又中又英︳To spruce up a place

To spruce up a place

By the time you read this I will have left Hong Kong. During my stay, friends asked me why the US has so many homeless people. They asked again when San Francisco cleared homeless people for the November Apec meeting attended by many world leaders. Many cities spruce up before big international events. Beijing spruced up by clearing the city of beggars and hawkers before the 2008 Olympics. To spruce up a place means to make it look cleaner and attractive. The US population is about 340 million. It has about 580,000 homeless people.

Friends couldn’t understand why the US, a rich country, has homeless people. I tell them the high number is only a fraction of the population. I saw many homeless people when I lived in Manhattan last year. I saw homeless people in San Diego. Many reasons explain why these people become homeless. A big reason is high home prices. There are far more homeless people in California than Texas, for example, because California homes are super expensive. Another reason is high health care costs. Employers must provide health care only if they have 50 or more full-time workers. Other reasons are mental issues and drugs or alcohol addiction.

Some people brush off (refuse to consider) homeless shelters. They prefer to sleep outdoors as a lifestyle choice, which means a choice people make about how to live and behave. The US jobless rate is just 3.7 percent. Many businesses can’t find staff even though the minimum hourly wage is more than HK$100 in many states. California’s minimum wage is about HK$124. Some homeless people prefer lying flat, a Chinese slang for rejecting work pressure.

当你读到这篇文章的时候，我已经离开香港了。在我留港的时候，朋友们问我为何美国有这么多无家可归的人。他们又问我，为了于11月举办由多名世界领袖出席的亚太经合组织峰会，三藩市是何时清走露宿者的？许多城市都会在大型活动之前洗太平地（spruce up）。在2008奥运前，北京就曾收拾清洁（spruced up），清走乞丐和小贩。To spruce up a place是指为某地方粉饰太平，令其看来更光鲜更吸引。美国人口约有3亿4千万，有58万露宿者。

朋友们不能明白，为何美国这样一个富庶的国家会有露宿者。我告诉他们，这个高企的数字只是人口的一小部分。我上年住曼哈顿时，就见过许多露宿者，在圣地牙哥也见过露宿者。要解释这些人为何无家可归，有许多原因。一个大原因是高昂的楼价。譬如，加州就比德州多许多露宿者，因为加州的楼房超级昂贵。另一个原因是高昂的医疗开支。只有当雇主有50个或以上的全职员工时，他们才必须提供医疗保障。另一些原因包括精神健康问题以及吸毒或酗酒。

一些人会拒绝考虑（brush off）入住露宿者中心。他们情愿餐风露宿作为a lifestyle choice，意即人们选择的生活与做人方式。美国失业率只有百分之3.7。许多公司请不到人手，即使在许多州分，每小时的最低工资有超过100港元。加州的最低工资就有约124港元。一些露宿者情愿lying flat，即中文的俚语“躺平”，不愿承受工作压力。

mickchug@gmail.com
Michael Chugani褚简宁
中译：七刻