AT A DISUSED hospital in north London, Colin Harmsworth puts his army through their paces(带领队伍操练). Clad in orange berets, they learn how to strap tourniquet(止血带)s to bleeding limbs and operate drones. Mr Harmsworth founded the Joint Civil Aid Corps(军团、队) to help Britain’s emergency services during a national crisis. Its members, he says, must be uniformed and disciplined: when duty calls, it’s no good turning up in jeans and arguing.(他说，队员必须着装统一、纪律严明：一旦任务召唤，穿着牛仔裤到场还争辩不休，那可不行。)
在伦敦北部一家废弃医院里，科林·哈姆斯沃斯正带领他的队伍操练。他们头戴橙色贝雷帽，学习如何为流血肢体绑扎止血带、如何操作无人机。哈姆斯沃斯创立“联合民防队”，旨在国家危机期间协助英国应急部门。他说，队员必须着装统一、纪律严明：一旦任务召唤，穿着牛仔裤到场还争辩不休，那可不行。
On paper(从纸面上看) the vision is sprawling(庞大杂乱的), the product of 14 years of deliberations(深思熟虑、审议). Mr Harmsworth, a former cavalry soldier, took inspiration from the Civil Defence Corps, which in the cold war was tasked with digging Britons out of whatever remained of bombed cities.(哈姆斯沃斯曾是骑兵，他从冷战时期负责把英国人从被炸城市的废墟中挖出来的“民防队”中汲取灵感。) He imagines a force of more than 80,000 volunteers, spanning the country, and a budget north of £180m ($240m). There would be roles for medics, quartermasters(军需官), meteorologists(气象学家) and a drum corps. For now, however, volunteers number in the low hundreds and must buy their own uniforms. Mr Harmsworth, the “commandant”, is on the hunt for(正在寻找) a philanthropist(慈善家) to make his dream reality.
从纸面上看，这一构想规模庞大，是14年深思熟虑的产物。哈姆斯沃斯曾是骑兵，他从冷战时期负责把英国人从被炸城市的废墟中挖出来的“民防队”中汲取灵感。他设想组建一支遍布全国、超过8万人的志愿队伍，预算超过1.8亿英镑（2.4亿美元）。队伍中将设有医护、军需官、气象学家和鼓乐队的岗位。然而目前，志愿者仅数百人，还得自掏腰包购买制服。这位“司令官”哈姆斯沃斯正在寻找一位慈善家，好让梦想成真。
His beret-wearers, meanwhile, are the British state in microcosm(缩影). Once dismissed as an eccentric pursuit, the task of galvanising(激励、动员) Britons for “whole-of-society” responses to crises now preoccupies(占据……的注意力) Whitehall(白厅，英国政府行政中枢的代称). Like Mr Harmsworth, officials are adept at(擅长) producing long policy papers but short of cash(缺钱). Whether the state is in better shape for a crisis than the Joint Civil Aid Corps remains unclear.(国家在应对危机方面是否比“联合民防队”准备得更充分，目前尚不清楚。)
与此同时，他那些戴贝雷帽的队员正是英国国家的缩影。曾经被视为古怪之举的“动员全民应对危机”任务，如今成了白厅的心头大事。与哈姆斯沃斯一样，官员们擅长炮制长篇政策文件，却囊中羞涩。国家在应对危机方面是否比“联合民防队”准备得更充分，目前尚不清楚。
Prepare for the worst
做最坏的打算
