Goodbye, city life: Green acres in Japan beckon as pandemic shifts priorities
再见了，城市生活：随着疫情改变了生活的重点，日本田园变得令人向往
The global pandemic has prompted a wholesale rethinking of life choices around the world. But in places such as Japan, where rigid work cultures offer few alternative paths, the pandemic has brought a rare opportunity for residents to reimagine how their futures could — not should — look.
全球疫情在世界各地都引发了人们对生活选择的大规模反思。但在日本这样的地方，僵化的工作文化使得人们几乎没有其他人生道路可以选择，而这次疫情给人们带来了一个难得的机会，可以去重新想象自己的未来可以是什么样子——而不是应该是什么样子。
In Tokyo and surrounding areas, the rethink is particularly strong among people in their 20s and 30s, according to a survey of more than 10,000 people by a government office.
根据日本政府部门一项涉及一万多人的调查，在东京及其周边地区，这种反思在 20 到 30 多岁的年轻人中尤为强烈。
These young workers are seeking alternatives to Tokyo's corporate grind, marked by long hours, cramped subway commutes and strict corporate hierarchies. About one-third of the people in their 20s and 30s living in greater Tokyo said they had taken steps in the past six months to move to rural Japan.
这些年轻的打工人们在寻找别的方式来替代东京那些公司里单调辛苦的工作，这些工作的特点是很长的工作时间、拥挤的地铁通勤和严格的公司等级制度。居住在大东京地区的 20 到 30 多岁的年轻人中，约有三分之一表示，他们在过去六个月里已经开始采取行动，想要搬迁到日本农村地区。
While the figures represent a small sample, they nonetheless point to a trend that is unfolding during an important time for Japan's rural areas, whose populations are rapidly shrinking with a combination of elderly residents and declining birthrates.***
虽然这些数据只是一个很小的样本，但它们仍然指出了一个趋势，这个趋势在对日本农村地区非常重要的时期逐渐显现出来。日本农村地区的人口正在居民老龄化和出生率下降的双重作用下迅速减少。
In recent years, national and local governments have been promoting rural revitalization efforts to attract younger residents to the outskirts of Japan.
近年来，日本国家政府和地方政府一直在努力推动农村的振兴，以吸引更年轻的居民搬到日本城郊地区。
Japan's new prime minister, Fumio Kishida, is looking to ramp up such efforts.
日本新任首相岸田文雄正在考虑加大这方面的投入力度。
"It is our areas outside our major urban centers that are of the utmost importance," Kishida said in an Oct. 14 news conference, insisting that a "digital transformation" will address quandaries such as depopulation of rural areas.
岸田文雄在 10 月 14 日的新闻发布会上说：“我们主要城市中心以外的地区才是最重要的。”他坚称，“数字化转型”将会解决农村人口减少等困境。
主编：尹岚、阿翀
品控：Pita、迎迎
审核：乐崽
重点词汇
acre
/ˈeɪ.kɚ/
n. 英亩
搭配短语：a 200-acre farmland
beckon
/ˈbek.ən/
v. 吸引；向......打招呼
例句：A career in the film industry beckons.
priority
/praɪˈɔːr.ə.t̬i/
n. 优先，重点
英文释义：something that is very important and must be delt with before other things
例句：The children are their first priority.
prompt
/prɑːmpt/
v. 引起，激起
词性拓展：prompt（adj. 迅速的，立即的）
搭配短语：a prompt action
近义短语：to make something happen
搭配短语：to prompt a plan
搭配短语：to prompt an outcry
wholesale
/ˈhoʊl.seɪl/
adj. 大规模的；批发的
相关词汇：whole（n. 整体）
相关词汇：sale（n. 销售）
词性拓展：wholesale（n. 批发）
例句：I am in the wholesale trade.
搭配短语：wholesale destruction
rigid
/ˈrɪdʒ.ɪd/
adj. 僵化的；坚硬的
搭配短语：a rigid plastic
搭配短语：a rigid procedure
例句：He is very rigid in his thinking.
grind
/ɡraɪnd/
n. 苦差事
词性拓展：grind（v. 磨碎，碾碎）
搭配短语：to grind some black pepper over the salad
搭配短语：the daily grind
mark
/mɑːrk/
v. 做记号，标记
搭配短语：be marked by
例句：The villages of Britain are marked by beautiful churches.
cramped
/kræmpt/
adj. 拥挤的，狭小的
相关词汇：cramp（n. 抽筋，痉挛）
词性拓展：cramp（v. 限制，约束）
例句：The pandemic cramps economic growth.
搭配短语：a cramped apartment
commute
/kəˈmjuːt/
n. 通勤
英文释义：a regular journey to and from one's place of work
hierarchy
/ˈhaɪ.rɑːr.ki/
n. 等级制度；层级
文化拓展：我们经常听到的“马斯洛需求层次理论”，英文就是 Maslow's hierarchy of needs。
搭配短语：social hierarchy
take steps
开始采取措施
相关词汇：step（n. 措施，手段；脚步）
近义短语：begin to act
例句：The government took steps to discourage age discrimination.
nonetheless
/ˌnʌn.ðəˈles/
adv. 然而
近义短语：in spite of that
unfold
/ʌnˈfoʊld/
v. 展现；打开
相关词汇：fold（v. 折叠）
词根词缀：un-（相反）
搭配短语：to unfold a map
例句：The facts started to unfold before them.
shrink
/ʃrɪŋk/
v. 缩小，减少
例句：The shirt shrinks.
例句：We want to expand the business, not shrink it.
revitalization
/riːˌvaɪtələˈzeɪʃən/
n. 振兴
相关词汇：vital（adj. 充满活力的）
衍生词：vitalize（v. 使......有活力）
衍生词：revitalize（v. 使......重现活力）
搭配短语：to revitalize the steel industry
搭配短语：economic revitalization
搭配短语：revitalization efforts
outskirts
/ˈaʊt.skɝːts/
n. 郊区
文化拓展：在古英语里，skirt 有“边缘，外围”的意思，outskirts 也是由这个含义衍生出来的，表示“郊区，边缘地带”。注意，outskirts 是一个复数名词，是没有单数的形式的。
ramp up
加速，提高
相关词汇：ramp（n. 斜坡）
英文释义：to increase in speed, size, etc.
例句：Work started slowly, but now we're ramping up.
utmost
/ˈʌt.moʊst/
adj. 极度的，最大的
近义词：greatest
搭配短语：the utmost care
搭配短语：the utmost respect
quandary
/ˈkwɑːn.dri/
n. 困境，左右为难的境地
搭配短语：in a quandary
例句：I have two job offers, and I'm in a quandary about which one to accept.
depopulation
/diːˌpɑː.pjəˈleɪ.ʃən/
n. 人口减少
相关词汇：population（n. 人口）
衍生词：underpopulation（n. 人口稀少）
衍生词：overpopulation（n. 人口过剩）
词根词缀：de-（减少）
