日本的隐居族 | 外刊精读

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由于工作和学习压力过大，日本有部分人干脆宅在家里当起了隐居族，拒绝与社会发生接触，一个新词hikikomori也被创造出来用于形容这类人。根据政府统计数字，目前这类隐居族人数已经超过了100万。

这篇文章对这一现象进行了报道，其中有不少值得学习的语言点。我做了全文分析：

首段以一个日本年轻人的例子来引入介绍日本的隐居族现象。

About a year ago Mika Shibata’s youngest son returned to the family home and went wordlessly upstairs. He has yet to emerge from his bedroom.

大约一年前，柴田美嘉的小儿子回到家中，一言不发地上楼。他到今天还没有从卧室中出来过。

XX has yet to do something是一个固定搭配，意思是“XX尚未做某事”，短语隐含了“本来应该做而还未做”的含义。比如：He has been nominated three times for the Oscar but has yet to win. 他已经3次获奥斯卡提名，但从未获奖。

还有一个结构也表达了类似的意思：XX is yet to come（XX尚未发生），比如要表达“最好的事情还未到来”可以说：The best is yet to come.

At the age of 26, he sleeps during the day and stays awake at night. His mother feeds and shelters him, hoping he will emerge from this state.

26岁的他白天睡觉，晚上清醒。他的母亲喂养他并给他提供住所，希望他能从这种状态中走出来。

emerge from在这里的意思是“（从困境中）走出来”（to come to the end of a difficult period or experience），该短语有一个常见的句式：somebody emerges from something a XX person（某人从……的困境中走出来后变成了一个……的人）。举个例子，“她从离婚的阴影中走出来后变成了一个更加坚强的人”，可以说：She emerged from the divorce a stronger person.

But she frets he never will. “The longer this situation continues, the harder it is for him to step back into society,” she says.

但是她担心他永远不会走出来。她说：“这种情况持续的时间越长，他就越难以重返社会。”

当泛指“社会”时应该说society，而不是the society，比如要表达“无家可归现象对社会来说是一个严重的问题”，应该说Homelessness is a serious problem for society. 而不能说：Homelessness is a serious problem for the society.

第二段介绍了日本隐居族的情况。

The Shibata family’s pain is shared by many others in Japan. The government says there are more than 1m hikikomori, or recluses, defined as people who have played no part in society for at least six months.

日本还有许多人也经历了和柴田家族一样的痛苦。政府表示，日本有超过100万hikikomori（或称为“隐居者”）。隐居者的定义是至少有六个月没有参与过社会活动的人。

Many have barely stepped outside their homes for decades. A handful of alarming crimes have pushed them back into public view.

很多隐居者数十年来几乎没有踏出家门一步。几起令人震惊的犯罪将他们推回了公众视野。

要表达“某事情让XX现象进入公众视野”，可以说 something pushes XX into public view，比如《纽约时报》在报道奥地利的非法移民问题时用了这样的标题：Grim Findings in Austria and at Sea Push Migrant Crisis Into Public View

我们可以在写作中灵活使用该句型，比如要表达“患有肺部疾病的城市居民数量上升，这让空气污染问题进入公众视野”，可以说：

The rise in the number of city dwellers who suffer from lung disease pushes air pollution into public view.

第三段介绍了公众对隐居族存在的误解。

Mental-health care was scarce and official support nonexistent. Parents felt responsible and were too mortified to look for help.

心理健康咨询服务聊胜于无，政府也不提供支持。父母感到他们对隐居的子女负有责任，并且因为过于羞愧而不去寻求帮助。

Mental-health care was scarce and official support nonexistent. 这句话还原后是 Mental-health care was scarce and official support was nonexistent. 这里省略了was可以让句子更简洁，减少用词重复。

But even now, occasional crimes involving recluses stoke concerns thatthey are dangerous, says Morito Ishizaki, a recovered hikikomori who runs a magazine for sufferers.

石井盛人之前也是一名隐居者，现在他已经恢复正常，并创办了一份针对隐居者的杂志。他说，即使是现在，偶尔发生的涉及到隐居者的犯罪也引起了人们对其危险性的担忧。

something stokes concerns that…是一个常用句型，意思是“某事引起了人们对于……的担忧”，比如我们可以说：

The recent economic crisis has stoked concerns that there may be massive layoffs.

In fact, he explains, they are rarely criminal. Many have just buckled under pressure at school or work and have withdrawn to their childhood sanctuaries.

他解释说，实际上，他们很少会犯罪。很多人只是被学校或职场的压力压垮，并缩回到童年的庇护所中。

buckle under something意思是“屈服于某事”（to be defeated by a difficult situation），比如要表达“他最终被过量的工作要求压垮了”，可以说 He finally buckled under the excessive demands of the job.

第四段介绍了针对隐居族的救助措施。

Support groups are springing up around the country. Tokyo is among several cities with helplines and websites that try to reach shut-ins, who range from teenage school dropouts to salarymen who have been sacked.

针对隐居族的支持小组正在全国各地兴起。东京是少数几个有求助热线和网站的城市之一，这些热线和网站试图联系那些一直待在家里的人，这些人包括辍学青少年以及被解雇的工薪族等。

spring up意思是“突然出现，突然产生”（to appear or to be produced suddenly and quickly），可以用来形容建筑物、公司以及社会组织等大量出现，例如：New housing developments are springing up all over the country.

第五段进一步介绍隐居族的情况。

More than half of Japan’s recluses are now aged over 40, according to a Cabinet Office survey this year. That shocked the government, which had assumed the condition mainly afflicted the young.

内阁府今年的一项调查显示，目前日本一半的隐居者超过40岁。这一调查结果让政府感到震惊。之前它们认为主要是年轻人受此问题困扰。

Tamaki Saito, a psychiatrist who popularised the term hikikomori, says the government is partly to blame for turning a blind eye.

普及了hikikomori一词的精神科医生斋藤玉树说，政府对此负有部分责任，因为它对问题视而不见。

XX is to blame for something是一个固定搭配，意思是“XX对某事负有责任”（注意不能写成to be blamed），这个句式的主语可以是人也可以是物，比如：The hot weather is partly to blame for the water shortage. 炎热的天气是缺水的原因之一。

结尾段提出了解决隐居问题的措施以及展望。

Yet luring isolated people in their 40s and 50s back into society is hard, Mr Miyazawa accepts. The city can send counsellors out to homes only if asked.

然而，要吸引40和50多岁的隐居者重返社会是很难的，宫泽先生对这一点表示认同。市政府只有在收到请求时才能派出咨询师上门。

accept在这里的意思是“认为……正确”（If you accept an idea, statement, or fact, you believe that it is true or valid），the city在这里专门指“市政府”（the government of a city）。

One day the bright, sensitive man she knew will bounce back, she hopes. But many may never come out of their shells.

她希望有一天，这个她以前所认识的聪慧且敏感的男人会重新振作起来。但很多人可能永远也走不出来了。

第一句话要注意动词的时态，know用的是过去时，而不是一般现在时，说明这名聪慧敏感的男人只停留在她过去的印象中，目前印象已经改变。

bounce back意思是“重新振作起来”（to return quickly to a normal condition after a difficult situation or event），比如：We lost two or three early games in the World Cup, but we bounced back. 在世界杯比赛开始时我们有两三场比赛失利，但后来我们又恢复了状态。

最后一句come out of their shells是一语双关，从字面上理解，shell可以指他们隐居的小屋，come out of their shells即“走出他们隐居的地方，重新进入社会”。此外，come out of somebody’s shell本身也是一个短语，意思是“变得不再自闭，融入外部世界”。作者通过这一短语表达了对他们未来的担忧。