If a theme runs through the books and articles I've written over the past 40 years, it's a fascination with what scientists have learned about the human body. A long career spent explaining biomedical research has led me to a deep respect for the scientific process. Despite its occasional missteps and self-corrections, I believe it ultimately moves us toward a clearer understanding of the world and how to thrive in it.
如果我過去40年所寫的書籍和文章有一共同主題，那是因為我對人體的科學新發現感到著迷。闡明生物醫學研究的漫長職業生涯，使我對科學過程產生深深的敬意。即使科學偶有失誤和自我修正，我相信它終會讓我們更加清楚理解這個世界，并懂得如何在其中蓬勃發展。
So as scientists first scrambled to figure out the never-before-seen coronavirus, I was primed to follow their advice about how to keep safe, based on the hypothesis that the virus was transmitted mostly by droplets from coughs and sneezes lingering on surfaces. I dutifully wiped down countertops, refrained from touching my face, and washed my hands so emphatically that the little diamond in my wedding ring shone like never before.
因此，當科學家最初忙亂地研究前所未見的新冠病毒，并假設病毒主要通過留在表面上的咳嗽與噴嚏飛沫傳播，據此做出安全建議時，我很自然地就遵循了。我聽話地擦拭了廚房的臺面、忍住不摸自己的臉，并且使勁洗手，以至于我結婚戒指上的小鉆石從來沒有像現在這樣閃閃發光。
And then, about two and a half weeks after my city, New York, shut down restaurants, Broadway plays, and the largest public school system in the country, scientists switched to a different message -- that everyone should wear a mask. This was a startling about-face. The initial advice, confidently delivered, had been not to wear a mask, unless you were a frontline health-care worker. The revision was largely based on a new hypothesis, that the coronavirus spread mostly through the air.
之后，在我所居住的紐約市關閉了餐館、百老匯戲劇和美國最大的公立學校系統大約兩周半后，科學家改提出了不同看法--每個人都應該戴口罩。這是一個驚人的大轉變。最初的建議是信心滿滿地告訴大家不必戴口罩，除非你是第一線的醫護人員。后來的修正有很大一部分是根據新冠病毒主要通過空氣傳播這一新假設。
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