????周二一早醒來，我們發(fā)現(xiàn)仍然沒有通電。于是，我通過發(fā)電機(jī)沖了咖啡，用WaterBob中存的水沖馬桶，還給一家連鎖酒店打電話，在紐約預(yù)訂了一個房間，就在新出現(xiàn)的SoPo（“South of Power”的簡稱）的北部。

????但我犯了第一個大錯誤。我按照每晚約200美元的價格訂了一個房間，但只訂了兩個晚上，因為我認(rèn)為到周四，一切就能恢復(fù)正常。

????結(jié)果，到了周四還是沒有改觀。我爬了22層黑漆漆的樓梯，回到斷電的公寓去多取一些衣服和應(yīng)急物品，還有女兒的寵物鼠。結(jié)果過了周四，酒店已經(jīng)客滿。整個紐約市唯一還有房間的地方是西30街的一家寒酸的低級酒店，而且每晚房費高達(dá)600美元。

????我為什么不提前預(yù)訂10個晚上，等到電力恢復(fù)之后再取消呢？

????答案就是，我認(rèn)為情況沒有這么糟糕。

????這是我們面臨“新常態(tài)”時所犯的最大的錯誤。我們都會低估情況的嚴(yán)重程度。我們都認(rèn)為下次斷電不會比這一次更糟糕，不會再發(fā)生一次恐怖襲擊，不會有網(wǎng)絡(luò)戰(zhàn)，黃石火山（懷俄明州所謂的黃石超級火山）不會爆發(fā)，也從沒想過西班牙加納利群島的活火山維亞火山崩塌會引發(fā)一場巨大的海嘯。

????緊急服務(wù)人員的努力讓東海岸居民在短時間內(nèi)就恢復(fù)了正常生活，證明我們有能力、也有足夠的復(fù)原能力來應(yīng)對危機(jī)。然而，我們所見證的那些損失和悲劇同時也說明：面對一種新常態(tài)，如果我們能未雨綢繆，做好更充分的準(zhǔn)備，未來應(yīng)對災(zāi)難時就會更加從容。

????譯者：劉進(jìn)龍/汪皓

????When we woke on Tuesday morning to the power still on the blink, I made coffee with my generator, flushed the toilets with water from the WaterBob, and called a hotel chain to book a room in New York north of the newly christened SoPo ("South of Power").

????And I made my first major mistake. I took a room for around $200 a night for two nights, assuming we would be fine by Thursday.

????We were not fine by Thursday. As I climbed up those 22 darkened flights of stairs to our powerless apartment to retrieve more clothes and emergency supplies and my daughter's pet mouse, the hotel was unavailable past Thursday. The only place with rooms in New York City, a crummy dive in the far West 30s, was asking $600 a night.

????Why hadn't I booked the room for 10 nights and cancelled when power returned?

????The answer is, I didn't think it would be that bad.

????That's the biggest mistake we are all making during our new normal. We don't think it will be that bad. We don't think that the next time the power goes out, it could be even worse. We don't think that there could be another terrorist attack, let alone a cyber war, an eruption of the Yellowstone Caldera—the so-called Yellowstone Supervolcano in Wyoming--or a mega-tsunami triggered by the collapse of Cumbre Vieja, an active volcanic ridge on Spain's Canary Islands.

????The massive and back-breaking efforts by emergency service workers, who got life back to near normal across the East coast in a short time, showed us that we are capable and resilient enough to deal with crises. But the loss and heartbreak we've seen also revealed something: The more we can anticipate and prepare for a new normal, the better off we'll be.