Since the outbreak of "novel coronavirus infected pneumonia (COVID-19)" ?in Hubei Province, my aunt has been feeling quite tense and anxious.?

每天一大早，她都會打開電視機，鎖定“戰(zhàn)疫情”新聞。

Early every morning, she turns on the TV and sticks to the “battling the epidemic” news channel all day long.?

一有空，她便拿起手機，關注疫情的實時數據。

She also spends every bit of her free time checking real-time transmission and fatality data on her mobile phone.?

“完了，完了，又感染這么多人！”她驚呼，然后趕緊用84消毒液拖了兩遍地。

"Holy Christ!” She would cry. “So many people infected today!" Then she would scurry off to splash disinfectant onto the floor and mob it twice.?

一天晚上，她聽說雙黃連口服液對新冠病毒有抑制作用，趕緊戴上墨鏡和幾層口罩，跑到藥店排隊買了幾盒藥回來，逼著家人服下，才算安心。

One night, upon hearing about the possible curative effects of a Chinese anti-flu patent drug on the?COVID-19, she wasted no time in running to the drugstore – with sunglasses and several masks on – and queuing up to buy the medicine.?Only after she returned with several boxes of the drug and forced her family to take a vial, did she feel relieved.

得知小區(qū)即將實施封閉式管理，她又拽著表弟去附近超市搶購大包小包的肉、菜、蛋、奶等生活物資，堆滿了大半個客廳。

No sooner had she learned that her community was going to be locked down, than she dragged her son to the nearby supermarket to snap up bags of vegetables, eggs. pork, milk, and other daily necessities, enough to fill up the greater part of her living room.

其實，在這次全國公共健康危機中，老姨的行為并非個例。

Actually, she is not alone during this national health crisis.?

這讓故事君想到了另一個人。早在一千六百多年前，他因過度恐懼鬧出大事，后果可比“囤貨”嚴重多了。

Her behavior reminds me of someone who, some 1,600 years ago, was so blinded by his panic that he headed straight into big trouble – with a consequence far worse than that of “panic buying.”?

此人正是前秦開國君主苻健之侄苻堅。

The man was Fu Yonggu, the second King of Former Qin and the nephew of its founder Fu Jianye.?

建國早年，前秦兵強將勇，所向披靡，先后滅掉前燕、代、前涼等割據政權，統(tǒng)一了黃河流域。

Wielding strong military power in its early years, the state annihilated several separatist regimes, such as Former Yan, Dai, and Former Liang, uniting northern China.

公元383年，苻堅親率百萬強兵南下攻打東晉。

In 383 A.D., the King went on to lead his massive army south and conquer the State of Eastern Jin.

根據截獲的晉軍情報，苻堅判定晉軍缺兵少糧，不堪一擊。

Based on his intelligence sources, the King assumed that the Easter Jin army, in shortage of both manpower and food, could hardly sustain a strike.?

在前鋒將領苻融順利攻下戰(zhàn)略重鎮(zhèn)壽陽（今安徽壽縣）之后，苻堅派了一個叫朱序的人前往東晉軍營勸降。

When his vanguard general Fu Boxiu and his mighty army invaded Shouyang Town (today’s Shouxian County of Anhui), a strategic point for both sides, the top leader sent a man named Zhu Cilun to Eastern Jin’s camp to induce their general Xie Shinu to hang out the white flag.

可令他沒想到的是，轉折就此發(fā)生。

But he did not foresee a turning point that would soon befall his army.?

原是東晉官員、后被秦軍俘獲的朱序，在見到東晉將領謝石后，不但沒有勸他投降，反而如實透露了秦軍的布防情況，建議晉軍在秦后援軍到達之前襲擊洛澗（今安徽淮南東洛河）。

Formerly an Eastern Jin high official and now a captive, Zhu did not do as he was asked. Instead, he disclosed all he knew about the enemy’s military strategy and suggested an attack on the other side of Luojian (today’s Luohe Town in Huainan, Anhui Province) before Former Qin’s reinforcements reached there.

朱序的出現令謝石信心大振。

This meet-up with the “spy” boosted Xie’s confidence.?

他聽取了這位“臥底”的建議，率五千精兵強渡洛澗，偷襲秦營。

Following the informant’s advice, he led five thousand elite soldiers across the Luojian and launched a sneak attack on Former Qin’s camp.

而此刻，秦軍毫不知情，沒有防備，結果大敗，損失了上萬人的前哨兵力。

Kept in the dark and unprepared, Former Qin lost the battle as well as tens of thousands of frontline soldiers.

洛澗的失利令苻堅大驚。

The debacle in Luojian astounded King Fu.?

兵強馬壯的秦軍怎么就敗給了小小晉軍？

How could a strong army such as his ever have been defeated by the small and weak Eastern Jin troops??

答案似乎只有一個，那就是低估了對方的軍事實力，這可怎么得了？

There seems only one answer to this question: the rival is stronger than originally thought. Now, what can be done about that?

晉軍乘勝追擊，抵達淝水東岸，與秦兵隔河對峙。

To follow up on their victory, the Eastern Jin army reached the east bank of the Fei River to face its enemy on the other side.?

時值隆冬，淝水上空陰云密布，死一般寂靜。

It was wintertime. Heavy clouds pressed down in dead silence.?

苻堅和苻融登上壽陽城頭，遙望扎營在河對岸的晉軍。

With his general, King Fu climbed up the citadel of Shouyang to observe the opposing army across the river.?

苻堅發(fā)現對岸晉兵陣容齊整，布防有序，頓感一陣驚懼。

To his horror, he saw a neat formation of soldiers well armed and trained.

接著，苻堅又向淝水東面望去。

Then the King looked north.

那里橫著八公山，山上有八座連綿起伏的峰巒，地勢險要，山腳下駐扎著晉軍軍營。

There swaddled the Bagong Mountain, with eight ridges rising to give a dangerous terrain. At the foot of the mountains stationed Eastern Jin’s troops.

一陣寒風呼嘯而過，山上的草木隨風晃動。

A gust of cold wind was sweeping by and trees?on the slopes began to sway.?

他見到這般景象，以為山上埋伏著成千上萬的晉兵，頓時面如土色，驚恐地回頭對苻融說道：“晉兵是一支勁敵，怎么能說它是弱兵呢？”

Seeing this in a far distance, the King turned ashy gray, thinking that they were helplessly ambushed by tens of thousands of soldiers. He wheeled around to face his general and said with dread, "The Jin army is a strong host. Why do we say it’s weak?"?

成語“草木皆兵”便由此而來，形容“人在驚慌時疑神疑鬼”。

?This is the origin of the Chinese four-character idiom 草木皆兵cǎo mù jiē bīng （literally “every tree and plant is a soldier.”）, describing a situation of being plagued by imaginary fears.

幾個月前，晉軍統(tǒng)帥謝玄在壽陽敗給秦軍。此時，他看到秦軍采取了貼水布陣的戰(zhàn)略，便要求秦軍后撤，待晉軍過河后一決勝負。

Another Eastern Jin general named Xie Youdu, who had lost the battle in Shouyang a few months earlier, requested that King Fu pull his army a few kilometers back so that they could fight the decisive battle on land.

苻堅一聽，心中竊喜，認為晉軍統(tǒng)帥缺乏用兵常識，準備在晉軍過河時發(fā)動突然襲擊，截斷敵方兵力，便立刻答應下來。

In glee, King Fu agreed to this, assuming it was a sign of faulty strategy. He was planning to attack the rival when it was halfway across the river.??

苻融指揮秦軍后撤。秦軍內部本已人心浮動，后撤的命令使秦兵誤以為晉軍打敗前鋒，秦軍頓時大亂，一潰千里，不可遏止。

When he ordered the pull-back, however, General Fu did not realize that his troops had already been on pins and needles. Now they thought they were being defeated and retreating. All of a sudden, the entire army crumbled into chaos.

與此同時，“叛徒”朱序乘機高呼：“秦軍大??！”這更使秦軍陷入極度恐慌之中。

At the same time, Zhu the “traitor” seized the opportunity and shouted among them, "Qin is defeated!" This effectively caused extreme panic in the army.

晉軍精銳八千涉渡肥水，展開猛烈攻擊。

The eight thousand elite soldiers of Eastern Jin advanced across the river launching fierce attacks.?

秦兵慌不擇路，自相踐踏，丟盔卸甲。

Thoroughly panicked, the Former Qin soldiers fled pell-mell, trampling one another, running wildly for dear life.

苻堅在逃跑途中中流箭，秦兵聽到風聲與鶴鳴，以為是東晉追兵，草行露宿，饑寒交迫，十萬殘兵一路潰退至洛陽。

The sounds of winds and cranes frightened them as they mistakenly thought the opponent was close behind. On his way to escape, the supreme leader Fu Yonggu was shot by a stray arrow. After great sufferings, he fled all the way to Luoyang along with what remained of his army.

這便是成語“風聲鶴唳”的由來，形容“人極度恐慌以致于自相驚擾的樣子”。

?This is the origin of another Chinese idiom 風聲鶴唳 fēng shēng hè lì, referring to great disturbances caused by extreme panic.

東晉僅以八萬軍力大勝八十余萬前秦軍；淝水之戰(zhàn)成為中國歷史上以少勝多的著名戰(zhàn)例。

Consequently, the Eastern Jin army set a famous example of wars in Chinese history when only 80,000 of them sealed victory over the 800,000-strong Former Qin forces in the Battle of Fei River.

在攻打東晉之前，前秦國力漸衰，百官腐敗，民不聊生；戰(zhàn)敗之后，前秦名存實亡，分裂為包括后秦和后燕在內的幾個割據政權，北方各民族紛紛宣告脫離其統(tǒng)治。

Before their attack on Eastern Jin, the state power of Former Qin had been waning, with officials being corrupt and the people living in dire poverty. The defeat was their last straw. The state ceased to exist except in name and soon fell apart into several separatist regimes, including Later Qin and Later Yan. All the northern ethnic tribes also declared separation from its dictatorship.?

東晉趁機北伐，擴大版圖，此后數十年間再無外族侵略。

Eastern Jin took advantage and expanded its territory further north. For decades that followed, no powers sought to invade the kingdom.

《孫子兵法》有云:“知彼知己者，百戰(zhàn)不殆；不知彼而知己，一勝一負；不知彼，不知己，每戰(zhàn)必殆?！?

The Art of War says, “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

苻堅被不實信息所誤導，對敵方認識不全面，自我準備不充分，結果導致軍心渙散，在極度恐慌之中慘敗。

King Fu’s fiasco was the result of being misled by false information and being poorly prepared as a leader, without an honest acknowledgment of the enemy. Inevitably, this sapped his army’s morale and led to the disastrous defeat.

2020年1月，另一場戰(zhàn)爭悄無聲息地打響了。

In January 2020, another war broke out in silence.?

一方是擁有14億人口的泱泱大國，而另一方是用肉眼看不見的新型病毒。這一戰(zhàn)，沒有長劍，沒有硝煙，卻有上千條生命消逝。

On one side is a huge country with a population of 1.4 billion; and on the other, a new virus invisible to the naked eye. In this war, no sword is being wielded or smoke puffed, but nevertheless thousands of lives have been lost.

對此，我們本能地感到恐懼。

This triggers intuitive fear.?

有人不停洗手，致使雙手皮膚潰爛。

Some people wash their hands with such a frequency that their skin blisters.?

有人不停噴灑酒精，以致做飯時引發(fā)火災。

Some spray too much alcohol and set their homes on fire while cooking.

有人瘋搶N95口罩，導致其脫銷，無法及時輸送到一線醫(yī)護人員的手中。

Still others horde N95 face masks, leaving frontline medical staff in shortage.

有人強烈抵制來自疫區(qū)的同胞，導致他們無家可歸，露宿街頭。

People from the epicenter of the outbreak are being so prejudiced against that some are barred from their neighborhoods and sleep out on the streets.?

恐懼勢頭蔓延到了西方國家，華人頻頻遭遇言語甚至人身暴力，蒙受巨大的精神損失。

Panic has spread to the Western world, where Chinese residents often suffer verbal and even physical attacks.

恐懼，是另一個看不見的勁敵。我們怎樣才能戰(zhàn)勝它？

Fear is another invisible enemy. How can we defeat it??

故事君專門請教了一位心理專家。他建議在非常時期：

For the purpose of writing this, I have consulted a psychologist.? He suggests that in difficult times we:

1）切記三思而后行；

(1)? ?Remember to think twice before we act;?

（2）通過廣泛閱讀科學信息加大思想的廣度和認識的深度；

(2) Expand the width and depth of our thoughts through scientific readings;

（3）通過冥想放松緊張的心情；

(3)? Meditate regularly to relieve our tension;

（4）通過發(fā)展自己的愛好轉移注意力；

(4)? Do what we love to divert attention; and

（5）通過樹立自信積極的心態(tài)，提升意志力，免疫力和戰(zhàn)斗力。

(5) Establish confidence and positivity which are essential to improving our resilience, immunity, and our ability to fight for life in war-like adversities as we are experiencing now.?

當我們感到恐懼時，不妨暫時忘記自我，多想想他人，在力所能及的范圍內向鄰里施以援手，這時我們的內心就會變得強大，恐慌情緒隨即煙消云散。

Whenever we feel fearful, try to forget about ourselves, think more about others and try to help our neighbors as much as we can. This will expel panic and make us feel stronger in an instant.