PBS高端访谈:一本向孩子解释"新冠"的书（在线收听）

JUDY WOODRUFF: The uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic has upended the daily lives of children across the globe, and parents and caregivers have struggled to explain the changes brought by COVID-19. Two medical students in California told the PBS NewsHour that their desire to help bridge that gap inspired them to write a free children's book called Why We Stay Home.

SAMANTHA HARRIS, Co-Author, Why We Stay Home: My name is Samantha Harris.

DEVON SCOTT, Co-Author, Why We Stay Home: Hi. My name is Devon Scott.

SAMANTHA HARRIS: I am a fourth-year medical student.

DEVON SCOTT: I'm a fourth-year medical student at Loma Linda University in Southern California.

SAMANTHA HARRIS: One night, you know, I was at home talking with Devon. And we were just talking about how, as medical students, we were kind of overwhelmed by the ever-changing amount of information available about COVID.

DEVON SCOTT: I took a step back and said, like, you know, throughout this whole thing, a population that is kind of being left out of the mix are kids.

SAMANTHA HARRIS: Some of them could be happy that they're with their moms and dads or whoever their caregiver is, but do they really understand why we're at home? They hear the word COVID-19. Do they know what that means? So we wanted to kind of make a resource that explained to them, you know, why we have been quarantining, what does social distancing mean, in a non-threatening way that little kids could enjoy.

DEVON SCOTT: So, a lot of books that we have seen that are trying to tell hard topics to kids is really from a narrator or parent-to-child standpoint. But we wanted to switch that up, wanted to make it a little bit more relatable. So, in the story, it's an older sister comforting and talking to her younger sister.

NARRATOR: What is a coronavirus, anyway? asked Suzie. Coronavirus is a virus. A virus is a really small germ that you cannot see. There are other kinds of germs, too, like bacteria and fungi.

SAMANTHA HARRIS: Even though we would be explaining it to little children, we wanted the book to be as accurate as possible. So there were some key concepts. What populations are we trying to help keep safe? Wearing a mask. Standing six feet apart. We wanted to kind of explain to children, so that they not only know what COVID is, but why we have been doing what we're doing.

DEVON SCOTT: So, when I was a child in that age range, I can recall only a very, very few storybooks that I read that had somebody that looked like me on them. And when I did see those books, I was, like, super excited, because, hey, that little boy looks like me.

SAMANTHA HARRIS: We wanted young children to kind of look in the book and say, oh, wow, this little girl looks like me. She has an afro just like me. Her big sister looks like me. Her mommy and daddy look like my mommy and daddy.

DEVON SCOTT: It's just about being as relatable as possible. We wanted to make this book free, because we wanted to be very accessible.

SAMANTHA HARRIS: We didn't want socioeconomic status to be a limiting factor when it came to reading and educating kids about careers and about medicine.

DEVON SCOTT: The response has been absolutely phenomenal. We counted it as a success if 100 kids downloaded the book. But, so far, it's been over 40,000 downloads worldwide.

SAMANTHA HARRIS: I feel like, throughout this whole time, there have been countless stories of human beings just rallying together and just, you know, loving and supporting each other. So, I think the main message of the book is actually found at the end of the book, the very last page, when Suzie is looking up to her big sister, Millie, for kind of comfort and support. And she's like, is this the way it's going to be forever, from now on? And Millie kind of says, you know, no, Suzie. It will get better. We just have to keep sticking together.

朱迪·伍德乐夫：新冠病毒的不确定性已经颠覆了全球儿童的日常生活，而父母和监护人们难以向他们解释新冠带来的这些变化。加利福尼亚的两名医科学生告诉“PBS新闻一小时”，他们想要弥合这一鸿沟的愿望激励他们写了一本免费的儿童书，名叫《为什么我们要呆在家里》。

萨曼莎·哈里斯，合著者，《为什么我们要呆在家里》：我是萨曼莎·哈里斯。

德文·斯科特，《为什么我们要呆在家里》的合著者：嗨，我是德文·斯科特。

萨曼莎·哈里斯：我是大四的医科学生。

德文·斯科特：我是南加州洛马林达大学的学生。

萨曼莎·哈里斯：有一天晚上，你知道，我在家里和德文聊天，我们谈到作为医学院的学生，我们是如何如何被有关新冠的不断变化的信息量搞得不知所措。

德文·斯科特：我退一步说，比如，你知道，在整个事件过程中，有一个被排除在外的群体，那就是孩子。

萨曼莎·哈里斯：有些孩子可能会因为能和父母或者其他的照顾者们待在一起而非常开心，不过他们真的理解我们为什么要待在家里吗？在他们听到“COVID-19”这个词的时候，他们真的知道这个词意味着什么吗？所以我们想要给他们一个解释，你知道，就是为什么我们要隔离？社交距离意味着什么？以一种小孩子喜欢的不会引起焦虑的方式。

德文·斯科特：所以，我们看到过很多书都试图从叙述者或者父母对孩子的角度来跟孩子讲一些艰难的话题，而我们想要改变这种方式，想让它变得更具关联性。所以，该书的故事中是一个姐姐和自己的妹妹谈话、安慰自己的妹妹。

旁白：“那究竟什么是冠状病毒呢？”苏西问道。“冠状病毒是一种病毒，病毒是一种肉眼看不见的小细菌，还有其他种类的细菌，比如细菌和真菌。”

萨曼莎·哈里斯：我们会向孩子们解释什么是新冠病毒，而且我们希望这本书能尽可能解释准确，所以书里会有一些关键性的概念。哪些人群需要保持安全？戴口罩。保持六英尺站距。我们想向孩子们解释这些，这样他们不仅能知道新冠是什么，还能知道我们为什么要做我们现在正在做的事情。

德文·斯科特：所以，在我小的时候、处在那个年龄段的时候，我记得我读过的里面有和我很像的人物的故事书非常非常少。当我读到那种书的时候，我就会特别特别地兴奋，因为，嘿，那个小男孩和我很像。

萨曼莎·哈里斯：我们希望小孩子们看到这本书时会说：哦，哇，这个小女孩和我很像，她和我一样留着圆蓬式发型，她姐姐也和我很像，她的爸爸妈妈很像我的爸爸妈妈。

德文·斯科特：这是为了尽可能地让孩子们感同身受，我们想免费出售这本书，因为我们想让更多人看到这本书。

萨曼莎·哈里斯：在阅读和教育孩子职业和医学方面我们不希望社会经济地位成为他们的限制因素。

德文·斯科特：人们的回应非常显著，我们之前想的是如果能有100个孩子下载了这本书我们就算是成功了，而目前为止该书在全球的下载量已经超过了4万。

萨曼莎·哈里斯：我想，在这段时间里，有很多关于人类团结在一起、互相关爱、互相支持的故事，所以，我觉得这本书想要传达的主要信息实际上在它的末尾、最后一页，苏西抬着头看着她的大姐姐米莉来寻求安慰和支持，她问道：“从此以后，我们都要像这样生活吗？”米莉说：“不，苏西，一切都会好起来的，我们必须团结在一起。”