The California Dream, A Catastrophic Wake-Up Call加州梦，一个灾难性的警钟The dreamscape of California has looked like a hellscape this week.

California, America's Golden State — "Warm, air you can kiss .

" wrote Jack Kerouac — has had choking air, scalding heat and surreal orange skies.

本周，加州的梦境看起来像地狱之景。

加利福尼亚，美国的黄金之州——温暖，你可以亲吻的空气”杰克·凯鲁亚克写道——这里有令人窒息的空气，滚烫的热浪和超现实的橙色天空。

California has been the dreamland of so many who hope to strike it rich or start over: a place for fresh starts, freeways and free love.

加州一直是许多希望发财或重新开始的人的梦想之地:一个重新开始、高速公路和自由恋爱的地方。

This season has brought a cascade of calamities to California and the West.

And Californians may wonder whether these are catastrophes to be endured just once a century or a generation, or are they a new way of life?

这个季节给加利福尼亚和西部带来了一连串的灾难。

加州人可能会想，这些灾难是百年或一代人只能忍受一次，还是一种新的生活方式?

Steve Pennebaker, a software engineer and fourth-generation Californian, told us this week that when drought, fires, blackouts and mudslides struck his state time after time these past few years, friends would say, "Well, this is once in a lifetime.

"史蒂夫·彭尼巴克是一名软件工程师，也是第四代加州人。

本周他告诉我们，在过去的几年里，当干旱、火灾、停电和泥石流一次又一次地袭击他的州时，他的朋友们会说:好吧，一生只经历一次。

”"I've been hearing 'once in a lifetime' every few months for years now," he told us.

多年来，我每隔几个月就会听到一句‘一生只经历一次’的话，”他告诉我们。

Steve and his wife, Susan Parker, were already discouraged by how so much of the state they love had become impossible to afford.

Rent and home prices soar for those who can pay, while many of those who can't are left to live out of their cars — or sleep on the streets of California's great, glittering cities.

史蒂夫和他的妻子苏珊·帕克本来就对他们所热爱的这个州已经无法负担这么多开支感到沮丧。

对于那些付得起房租的人来说，房租和房价飞涨，而那些付不起房租的人则只能住在汽车里，或者睡在加州那些辉煌城市的街道上。

Steve Pennebaker says that with each new year of record fires, drought and scorched air and earth, he has asked his wife, "Are we frogs who are being boiled and don't know it yet?

"史蒂夫·彭尼巴克说，每年新年都有创纪录的火灾、干旱、烧焦的空气和土地，他就问他的妻子:我们这些被煮熟的青蛙还不知道吗?

”When we spoke this week, he and Susan had just moved to Washington state.

They have watched California's red skies and raging wildfires from a distance.

But there is gray smoke in the air from forest fires in Washington, too.

当我们本周交谈时，他和苏珊刚刚搬到华盛顿州。

他们从远处观看了加州的红色天空和肆虐的野火。

但是华盛顿的森林大火也在空气中弥漫着灰色的烟雾。

"Where do we run to?

" Steve asked.

"We're running out of places.

"我们往哪儿跑?

”史蒂夫问。

我们无处可逃了。

”Bonnie Tsui, the California writer, told us this week that her young children first learned to wear N95 masks during the fires of 2018 and 2019, before the coronavirus made face coverings everyday attire.

加州作家邦妮·徐本周告诉我们，她的孩子们在2018年和2019年的火灾中第一次学会戴N95口罩，之后冠状病毒才使口罩成为日常穿戴。

"It stinks that they, at 7 and 10 years old, are pretty good at putting on two layers of masks," she said, "But to leave California is only to deny what we know to be true — the climate crisis is now, and it is everywhere, and we can't run from it.

"他们在7岁和10岁时，就很熟练地戴上两层面具，这很糟糕，”她说，但离开加州只会否认我们所知道的事实——气候危机现在是，而且到处都是，我们无法逃避。

”When these fires have cooled and the air has cleared — for at least a while —California will still be an enormous and astounding place.

But can it still hold so many dreams?

至少在一段时间内，当这些大火被扑灭，空气变得清新时，加州仍将是一个巨大而令人惊叹的地方。

但它还能承载这么多梦想吗?

【加州梦，一个灾难性的警钟查看网站：[db:时间]】