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.

當你讀到這篇文章的時候，我已經離開香港了。在我留港的時候，朋友們問我為何美國有這麼多無家可歸的人。他們又問我，為了於11月舉辦由多名世界領袖出席的亞太經合組織峰會，三藩市是何時清走露宿者的？許多城市都會在大型活動之前洗太平地（spruce up）。在2008奧運前，北京就曾收拾清潔（spruced up），清走乞丐和小販。To spruce up a place是指為某地方粉飾太平，令其看來更光鮮更吸引。美國人口約有3億4千萬，有58萬露宿者。

朋友們不能明白，為何美國這樣一個富庶的國家會有露宿者。我告訴他們，這個高企的數字只是人口的一小部分。我上年住曼哈頓時，就見過許多露宿者，在聖地牙哥也見過露宿者。要解釋這些人為何無家可歸，有許多原因。一個大原因是高昂的樓價。譬如，加州就比德州多許多露宿者，因為加州的樓房超級昂貴。另一個原因是高昂的醫療開支。只有當僱主有50個或以上的全職員工時，他們才必須提供醫療保障。另一些原因包括精神健康問題以及吸毒或酗酒。

一些人會拒絕考慮（brush off）入住露宿者中心。他們情願餐風露宿作為a lifestyle choice，意即人們選擇的生活與做人方式。美國失業率只有百分之3.7。許多公司請不到人手，即使在許多州分，每小時的最低工資有超過100港元。加州的最低工資就有約124港元。一些露宿者情願lying flat，即中文的俚語「躺平」，不願承受工作壓力。

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Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻