日本东京4万民众举行示威 要求安倍晋三下台

 Thousands of protesters gathered in downtown Tokyo to call for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to resign and for a law allowing the military to fight overseas to be overturned, as an election for parliament's upper house draws near.

随着日本参议院的选举在即，日前有几万民众聚集在东京市中心游行示威，要求首相安倍晋三下台，并要求推翻容许自卫队在海外执行作战任务的法案。

The protesters, many of them elderly, rallied in front of parliament and in a nearby park, holding placards with slogans such as "Step down, Abe government" and "Citizens change politics".

抗议者大多为老年人，他们聚集在议会附近的一个公园里，举着的标语牌上面写着：“安倍政府下台”、“人民决定政治”等。

日本东京4万民众举行示威 要求安倍晋三下台

Abe's support rates rose by three percentage points to 56 percent after he hosted a Group of Seven summit in May and accompanied U.S. President Barack Obama on a historic visit to Hiroshima, a Nikkei business daily survey showed.

《日经新闻》的一个调查显示，自从安倍主持了五月的七国集团峰会，并陪同奥巴马历史性地访问了广岛以来，安倍的支持率上升了3个百分点，达到了56%。

Abe announced a widely expected decision to delay a sales tax increase by two-and-a-half years, and said he would seek the public's mandate¹ for his plan in the upper house vote.

此外，安倍还宣布一个万众期待的决定，那就是将消费税增税再推迟两年半，并表示他将会在参议院的投票中征求同意。

But some opposition² parties are concerned that a strong election result for the ruling bloc³ may encourage Abe to press ahead with his long-held aspiration⁴ to revise the U.S.-drafted pacifist constitution.

但是一些反对党担心执政党选举的胜利将会促使安倍加紧推进其长期以来的野心，修订美国起草的和平宪法。

Organizers of rally put the crowd at 40,000, while police declined to give a number. Some right-wing activists⁵ tried to approach participants but were held back by police.

游行的组织者总人数约为4万人，但警方拒绝告知具体数字。部分右翼活动分子试图接近游行示威者，但被警方阻止。

When a similar anti-Abe rally took place in the same locations last August, organizers said some 120,000 people participated.

去年八月，在同样的地点也出现过反安倍政府的游行示威，组织者表示当时大约共有12万人参加。

1 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

2 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

3 bloc   

n.集团；联盟

参考例句：

• A solid bloc of union members support the decision.工会会员团结起来支持该决定。
• There have been growing tensions within the trading bloc.贸易同盟国的关系越来越紧张。

4 aspiration   

n.志向，志趣抱负；渴望；(语)送气音；吸出

参考例句：

• Man's aspiration should be as lofty as the stars.人的志气应当象天上的星星那么高。
• Young Addison had a strong aspiration to be an inventor.年幼的爱迪生渴望成为一名发明家。

5 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》