日本人口危机

非文学翻译第三次作业

国家概况和政策

Japan’s Demographic Crisis 日本人口危机

According to the 2000 population census, Japan’s total population was 126.93 million. Based on

expected birth, fertility, and mortality rates, this number would likely peak in 2006, at 127.74

million. Thereafter, it would begin a secular decline, dropping gradually at first but eventually

reaching 100.6million by 2050.

据2000年人口普查，日本的总人口为126，930，000人。根据预期出生率，生育率和死亡率，这个数字很可能在2006年达到顶峰，达到127，740，000人。此后，就开始长期持续下降，2050年最终达到100，600，000人。

Japan’s “baby boom generation” generally referred to persons born from 1947 to 1949. In 2004,

this group comprised 6.8 million people—larger than all groups before or since. These boomers

would begin retiring in 2007, when they reached the age of 60. But because of a sharp drop in

Japan’s fertility rate, these workers would not be easily replaced. The fertility rate began dropping

just after the baby boom, from 3.7 in 1950 to a surprisingly low 1.29 by 2004. Japanese women

had been marrying later and later and generally producing only one child in their early 30s. Since

the replacement rate in Japan was 2.08, this effectively meant a decline in the population, in the

absence of significant immigration.

1947年到1949年出生的人通常被称为日本的“婴儿潮一代”。2004年，这一人就有6，800，000人，比所有以往和以后体都要大。到2007年，这些婴儿潮一代达到六十岁时，将开始退休。但由于日本的生育率急剧下降，这些工人不会被轻易取代。就在婴儿潮以后生育率就开始下降。1950年，3.7亿到2004年竟然低至1.29亿。日本女性结婚越来越晚，一般在她们三十多岁才生一个孩子。

At the same time, improvements in health care and rapidly increasing incomes had pushed up life

expectancy to a record high level—78 years for males, 85 years for females. The confluence of

these two trends, as Figure A indicates, produced a bubble of elderly—some 22 million by the

year 2000. Moreover, this number would continue to grow rapidly through 2025, when it reached

34.7 million.

同时，医疗保健的改善以及收入的增高将寿命推上了创纪录的高水平--男性78岁，女性85岁。这两种趋势结合起来，就如图A所示。到2000年，产生泡沫增长老人达到22000000人。此外，这一数字将继续迅速增长，到2025年将达到34，700，000人。

One implication of these numbers was that Japan’s labor force was shrinking—and had been

shrinking since 1999. On the one hand, this trend had helped hold down unemployment at a time

when Japanese business was rationalizing. The decline in Japan’s working-age population, from

68% in 2000, would reach 60% in 2020 and just 53% by 2050. And because of the structural

adjustment Japanese firms had recently made, the number of permanent employees had dropped

sharply (especially males), with more job openings in temporary employment and part-time

employment. As this trend deepened, many Japanese worried about maintaining the sort of skilled

workforce that Japan needed for advanced manufacturing and services.

这些数字的暗示之一是日本的劳动力正在萎缩。自1999以来，日本的劳动力就一直在萎缩。一方面，这种趋势帮助日本在企业合理化的时候解决了失业问题。日本劳动年龄的人口正在下降，从2000年的68%，到2020年将会减到60%，到了2050就只有53%。最近由于日本企业结构的调整，永久雇员的数量急剧下降（特别是男性）。临时就业和兼职工作就出现了很多职位空缺。随着这种趋势的加深，许多日本人担心如何才能维持日本先进制造业和服务业所需的熟练劳动力。

Thus, the portion of working-aged to elderly Japanese would drop by nearly half: from 3.6 to 1 in

2000 to 1.9 to 1 in 2025. This had startling implications for household savings (see Exhibit 8), for

social security funding and, thus, for pension and medical-care benefits.

因此，工作年龄到老年这一部分的人将会下降一半。从2000年的3.6至1，到2025年就只有1.9至1。这将暗示着惊人的福利需求如居民储蓄（见图表8），社会保障，养老保险和医疗保健等。

Japan’s pension system Prior to 2004, when the Koizumi government accomplished significant

reform, Japan’s pension system was heading toward bankruptcy. When originally created in the

1940s, the public pension system provided a single layer of remuneration-based, proportional

pension. In the revision of 1954, the pension was restructured into a two-layer system—the first

tier a fixed payment, and the second tier a remuneration-based proportion. A third revision, in

1961, added a national pension scheme for self-employed workers, as well as agriculture, forestry,

and fisheries workers.

日本的养老金制度 2004年之前，小泉政府在完成重大改革时，日本的养老金系统走向破产。这种公共养老保险制度最初创建于20世纪40年代，只提供了一个单层的薪酬比例退休金。1954年经过修订，改为了两层系统--第一层固定支付，第二层是以薪酬比例。1961年，经第三次修订，为自雇工人，农林渔业工人增加了一个国家养老金计划。

The basic pension system was financed by a fixed amount of insurance premiums. The premium

by the end of 2004 was ¥13,300 per month per person. Government financed one-third of the

benefit payment from its general account (to be raised gradually to half with the 2004 reform). The

amount of monthly benefits paid to more than 31 million people was ¥66,200 (multiplied by the

ratio of the number of participating months to the full 480 months).

基本养老保险的经费是固定金额的保险费。2004年底的保险费是每人每月13300元。政府从一般账户出资三分之一（2004改个后逐渐上升到一半）。每个月支付给31，000，000多人的保险金是66，200元（乘以参加月份的数量比，全部参加是480个月）。

The Employees’ Pension Insurance System (EPI), for which 37 million private-sector employees

were eligible, was financed by premiums (e.g., social security contributions) shared evenly by

employer and employee. The current premium was 13.93% of income. Payments in this system

rose with the consumer price index. In combination with the fixed National Pension payment, this

system currently paid out about 59% of a worker’s salary prior to retirement if she earned average

salary for her 40-year career.

雇员养老保险制度（EPI）是由雇主和雇员平均分担购买的保险（社会保障缴款）。其中3700万私营部门的员工都有资格享用。目前的保险费是收入的13.93%。这种制度的保险费的支付会随着居民消费价格指数上升。这种保险制度与固定的国民保险支付相结合，如果一个职工在退休前赚了40年的平均工资，那么他将支付他薪水的56%作为保险费。

There were two types of supplemental corporate pension plans: an employees’ pension fund and a

defined-benefits corporate pension. In the employees’ pension funds, employers collected

supplemental payments from employees and could make supplemental contributions, to be paid

out as part of the old-age pension. Under defined-benefits corporate pension plans, contributions

were clearly delineated for each employee and managed by the employer. For the self-employed,

the National Pension Fund Federation did the same. In October 2001, a defined-contribution

pension scheme was introduced in Japan. In contrast to the defined-benefits pensions, this was a

401(k)-style pension whereby employees themselves decided how to invest the contributed funds

and were responsible for the results of their investments. The adoption of this plan was on an

increasing trend, although the number of employees covered by defined-contribution plans was

still small (2% of corporate employees as of April 2004).

还有两种补充型的企业养老保险计划：雇员养老保险基金和明确收益企业年金。在雇员养老基金计划中，雇主收集雇员的补充支付款，也能进行补充缴款作为养老保险支付的一部分。在明确收益企业年金计划中，明确规定了每个雇员的缴款，并由雇主管理。对于自雇人员，国民年金基金联合会也采取同样的方式。2001年10月，一项界定供款退休金计划在日本推出。这是一项401（K）式养老金，与明确收益企业年金计划不同的是，这项计划是员工自己决定如何投资供款，并对其投资结果负责。虽然界定供款退休金计划涵盖雇员的数量不多（2004年4月，涵盖2%的企业职工），但采用这种计划的趋势一直在上升。

The problem, of course, was that more and more people were retiring, and the number would

accelerate after 2007, while fewer and fewer people were working. As Japan ran a pay-as-you-go

pension system, the system was not fully funded and needed periodic adjustments in payment

and/or premiums to accommodate the changes in demographic and other circumstances. Payout

for 2004 was about ¥46.4 trillion. Thus, with no reform, pension reserves (¥10.8 trillion for the

NPI and ¥164 trillion for the EPI) would shortly be depleted.

当然，问题是越来越多的人退休，2007以后退休人数会迅速增长，而工作的人却越来越少。由于日本采取的是离职支付法，且这种制度资金不足，需要定期在付款或保费上作出调整，以适应人口或其他情况的变化。2004的支付养老金就有46.4万亿元。因此，如果不进行改革的话，养老金储备（国民养老保险10.8万亿，雇员养老保险164万亿）经很快被耗尽。

Health care Rapid aging and longevity posed even greater challenges to financing health care.

医疗保健 迅速老年化和长寿给医疗保健经费带来了更大的挑战。

Under a host of programs for private employees, public employees, teachers, farmers, and

self-employed people, virtually all Japanese were insured.

在大量的计划推行之下，私企职员，公职人员，教师，农民，自雇人员，几乎所有的日本人都进行了投保。

Current spending was about 9% of national income, but as Figure C shows, it would rise rapidly

over the next 10 years. Medical fees were calculated on a point basis, with each point worth ¥10.

当前医疗保健经费支出大约是国民收入的9%，但是如图C所示，未来10年这种经费支出将迅速增长。医疗经费按点计算，每点10元。

Thus, for example, a hospital visit was worth 250 points, an appendectomy 6,420 points, and an

injection 18 points. For most people under the age of 70, the government insurance covered 70%

of medical care; they paid 30%. For the elderly, however, insurance covered 90%, except for

high-income retirees, who paid 20% themselves. Monthly payments by individuals were capped

so that they would not have to face catastrophic medical bills. Care for the elderly was particularly

expensive, as they required more health treatments and related amenities. In FY 2003, for example,

the health expenditure for the elderly was ¥11.6 trillion (of which ¥1.2 trillion came from

co-payments). This meant that ¥10.4 trillion, or about $100 billion, came from the government’s

budget and contributions from various medical insurance programs. Elderly Japanese went to the

hospital about four times a month. The average hospital stay was 31.8 days in 1998. This

compared with 12 days in Germany and 7.5 in the U.S. The elderly socialized at hospitals in Japan

instead of nursing homes. It was a standard joke that one day, when one woman in a social group

did not show up at the hospital, acquaintances asked where she was. The answer: “She must be

sick today.”

这样，例如一家医院进院是250点，阑尾切除术6420点，注射是18点。对于未满70岁的人，政府保险覆盖了70%的医疗保险；他们自己支付30%。对于老年人来说，政府则覆盖90%，除了要支付20%的高收入退休人员。每月每人支付都有上限，使他们不必面对灾难性的医疗费用。因为老人需要更多的保健和相关设施，所以老人保健是非常昂贵的。例如，财政年度2003年，老人的医疗开支是11.6万亿元（其中12万亿元来源于共同支付）。这就意味着10.4亿万元或1000亿元来源于政府财政预算和各种医疗保险的缴款。日本老人去医院大约每月四次。1988年，平均住院为31.8天。相比之下，德国为12天，美国为7.5天。日本老人不是在疗养院里而是在医院进行社交活动。有一个标准的笑话是说一天有一个社团的一个女人没有在医院露面，熟人问她去哪里了。答案是“她今天肯定病了”。

译后感：

在进行翻译之前，我们要做的是先把译文大致浏览一下，了解原文所设计的内容。像这篇关于国家政策与概况方面的文章，我们要做的是到文中所讲的国家，以及文章涉及的主体，这篇译文主要讲的是日本的人口危机以及其养老保险的问题。所以搜索有关日本人口危

机的内容，以及其对应的解决政策，这对于我们的翻译有很大的帮助。这是我在网上了解到的日本人口危机的相关内容：老年化加上少子化，日本有可能在40年内，人口从现在的1.27亿减少到只剩9500万，日本政府为了提高生育率而出奇招，甚至鼓励女性不婚也可以生小孩，而考虑到未来照顾老年人的人力不足，各种会做家事的机器人也因应而生。日本企业普遍对职业妇女很不友善，70%的女性怀孕後，就面临辞掉工作的命运，也间接造成女人不愿意生小孩的心态。 去年日本的生育率只有1.37%，再这样下去，40年後，日本人口将减少25%、只剩9500万人，其中65岁以上的老年人可能高达40%。 关于日本养老保险的信息，我参看了华中师范大学学报第41卷第二期，沈洁的《日本养老保险制度面临的困境与改革的方向》对于日本的养老保险制度有了初步的了解。这为我翻译这篇文章打好了基础。

据对于国家概况与政策的文章，我们首先要了解其特点。在词汇方面，政策翻译避免不了许多政治用语，政策语用。在句子方面，用于朴素简洁。这就要求我们在进行翻译的时候要遵循原文的特点有针对性的翻译。

我们要遵许“忠实”原则。在翻译政策类文章时，我们最大限度的采用直译的原则，将文章的信息如实的传达出来。

其次我们还要遵循“简洁通顺”的原则。政策文章一般简洁通顺，不会重复啰嗦。所以我们翻译时也要尽量的传达原文的风格。

总之，在翻译政策类文章时，我们先要了解政策背景，然后发现其特点，再根据特点来出相应的翻译策略。