日本上升的儿童贫困暴露了二十年经济衰弱的真正代价

 　　The smell of beef stew¹ wafts² from a kitchen as a brigade of volunteers put their cooking skills to use on a recent Saturday evening in Tokyo’s commuter³ belt.

　　最近一个星期六的夜晚，东京的上班族聚居区，炖牛肉的香味从厨房飘来，一群志愿者正在尽力施展他们的厨艺。

　　In an adjoining room children chat and make paper cutouts while they await the arrival of what for some will be their only proper meal of the day.

　　旁边的房间里，孩子们一边聊天一边做纸工，等着对其中一些孩子来说一天里唯一算得上是合理膳食的美餐。

　　Kawaguchi children’s cafeteria is one of hundreds to have sprouted⁴ up in Japan in recent years in response to a problem few associate with the world’s third biggest economy: child poverty.

　　川口儿童食堂是近年来日本如同雨后春笋般涌现的几百家食堂之一，它们的目的就是解决很少有人会和这个世界第三经济大国联系起来的问题：儿童贫困。

　　经济衰弱.jpg

　　An estimated 3.5 million Japanese children – or one in six of those aged⁵ up to 17 – are from households classed as experiencing relative poverty defined by the OECD as those with incomes at or below half the median national disposable income.

　　估计有350万名日本儿童----即六分之一17岁以下的人----来自经合组织定义的相对贫困的家庭，这些家庭的收入为小于等于国民可支配收入中位数的一半.。

　　Japan’s relative rate of poverty has risen over the past three decades to 16.3% while the rate in the US though higher at 17.3% has fallen.

　　日本的相对贫困率在过去的30年中上升到了16.3%，而在美国的比率虽然略高，但是17.3%的比率已经下降。

1 stew   

n.炖汤，焖，烦恼；v.炖汤，焖，忧虑

参考例句：

• The stew must be boiled up before serving.炖肉必须煮熟才能上桌。
• There's no need to get in a stew.没有必要烦恼。

2 wafts   

n.空中飘来的气味，一阵气味( waft的名词复数 )；摇转风扇v.吹送，飘送，（使）浮动( waft的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• A breeze wafts the sweet smell of roses. 微风吹来了玫瑰花的芬芳（香味）。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• A breeze wafts the smell of roses. 微风吹送玫瑰花香气。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 commuter   

n.(尤指市郊之间)乘公交车辆上下班者

参考例句：

• Police cordoned off the road and diverted commuter traffic. 警察封锁了道路并分流交通。
• She accidentally stepped on his foot on a crowded commuter train. 她在拥挤的通勤列车上不小心踩到了他的脚。

4 sprouted   

v.发芽( sprout的过去式和过去分词 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出

参考例句：

• We can't use these potatoes; they've all sprouted. 这些土豆儿不能吃了，都出芽了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The rice seeds have sprouted. 稻种已经出芽了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。