一天几乎完全相同。

It was like being swaddled in enormous clouds of cotton candy. We none of us could feel a thing. We all watched a lot of television.
就像被绵绵的棉花糖包裹着。我们当中没人能感觉，哪怕任何事情。我们都看了很多电视。

Then came the announcement that amniotic tanks were being prepared for every citizen. Afloat in the salt-water medium of our prebirths, we would be fed, nourished, and encouraged to regress into timeless dreams of simple being.
然后通知就来了，说会为每个公民准备羊水罐。我们将像出生前那样漂浮在咸水中，我们会被喂食，被提供营养，被鼓励回归到简单又无尽的睡梦中去。

You wouldn’t think that there’d’ve been enough spunk left in the population for a rebellion. We were soft and coddled. But it turned out that we were all just waiting for an excuse. We were a heap of tinder yearning for the match.
您才不会想到人们还有胆量来进行叛乱。我们很软弱，很乖。但原来我们都在等待一个借口。我们其实是一堆火种，只需要一根火柴。

It wasn’t an easy thing, the Uprising. It cost many of us dearly. It cost me a hand and the hearing in one ear. But it was worth it. I lead a real life now. I have a wife and children and when I get up in the morning, I can never be sure what’s going to happen, for good or for ill.
起义不是一件容易的事。我们许多人为它付出了沉重的代价。我没了一只手，还有一只耳朵的听力。但这是值得的。我生活在现实当中。早晨起床时我有一个妻子和一个孩子，我永远无法确定会发生什么事情，无论是好事还是坏事。

That’s the way I like it, too.
这也是我喜欢的方式。

The other day my five-year-old son fell and scraped his knee and came crying for me to fix it. I washed it gently with soap and warm water. Then, prior to putting on the band-aid, I got out the bottle of iodine.
前几天，我那五岁的儿子摔倒了，一边蹭着膝盖，一边对我哭着说要修好它。我用肥皂和温水轻轻洗了伤口。然后，在戴上创可贴之前，我拿出了一瓶碘酒。

“This is going to sting,” I told him. “But it’s good for you.”
“会有点蛰疼，”我告诉他，“不过，对你有好处。”