字神帝國英語天地

 今日主題：Rough sleeping-- One home at a time  露宿街頭--房子的救贖

 康康精選GRE&GMAT會考的主題，堅持每天精讀一定會進步的哦!!
 MP3音檔 (按右鍵可下載聽)：喜歡的同學，幫忙推或按讚哦~~
http://xia2.kekenet.com/Sound/2014/…/ecow1117_4528112Wm7.mp3

 只有音檔怎夠，聽不懂地方，不用怕，康康幫你準備好中英文稿了：

 中英文稿：
Rough sleeping-- One home at a time
露宿街頭--房子的救贖

How to cut the number of street dwellers — and save money, too
減少倒臥，節約開支

HANDING a homeless alcoholic the keys to a free furnished flat may seem foolish, unfair or both. That was certainly what Ted Clugston, the mayor of Medicine Hat, a Canadian town of 61,000, used to think — but experience has changed his mind. No - strings housing offers have helped bring the town within sight of a goal it set itself five years ago : to end homelessness by 2015. At the time over 1,000 people passed through its homeless shelters each year, many between spells on the street. If the municipality succeeds, it will be the first in North America to do so.
將免費的帶家具的公寓的鑰匙交給一個無家可歸的酒鬼看起來是荒謬的、不正當的，或者是既荒謬又不正當。這也正是擁有6.1萬人的加拿大小鎮梅迪辛哈特的鎮 長Ted Clugston以前所認為的，但是一番經歷使他改變了主意。不帶任何附加條件的房屋供給已將該鎮納入了一個在5年前製定的目標之中：在2015年杜絕無 家可歸。當時每年有超過1000人獲得過該鎮的收容，其中許多人是長期流落街頭。如果該鎮成功，那將是此舉在北美的首創。

Most of the long - term homeless are mentally ill, alcoholic or drug - addicted, often all three. The standard way to help them has long been the “ staircase ” approach : requiring them to quit drink and drugs before shepherding them through emergency shelters and temporary lodging until they are deemed ready to be housed. But many refuse to sign up. Those who do often fall off the wagon. Typically, fewer than half make it all the way to a ( usually subsidised ) permanent home.
大多數長期無家可歸者是精神病患者、酒鬼或癮君子，或者是三者兼而有之。幫助他們的通常的做法長期以來是“梯級解決”法：首先要求他們戒酒戒毒，然後引導 他們獲得臨時收容和臨時住所，最後，他們才被認為有資格被安置。但大多數人不干。即使這樣做的人通常也會重蹈覆轍。通常，只有不到一半人可以堅持到最後， （通常是通過補貼）得到一個穩定的住所。

In 1992 Sam Tsemberis, a professor of psychiatry at New York University, started a programme that turned that sequence on its head. Pathways to Housing gave rough sleepers furnished flats in poor districts. Medical care, treatment for addiction and help in learning to cook, pay bills and so on were offered, but not required. After five years 88% remained housed.
1992年，紐約大學精神病學教授Sam Tsemberis開始一項計劃，力圖改變人們頭腦中的固定思維方式。這個被稱作“安居之路”的計劃為貧困地區的無家可歸者提供拎包入住的公寓。並給予醫 療保健、成癮治療、以及在學習做飯、付賬等方面的幫助，且並不強迫。該計劃實施5年後，88%的人得到最終安置。

Since then dozens of cities around the world have seen similar success with what has come to be known as “housing first”. The premise is simple : to end homelessness, give out homes — even to people who may have lived on the streets for years.
此後全球數十個城市已經通過名為“住房優先”戰略見證了類似的成功。前提很簡單：結束流浪，分配住房—即使對於多年住在街面上的人也是如此。

Homeless people are triaged much like arrivals at a hospital emergency room : those deemed most at risk of dying on the street go to the top of the queue. The approach is becoming standard in Denmark and Finland, and is being tried in over a dozen other European countries, as well as Australia and Japan. Over 200 American cities have ten - year plans to end homelessness, following a national plan drawn up four years ago that features the housing - first model. Canadian cities are drawing up similar schemes.
無家可歸者像在醫院急診室掛號一樣排號：那些被認為最可能死在大街上的人排在隊列前面。此法成為丹麥和芬蘭的標準，並且正在被多達數十個歐洲其他國家試 用，也包括澳大利亞和日本。在美國，4年前起草以住房優先模式為重頭戲的為國家計劃之前，已經有超過200城市擁有了結束無家可歸的10十年計劃。此外， 加拿大的一些城市也正在起草類似的計劃。

Perhaps surprisingly, the new approach seems to save taxpayers money. Typically, long - term rough sleepers are about 15% of all homeless people but use more than half of all public spending on services for the homeless as they cycle through emergency medical care, detox and jail. Denver, Colorado, reckons each of its 300 “heaviest utilisers” costs taxpayers $37,000 a year and that putting them straight into housing with intensive support from social workers would cost less than half as much. Calgary, the first Canadian city to use a housing - first approach, saw average annual savings of more than $30,000 per person from housing its most acute cases.
該新政似乎能節約納稅人的錢，這或許出人意料。一般而言，長期的露宿者佔全部無家可歸者的15%，但是他們耗掉了為無家可歸者服務的政府開支的大半，因為 他們一次次經歷緊急醫療護理、戒毒和拘押。科羅拉多 州的丹佛市，估算該市300位“燒錢大戶”每人每年花費納稅人3.7萬美元，而直接把他們塞進住房裡，並且由社工提供精心扶助的花費將比原來少一半。第一 個使用住房優先方法的加拿大城市卡爾加里，依靠為最困難的露宿者提供住房，見證了每人平均結餘每年3萬美元的奇蹟。

Savings from housing rough sleepers with less complex problems are lower, and sometimes non - existent, says Nicholas Pleace of the Centre for Housing Policy at the University of York. But getting them off the streets at least means less wasteful use of public services : a police officer's time is better spent fighting crime than arresting vagrants for trespass.
紐約大學的住房政策中心的Nicholas Pleace認為，安置無家可歸者的所產生結餘並不高，有時甚至沒有。但是讓他們離開街面至少意味著較少的公共服務使用上的浪費：一名警察的時間應該花在打擊犯罪，而不是去逮亂竄的流浪漢。

Critics view such programmes as rewarding bad behaviour : many of those housed continue to drink and use drugs, and remain unemployable. Advocates point to the harms avoided: a recent study in Canada that randomly assigned participants to housing - first or a standard programme concluded that housing them did more to improve their quality of life and their functioning in the community. Such findings help win over those who favour doing what is most humane, says Paul Howard of Community Solutions, a charity that champions the housing - first model. The criticism will fade further, he thinks, as more people come to see addiction as a grave health problem exacerbated by rough sleeping, rather than a choice.
批評者認為這種項目會獎勵不良行為：許多被安置者繼續酗酒吸毒，並且仍然失業。而支持者指出這種危害可以避免：加拿大最近一項研究標明，將申請者納入住房 優先或者是一項標準計劃的結果就是：為他們提供住房大大提升了其生活質量和社會職能。這些發現有助於，社區解決機構的Paul Howard認為：這些發現有利於爭取那些最熱衷於最大限度行善的人，而社區解決機構一直是住房優先模式的捍衛者。他認為，隨著更多的人把成癮看成由露宿 街頭加劇的一種嚴重的健康問題而不是由個人選擇而決定的時候，批評將進一步褪去。

For many cities seeking to house rough sleepers, finding homes is the hardest part. Rents are soaring, and waiting lists for subsidised housing growing ever longer. Medicine Hat cleared its housing - first waiting list in August. Even so, Mr Clugston is reluctant to declare homelessness beaten before a planned public - housing development comes through.
對於尋求安置無家可歸者的許多城市而言，最難的是找房子。租金在飆升，而等候補貼性住房的名單越漲越長。Medicine Hat今年8月安置完了他們住房優先的候選名單。即使這樣，Clugston鎮長不得不宣布，在規劃好的公共保障住房新區建成之前，又一波無家可歸者來襲。