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For Carl and Jeri Goldman, it was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime, a 16-day luxury cruise through Southeast Asia to celebrate Jeri's 60th birthday.
對卡爾·戈德曼和杰瑞·戈德曼來說，這本應是他們一生中最難忘的一次旅行，一場為期16天的豪華游輪之旅，穿越東南亞，來慶祝杰瑞的60歲生日。
The couple, who own a radio station in Santa Clarita, Calif., had booked the trip aboard the Diamond Princess with close friends Mark and Jerri Jorgensen in an adjoining cabin,
這對夫婦在加州圣克拉里塔擁有一家電臺，他們與好友馬克和杰里·喬根森預定了鉆石公主號相鄰的船艙，
and they spent the first 15 days taking in the sights in Hong Kong and Vietnam.
前15天他們在香港和越南游覽。
"It was magical," says Carl, who is 67. "Jeri said she didn't want it to end."
“這太神奇了，”67歲的卡爾說。“杰瑞說她舍不得結束這一切。”
But when a passenger aboard the Diamond Princess tested positive for the highly infectious COVID-19 virus on Feb. 1, the couple's dream vacation turned into a nightmare.
但2月1日，當鉆石公主號上的一名乘客檢測出具有高度傳染性的COVID-19病毒呈陽性時，這對夫婦的夢幻之旅變成了一場噩夢。
First quarantined on the ship for 12 days, they watched dozens of their fellow passengers fell victim to the disease ("No one realized our ship was a floating petridish, says Carl).
首先，他們在船上隔離了12天，眼睜睜地看著幾十個同伴感染這種病毒(“沒有人意識到我們的船就是一個漂浮的病毒培養皿，”卡爾說)。
Then just hours into their evacuation flight back to the U.S., Carl came down with a fever and tested positive for the virus.
然后在他們乘坐飛機返回美國幾小時后，卡爾發燒了，經檢測病毒呈陽性。
He spent the weeks since quarantined in a biocontainment unit at Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha,
此后，他在奧馬哈內布拉斯加醫療中心的生物隔離病房里隔離了幾周。
as nurses and doctors in hazmat suits monitor his vital signs and rub swabs over anything he may have touched, trying to detect how the virus was being spread.
護士和醫生們穿著防護服，監控著他的生命體征，用棉簽在他可能接觸過的任何東西上采樣，試圖查明病毒是如何傳播的。
"It feels like I’ve been living in a science-fiction movie," says Goldman.
“我感覺就像生活在科幻電影里，”戈德曼說。
"It’s been a life-changing experience. I don’t think I’ll ever take anything for granted ever again."
“這次經歷改變了我的一生。我再也不會把生命中的一切都當做理所當然了。”
Since the COVID-19 coronavirus first surfaced in late December, it has spread at an alarming rate from one nation to the next,
自去年12月下旬首次出現COVID-19冠狀病毒以來，它已以驚人的速度從一個國家傳播到另一個國家，
so far infecting more than 90,000 and claiming more than 3,000 lives, including six Americans in Washington State.
迄今已感染了9萬多人，奪走了3000多人的生命，其中包括華盛頓州的6名美國人。
In recent days health officials have begun sounding an ominous alarm, saying it's just a matter of time before those statistics skyrocket worldwide.
最近幾天，衛生官員開始發出不祥的警報，稱全球范圍內的感染和死亡人數飆升只是時間問題。
“We are asking the American public to prepare in the expectation that this could be bad," Dr. Nancy Messonnier,
美國疾病控制與預防中心國家免疫和呼吸系統疾病中心主任南希·梅索尼耶博士在2月25日的新聞發布會上說：
director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said during a Feb. 25 press conference.
“我們要求美國公眾做好準備，預計情況會很糟糕。
"The disruption to everyday life may be severe."
它可能會嚴重干擾日常生活。
