来源：《每日电讯报》
原文刊登日期：2022年5月31日
Who is to blame for the shambolic scenes at some of our airports where scores of cancelled flights have ruined family holidays? The travel industry, the airports, the airlines and Government ministers all accuse each other of a failure to prepare for a rapid recovery in demand after the pandemic. Stuck in the middle are the poor holidaymakers who bought a package or a flight in good faith, turned up at the airport on time only to find their hopes of a half-term break in the sun wrecked with hardly an explanation.
在我们的一些机场，几十个航班被取消，破坏了很多家庭的度假计划，谁应该为这些混乱场面负责？旅游业、机场、航空公司和政府部长们都互相指责对方未能为疫情后需求的迅速恢复做好准备。夹在中间的是那些可怜的度假者，他们真心实意地买了旅行套现或机票，准时赶到机场，却发现他们在阳光下享受年中假期的希望破灭了，并且几乎没有得到任何解释。
At Manchester, it fell to the police to tell travellers bound for the Greek island of Kos that their plane was cancelled “for operational reasons” and that they were entitled to a refund plus a voucher. Why on earth was this made the business of the police? Perhaps the anger was such among disappointed travellers that there was a fear of disorder, but that is no excuse for those directly responsible to pass the buck.
在曼彻斯特，警方负责告诉前往希腊科斯岛的旅客，他们乘坐的航班“由于运营原因”被取消了，他们有权获得退款和代金券。这究竟为什么成了警察的事？也许失望的旅客们的愤怒是如此之大，以至于担心会出现混乱，但这不是那些直接负责的人推卸责任的借口。
To some extent it is hardly surprising after locking down the economy for the best part of two years and banning overseas travel that there should be problems when the restrictions are removed. But the pandemic controls were eased in January and most of the problems seen this week are to destinations in Europe that have been open for months.
在这两年的大部分时间内封锁经济并禁止海外旅行之后，某种程度上，当限制取消时出现问题并不令人意外。但早在今年1月，疫情控制就放松了，本周出现的大多数问题都是针对已经开放数月的欧洲目的地。
It cannot have come as a surprise that this half-term, on the cusp of summer and containing two bank holidays, would be especially popular with would-be travellers. So why were preparations so inadequate? More to the point, if the airlines could not cope, why did they sell the seats in the first place?
今年的年中假期正值夏季即将到来、且包含两个银行假日，所以它会特别受到潜在旅行者的欢迎，这一点也不令人意外。那么，为什么准备工作如此不足呢？说得更直白一些，如果航空公司无法应对，它们为什么要卖座位呢？
Even travellers who have managed to get away face long waits for their bags to arrive in the terminal on their return. Airlines or their contractors appear to have laid off too many staff during the pandemic and then failed to recruit enough to meet the resurgent demand.
即使是那些成功度假的旅客，在返回时也要花很长时间等待他们的行李到达航站楼。航空公司或其承包商似乎在大流行期间解雇了太多员工，然后又未能招募到足够多的员工来满足复苏的需求。
Labour has blamed the Government and certainly the confusing traffic light system that operated, largely unnecessarily, towards the end of the pandemic created uncertainty for the travel trade and cost it dear. But Labour supported these measures, so it is a bit much to turn round now and blame ministers for the mess.
工党指责政府，当然还有混乱的红绿灯系统。在疫情已接近尾声时，这样的红绿灯系统基本上是不必要的，这给旅游业带来了不确定性，并使旅游业付出了高昂的代价。但当初工党是支持这些措施的，因此现在回头把混乱归咎于内阁部长们就有点过头了。
The cause of this fiasco is a chronic shortage of staff. Instead of blaming each other, the various groups responsible need to get together and sort it out.
造成当前糟糕局面的原因是严重的人员短缺。不同的责任群体需要团结起来，解决问题，而不是相互指责。