1-3段来自tdlorang  4-5段来自路人丁 6-7段来自Ada 8-9段来自蓬蓬豆 10-12段来自肉丸子 特别鸣谢@自观问渠

大标题：How Japan’s prime minister plans to cope with daunting demography 看日本首相怎么应对这可怕的人口问题啊！

小标题: The reforms he has in mind are not bold enough 他所设想的改革还不够大胆嘞。

“THE DECLINE of the birth rate and the ageing of Japanese society is accelerating at unprecedented speed,” warns Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister. Given the scale of the problem, he told The Economist this week, the government must push for “impactful policies” to tackle it right away. He mentions a series of reforms, intended to boost the workforce and reduce the cost of supporting the elderly. The Diet is currently debating a government proposal to admit 345,000 foreign workers over five years, for instance.

That sounds dramatic, but the demographic decline is even bigger. There are 400,000 more deaths than births each year. Life expectancy is 84 years—the highest in the world. Over 28% of the population is older than 65, compared with 21% in Germany, 15% in America and 6% in India. The country has 69,785 centenarians, a seven-fold increase on two decades ago.

The welfare state has become unaffordable. Public debt is 250% of GDP. And Japan is suffering from an acute labour shortage. There are already 1.6 jobs for every job-seeker, and the workforce is predicted to shrink from 67m last year to 58m in 2030.

（一）内容总结：

段一：开篇被接受采访的日本首相安培晋三，就直击日本现在面临的严峻人口问题：出生率下降、老龄化严重；他提出一系列改革：增加劳动力、降低养老成本。

段二：通过更为具体的数据对比，死亡人数大于出生人数，老龄化占比居各国之首，百岁老人数量还在翻倍。更客观的反映了日本老龄化问题的严峻形势。

段三：于是，问题就来了，社会保障福利，国家已承担不起；公共债务高；劳动力不足，1.6个职位空缺却只有一个求职者，预计未来还会减少。

（二）实用表达总结：

段一：

① Japan’s prime minister 日本首相

② cope with =handle/deal with/ tackle 解决处理

③ daunting=difficult/challenging/formidable 困难的、具有挑战、使畏惧的

举例：a daunting task 很艰巨/棘手的任务         

④ The reforms he has in mind are not bold enough-他所设想的改革还不够大胆

⑤ 反义-an audacious 美 /ɔ'deʃəs/ plan/the sheer audacity of the plan/the plan is of sheer audacity 我有个大胆想法

⑥ birth rate 出生率

⑦ the ageing of Japanese society 日本社会老龄化  ageing 做为形容词

补充：

aging can be an adjective or verb

As an adjective, aging means getting older. 现有的状态是老的

As a verb, aging is the present participle of the verb to age, which means to get older. 变老的过程

age 现在分词：美式 aging/ageing（是否美国常用具有争议）  英式 ageing

⑧ accelerating at unprecedented 美 /ʌn'prɛsɪdɛntɪd/ speed 以空前的速度加快（指人口老龄化）

补充：

accelerating 原型 accelerate 美 /əkˈsɛləˌret/

搭配 hard/quickly/smoothly

造句：Up until October 24th, Luckin Coffee churns out over 1400 stores, and by December expects to reach 1800 total stores. The number is accelerating at unprecedented speed.

⑨ Given the scale of the problem 考虑到问题的严重程度

Given：knowing about or considering a particular thing

Given (the fact) that 句型

⑩ push for 奋力争取

造句：If you join the morning reading, you must push for the chance to take up the microphone.

⑪ impactful policies 有效的政策

impactful 有效的 having a powerful effect on a situation or person=compelling

造句：His speech is very impactful.

⑫ a series of reforms 一系列改革

⑬ the elderly 老年人

段二：

① That sounds dramatic 听起来真X

造句：That sounds great/exciting/interesting/good/an impossible task

② centenarians 原型 centenarian 美 /,sɛntɪ'nɛrɪən/  百岁老人

③ a seven-fold increase on two decades ago 比20年前增长了7倍

段三：

① has become unaffordable 已负担不起

② 反义 affordable

造句：Hot dry noodles, also known as reganmian, is a traditional Chinese dish in Wuhan. The noodles could be prepared in minutes and affordable. Therefore, it becomes the most popular breakfast choice.

③ Japan is suffering from an acute labour shortage. 日本正面临严重的劳动力短缺。

an acute labour shortage  注意：labour 英式  labor 美式

造句：Many AI companies are suffering from an acute talent shortage.

④ every job-seeker 每一位求职者

⑤ the workforce is 劳动力 谓语动词用 单数

(三）重难点分析

段一：

① Given the scale of the problem, he told The Economist this week, the government must push for “impactful policies” to tackle it right away.

动词的使用 push for / to tackle =to tough it out

句子结构模仿：Given the severity of the problem for English learners, he told his partner, our Phenomenal English community must push for English learning modules to tackle it right away.

② He mentions a series of reforms, intended to boost the workforce and reduce the cost of supporting the elderly.

动词的使用 boost / reduce=allay=curb

造句：The Tencent implemented a series of reforms/set up a system of user-identify checks, intended to reduce the gaming time of young gamers.

implemented=introduced=proposed=announced=initiated=enacted

③ The Diet is currently debating a government proposal to admit 345,000 foreign workers over five years, for instance.

The Diet：通常指的日本的 “国会” 也称作为：National Diet 或者 parliament。

补充：为什么日本国会会采用“Diet”作为国会的英文译名，而不采用像英国的国会的“parliament”？

我们先说说Diet，最熟悉的意思是“饮食”，不过它还有另个意思。在《英语词源趣谈》提到它意指“集会”或“议会”。它源于拉丁语diēs(一天）的派生词diēta（一天的旅程，一天的工作，某一天举行的集会）。

From： diet (Oxford English Dictionary 2nd v4)

根据上面的词条，我们可以diet其实是神圣罗马帝国的Reichstag（国会)的英文说法，这个神圣罗马帝国后来分化成许多国家，其中包括德国。而在“明治维新”时期，日本效仿的德国，而德国就是用“Diet”表示国会的。

段二：

Over 28% of the population is older than 65, compared with 21% in Germany, 15% in America and 6% in India.

句子结构模仿：Over 14.6 % of the population is single in China, compared with 21% in Germany, 50% in America and 36% in India.

段三：

There are already 1.6 jobs for every job-seeker, and the workforce is predicted to shrink from 67m last year to 58m in 2030.

动词的使用: shrink from...to...

句子结构： XX is predicted to shrink from XX last year to XX in 2019.

One obvious solution is immigration. Only 2% of the workforce is foreign-born, compared with 17% in America. But the government has been surreptitiously admitting more foreign workers, mostly in the guise of students and trainees. The plan before the Diet aims to attract blue-collar workers in 14 industries, including construction, shipbuilding and caring for the elderly. They will receive visas of no more than five years, at least initially, and will not be able to bring their families. All must have some proficiency in Japanese.

Mr Abe plays down the idea that he is doing anything momentous. In debates he is at pains to stress that the new arrivals are not permanent immigrants, but guest workers. Moreover, he portrays foreign workers as a last resort, to fill gaps while the government tries to get more Japanese to work. During his six-year tenure, 2m more women have joined the workforce, lifting the female participation rate above America’s. He has increased the number of nurseries and made big companies document their efforts to promote female workers. From next year nurseries will be free. Over half of women return to work after having a child, compared with 38% in 2010. “We have tried to make a society that enables more women to be active, advanced and empowered,” he says.

(一）内容总结：

段四：提及的是移民，这是个最容易想到的解决日本少子老龄化的方案。但是日本却没有过多的提倡，只是暗地里接受以学生或培训生名义的外国职工，以及通常只给5年工作签证的蓝领工人。

段五：提倡更多的女性参加工作。前面3句话承上启下，外国职工只是最后的手段。则在第4句提到了在他的六年任期里，女性参与工作的比例大大提高了。安倍会继续在妇女这块作努力。

(二）实用表达总结

段四：

in the guise of

表示“在……伪装下”，in也可以用under来代替。文章写日本只收以学生及培训生名义的外国职工。

《经济学人》有篇文章写以反恐为幌子，美国想要伊朗的石油，是这样写的：

But his contention that the Muslim ummah or nation is being attacked, “economically and religiously”, reflected the common Muslim belief that America wants Iraq for its oil, and assaults Islamic morals in the guise of its war on terror.

造句：Patents are actually afraid of losing face in the guise of helping the kids for their own good.（家长经常说为了孩子好，其实怕丢自己面子。同组肉丸子提供）

段五：

play down：表示“轻描淡写”“淡化”。

一篇写《经济学人》打击墨西哥毒枭的文章Out of sight, not out of mind，它的副标题很好地诠释了为什么“眼不见，心却还烦”。

Having decided to play down the fight against drug kingpins, Enrique Peña Nieto has yet to come up with a serious alternative.

造句：Having decided to play down the fight between children, her eyes shifted attention away from them.（家长不理，小孩子间就慢慢不吵了）

portray：我们都很熟悉“portray”的名词形式“portrait”，表示“画像”“肖像”。它本身这个动词形式表示“描述”，可以代替“describe”。它是《经济学人》的高频词，就在16 Nov,218这期里就出现了4次。

它经常跟as以“portray sth/sb as”形式出现。

《经济学人》的Letters里有人给拿破仑的身高平反。

The reasons why we think of Napoleon as diminutive are his nickname (le petit caporal), the towering Imperial Guard that protected him, and a number of British caricatures that portrayed him as a childish toddler.

在同期杂志里，where borders are the migrants里这么一句：

Catalonian separatists portray themselves (though it is a stretch, given Spain’s modern democratic nature) as the freedom-seeking victims of a still-Francoist state.

造句：Housewifves portray themselves as the hardworking employees without reward.（家庭主妇是没工资的员工）

as a last resort：在此文中表示”最终手段“”最后的办法“。只是把外国劳工作为最后选择，可以看出日本不喜欢外国劳工。

核武器只能作为最后才用，我们可以这么说：

Nuclear weapons should be used only as a last resort.

如果你想表达你最后不得不接受了他们的观点，你可以这样表达：

As a last resort you may have to accept their point of view.

at pains：这里的“be at pains”可以表示“尤指为避免困境而急切想做，迫切想要做”。

表示某些人想急切地跟丑闻划清界线，可以这么说：

They were at pains to distance themselves from the scandal.

这个短语在《经济学人》中还是比较常用的。

Palestinian spokesmen were quick to claim a “victory” for the Palestinian cause, and were at pains to insist that no covert deal had been struck with Israel over the fugitives. （这里的be quick to跟be at pains to属于同个意思）

As he had throughout a seven-week campaign, he was at pains to deny his opponents' portrayal of him as a far-right clone of George Bush. (有关加拿大选举）

造句

He was at pains to meet his kids after a long business trip.

(三）重难点分析

段四：

The plan before the Diet aims to attract blue-collar workers in 14 industries, including construction, shipbuilding and caring for the elderly.

before

这句话的“before”是“摆在…面前”“使面对”“使面临”的意思。这话句可以这么理解“摆在国会面前的计划为了吸引14个行业的蓝领工人”。

如果我们想说摆在前面的艰巨任务，可以这么说：

Everyone in the room knew it was the single hardest task before them.

造句：The question before me is this: did she make excuse or did she fall ill?

提炼句型：

The plan before X aims to attract Y， including Z.

造句：

The plan before the City Hall aims to attract the talented people in 16 areas, including AI, STEM and education(市政府的计划吸引某些领域人才）

段五：

He has increased the number of nurseries and made big companies document their efforts to promote female workers.

大致的意思：政府增加托儿所的数量，同时鼓励企业提供一些信息，什么信息呢？就是他们为促进女性就业做出了哪些努力。

document

因为document跟their efforts的这种搭配很少见，我就一直在社群群友及很多字典询问及查找。最后，我觉得Merrianm-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary里这条解释比较符合。

document

promote

一看到“promote”，我就想到“晋升”。可是这里不是这层意思，它有种“提倡”“促进”的意味在。而这种意思原来是超级常用的，我在11月23日这期的《经济学人》就有三处：

Even though it co-operates in the fight against jihadist groups, Saudi Arabia still feeds their ideology through textbooks that promote the view that Jews, Christians, Shia Muslims and others are infidels.

An annual football tournament in Aldershot, the Gurkha Cup, also aims to promote integration.

Eschewing college for work promotes conscientiousness but narrows minds.（这个是讲教育与工作文章的副标题，意思是不上大学而直接去工作虽然有助于自觉性但是它使人视野变小。）

造句：

To reduce environmental pollution, the plan aims to promote organic food.（提倡有机食品）。

“We have tried to make a society that enables more women to be active, advanced and empowered,” he says.

这句话很有节奏感，active跟advance押头韵，advanced和empowered压尾韵。

结束语

现在我能深深地理解那些翻译家有多不容易了，要找到合适的英文解释再找恰当的中文表达，再考虑上下文再组织。字典是个好东西，社群是个好交流平台。

Mr Abe also wants people to “remain active without retirement throughout their lives”. His government is likely to raise the retirement age for civil servants from 60 to 65, and to encourage companies to do the same. As it is, many companies have raised their retirement ages or taken to rehiring retired workers, often on a part-time basis. Fully 23% of over-65s work; they constitute a much bigger share of the workforce than in other rich countries (see chart). Mr Abe plans to bolster this trend by increasing the public pension for those who agree to start drawing it later than they are currently entitled to. In the long run, the prime minister hopes, robots and artificial intelligence will help ease the labour shortage. “I do think that we will need fewer jobs because of higher productivity.”

配图标题：日本垂暮

setting sun：when the sun sets, it goes below the horizon.

the red glow of the setting sun 落日余辉

（一）内容总结：

第六段：安倍鼓励日本政府和公司延迟退休和返聘退休员工。

（二） 实用表达：

1. take to (doing) sth.:

    ①to begin to like sb./sth.     

    I took to Venom immediately.

    ②to start doing sth as a habit.

      I have taken to listening to audio books before sleep.

2. rehire retired workers 返聘

3. on a part-time basis 中间填入形容词变成副词用法，几乎没有“基础”的意思了

on a temporary basis暂时地；

on a regular/rota basis定期/轮流地；

on an exclusive basis独家地；

on a first-come, first-served basis先到先办的方式；

on an urgent basis以加急速度；

on a competitive basis通过竞争

但这种用法有时比较啰嗦, 如：

They want all groups to be treated on an equal basis...

直接用 treated equally更简洁

(联想到下一段的on a firmer footing 基础，立足点: on a sound/secure/firm/strong footing)

4. bolster this trend by doing...: boost; strengthen; support

~confidence/morale/economy/career/image/an argument

5. entitled to (do) sth.: empower(上一段末出现), give the right t, allow, authorize 赋予权利

6. ease the labour shortage

~pain/pressure/problems/burden/anxiety/embarrassment/guilt/loneliness...

也可用做vi. Tensions had eased.

The heavily falling snow had eased...

漫天大雪变小了……

注意点：

Fully 23% of over-65s work; they constitute a much bigger share of the workforce than in other rich countries (see chart).

fully：to emphasize how great an amount is. (用于强调数量)整整，足足

Fully 30% of the participants did not appear.

Getting older people to work for longer is especially beneficial to the government’s finances, since it leads both to higher tax revenue and lower spending on pensions. Mr Abe’s tweaks are the latest in a series of changes intended to make the pension system more affordable. But the government is always playing catch-up, as the ageing of the population and shrinking of the workforce accelerate. It reckons social-welfare costs will rise by more than half by 2040, from ¥121trn ($1.06trn) to ¥190trn.

（一）内容总结：

第七段：延迟退休的好处和养老压力。

（二）实用表达：

1. government finances/social-welfare costs 注意两处都要用复数形式表示 （尤政府/公司的）财源/经营维持必须支出

2. tweak: fine-tune 微调 （指前文针对老龄化的一些措施）

3. play catch-up：

    ①fall behind continually with work or financial matters

      I’m always playing catch up with my homework.

    ②(AmE) try to equal a competitor in a sport or game after you have fallen behind

Mr Abe appears to be planning sweeping changes to put the welfare state on a firmer footing. “There will be an overall social-security reform, including health and medicine, pension and others,” he says. “We are trying to create a society and community where people can remain healthy and active…and find meaning in staying alive and living long.”

（一）内容总结：

段八:安倍先生一直雄心勃勃想要搞一场彻底的改变，内容覆盖生命健康、医药、退休金，把日本这个福利国家建立在一个更稳固的基础上。日本健康活跃地安度晚年，并且找得到人生的意义。

（二）实用表达：

①sweeping changes:大刀阔斧的改革；这个可以说很好用了，sweep本身由于有“扫地；席卷”的意思，sweeping作为形容词，很容易就联想到表示“广泛的，深刻的”意思。类似的还有：

sweeping changes/ cuts/ reforms 彻底的改革

②扩展：sweeping statement/generalization 一概而论的看法（带贬义）

③welfare state：(英国等国的)福利国家(制度) ：In Britain and some other countries, the welfare state is a system in which the government provides free social services such as health and education and gives money to people when they are unable to work, for example because they are old, unemployed, or sick。

这个可以跟下文的social security一起理解：

④Social security is a system under which a government pays money regularly to certain groups of people, for example the sick, the unemployed, or those with no other income.

⑤put/place something on a …… footing 把……建立在……之上

我们在说建立在……的基础上时，很容易想到foundation，basis，这个footing用的相对较少，但是这个也很好用，马上能联想到其常见意思“脚”，引申出来“基础”的意思。

造句： The new law puts women on an equal legal footing with men. 这条新的法律把妇女放在和男人平等的法律地位上。

⑥ a society and community 押尾韵

⑦find meaning in staying alive and  living long：这里的find meaning in虽然简单，但是很好用：

find meaning in life

find meaning and joy in their employment and life/ Phenomenal  English

Yet in practice Mr Abe is being cautious. Even after the retirement age increases, it will still be lower than in many other rich countries. Moreover, the current system discourages those over 65 from working more than part-time since their pension is reduced if their income from it and their salary exceeds 460,000 yen ($4,039) a month. It is not clear whether this will change. The government has modified but not eliminated a tax quirk that discourages married women from earning more than a relatively lowly amount. By the same token, the share of medical expenses that patients must pay under the public health-care system falls as they get older, imposing a big burden on the state. There are various ways the government could reduce its health-care bill, including increasing premiums for the public insurance scheme, raising patients’ co-payments for treatments and excluding some expensive procedures from the scheme.

（一）内容总结：

段九：承接前文，虽然安倍雄心勃勃，然而事实上他还是很谨慎，尽管日本的退休年龄增加了，也赶不上其他的富裕国家。而且，现在日本的体系既不利于超过65岁的人做除了兼职工作以外的事情，因为他们的工作收入或者工资超过460,000日元，他们的退休金就会减少。此外，政府也修正（但没有消除）了一个税收怪癖，这个怪政策基本让女性只能挣相对少的钱。同样地，现有医疗体系下，病人必须支付的医疗份额也随着他们年龄的增长而减少，这无疑给国家财政造成了更大的负担。当然也有很多办法减轻政府的负担，比如增加保险费呀，增加分摊付款额呀，以及不把一些昂贵的检查手续纳入其中呀。

（二）实用表达：

①discourage……from 表示劝阻，阻止，这个结构我捡到了认识，但是用得少，我平时表达阻碍都只会有prevent。

造句：My sore throat discourages me from reading aloud.(嗓子疼阻碍我大声朗读)。

② modified but not eliminated 押尾韵，可以总结出句型：

the XX has modified but not eliminated the policy that ……

eg. The university has modified but not eliminated the policy that discourages students from ordering takeaways.（最近某高校阻止学生点外卖）。

③a tax quirk:这个东西比较难理解，大家可以根据这个图理解（来自同组Ada）：

这说了个啥事情呢？简单来说是这样的：日本政府制定了一个政策，就是太太挣得钱少于某个数，她丈夫就能获得一定的税收减免，所以这些太太就只能做一些相对低收入的工作，不然钱挣得还没有上的税多。这个政策就比较诡异了，不努力干活还挣得多一点，所以怪呀！

④By the same token

token本来指的是代币，如上图，by the same token是一个习语，意思是“同样地，由于同样的原因”，可以用在写作中，引出下文。

此外，这个词还有比较好用的搭配，比如：

a token of your gratitude/respect/appreciation

Please accept this gift as a small token of our appreciation.

区区薄礼，略表谢意，还请笑纳。

⑤impose a XX burden on 对……强行施加了负担，impose用的很好了，我就只会用put

造句：

Peer pressure imposes a big burden on my young fragile heart.（同龄人太优秀，小心灵很受伤）。

（三）重难点分析：

Moreover, the current system discourages those over 65 from working more than part-time since their pension is reduced if their income from it and their salary exceeds 460,000 yen ($4,039) a month.

我觉得这个比较难，因为discourage from 后面又加了一个more than，字面意思理解为：

当今的系统阻碍了 65岁以上的人工作超过兼职范围，因为这样他们的退休金会减少，其实就是表示他们只能做兼职啦。

There are various ways the government could reduce its health-care bill, including……

提炼句型：There are various ways the XX could do XX,including……用于写解决方案。

including increasing premiums for the public insurance scheme, raising patients’ co-payments for treatments and excluding some expensive procedures from the scheme.

这个意思可能不好懂，我的理解是，日本为了减轻国家财政负担，想了几个招，一是医保每年多交点，二是医保报销的时候，自费的那部分费用增加，防止某些人滥用医保，三是一些贵的检查从医保中划出，比如你想去做个超贵的CT，医保不给报了。

Yet Mr Abe only hints at the need for any of this. “We are not thinking about immediately raising the co-payment for medical and health services,” he says. “But there must be a careful review of the balance between the contribution and benefit.” Those who take action to prevent illness, such as regular exercise, could be rewarded. “We would like to think about the incentives—what should be done to the contributions that have to be paid by the people who adopt habits to prevent diseases,” he says.

（一）内容总结：

段十：显然，日本需要采取上段所说的那些措施，来减轻医疗保险的负担，但是安倍对此都没有直言，只是暗示。他表示并没有想要马上提高需要自理的医疗费，而是想要对那些锻炼身体减少疾病的人给予一些奖励。

（二）实用表达总结：

① hint这个词，我们比较熟悉它名词“暗示”的意思，这里是个动词。后面通常接at，或引导从句。

The problems are only hinted at in the report. 报告只是暗示了这些问题。

She hinted darkly that all was not well.她悲观地暗示并非一切都顺利。

② contribution我们熟悉的意思是“贡献”，但是这里是指“（养老金的）定期缴款”，与之相对的是benefit，“（保险公司发放的）给付，保险金”。单词的意思不能想当然，要在语境中去看。

③ incentive=something that encourage you to do sth

牛津里面给的中文意思是“刺激；激励；鼓励”，但是很多时候在句子里面，我们可以把它翻译成“动机、做...的理由”，所以如果可以用motivation的地方，可以试试看能不能用这个词。

If your mom wants you to mow the lawn but you don't feel like it, she might offer to treat you to ice cream after as an incentive. An incentive is something that stimulates you to take action or work harder.

比如：Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的激励因素。

比如上一篇经济学人里面，腾讯的员工，很少有升职空间，薪水也不如抖音等高，这时候员工士气低，我们就可以说：They haven't much incentive to work hard. 他们没有努力工作的动机。

常见的用法还有：give sb. an incentive to do sth.

A little bonus will give the employees an incentive to work harder.一点奖金可以刺激雇员更加努力地工作。

④ adopt habits，注意一下其他能跟habit搭配的动词，

acquire, cultivate, develop, establish, 如果是不好的习惯的话，经常会用到fall into

比如：I had fallen into my old habit of leaving everything to the last minute. 我拖延症又犯了。

（三）重难点分析

“We would like to think about the incentives—what should be done to the contributions that have to be paid by the people who adopt habits to prevent diseases,”

这段里面这句略长，但是仔细看并不难。破折号后面是对incentives的解释。有些人有着良好的生活习惯，能够减少生病的可能，这些人也要定期缴纳养老金，对此需要想一些措施。

This caution is excessive. Pushing back the retirement age is not as controversial in Japan as elsewhere. A government poll conducted in 2017 found that 42% of people aged 60 or more who work want to continue to do so. Although some politicians fret about foreigners bringing crime and disturbing social harmony, the majority of the population approves of Mr Abe’s plans to admit more foreign workers.

（一）内容总结：

安培太谨小慎微了。日本民众大多其实对延长退休年龄，以及外来人员来日本工作并不反感。

（二）实用表达总结：

① excessive= greater than what seems reasonable or appropriate 过分的，过度的

它的名词形式是excess，同时也是个形容词（名词读作 /ɪk'ses/，形容词读作 /'ekses/。），但是只用在名词前= in addition to an amount that is necessary, usual or legal 超额的；额外的；附加的；过度的

两者意思并不相同，试比较：

Driving with excess alcohol in blood is a serious offence. 血液里酒精含量过高时驾车是严重违法行为。

（excess指酒精含量超过法律规定的范围）

Excessive drinking can lead to stomach disorder. 酗酒可能引起胃病。（excessive指大量饮酒）

② conduct a poll，进行民意测验，注意这里的动词搭配，还可以是carry out/run a poll

③ age这里用的是动词，people aged 60，看似跟people at the age of 60差不多，除了简洁以外，还有一层动态的意味，年龄达到60岁的人们，people who reached the age of 60。所以要多学一下这些常见名词的动词用法。

④ fret= to worry about something, especially when there is no need 苦恼，焦虑不安

I was working all hours and constantly fretting about everyone else's problems.

我一刻不闲地工作，还总是为别人的事操心。

（三）重难点分析

not as...as... 这个句式很好用，还可以拓展一个 not so...as 语气更强一些。

原文里面是“日本不像其他地方那样，对延长退休年龄颇有争议。”

这个用法我们已经很熟悉了，

而“not so much...as”还可以用在“与其说...倒不如说...”的语境里：

例句：We are not so much depressed as lonely. 与其说我们抑郁，倒不如说我们是孤独。

He is not so much a genius as a hard worker. 他的努力胜于天份。

I lay down not so much to sleep as to think. 我躺下来与其说是要睡觉，倒不如说是要思考。

Mr Abe wants Japan to be a model for other ageing societies. He has done more than his predecessors to prepare for a smaller, older population. The danger is that Japan will become an example of a country that has done too little, too late.

（一）内容总结：

安倍希望日本能成为其他同样面临老龄化问题国家的范本，他做的已经比他上一任多多了，但是可能还是太少，而且为时已晚。

（二）实用表达总结：

① ageing 日益变老的，还是上段一样，从age的动词变来的形容词，注意灵活运用一个熟悉的小词。

② predecessor，前任，与之相对的是successor，继任者，可以放在一起记。

（三）重难点分析

这段前面，安倍希望日本成为其他老龄化国家的范本，后面说这个范本很有可能是个反面教材。挺讽刺的，用了一个The danger is ...，把前面美好的幻想一举击破。我们也可以学习这种用法来写一段话：

We all have dreams, or at any rate, something we really want to do. But nine times out of ten, we wait, until we have plenty of time tomorrow so that we can have it done perfectly. The danger is that tomorrow may not come after all.