WhysomeJapanesepensionerswanttogotojail為什么一些日本老年人想去蹲監(jiān)獄AtahalfwayhouseinHiroshimaforcriminalswhoarebeingreleasedfromjailbackintothecommunity69-year-oldToshioTakatatellsmeh
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Why some Japanese pensioners want to go to jail
為什么一些日本老年人想去蹲監(jiān)獄
At a halfway house in Hiroshima——for criminals who are being released from jail back into the community——69-year-old Toshio Takata tells me he broke the law because he was poor. He wanted somewhere to live free of charge, even if it was behind bars.
在廣島的一個教習所(從監(jiān)獄刑滿釋放的罪犯回歸社會前要去的一個地方)里,69歲的高田敏夫告訴我,他之所以違法是因為他太窮了。他只是想找個免費住的地方,即便是在監(jiān)獄也無所謂。
“I reached pension age and then I ran out of money. So it occurred to me——perhaps I could live for free if I lived in jail,” he says. “So I took a bicycle and rode it to the police station and told the guy there: ’Look, I took this.’”
他說:“我到了領(lǐng)取養(yǎng)老金的年紀,但我把錢都花光了。所以我突然想到,如果我住到監(jiān)獄里去,就可以免費生活了。所以我騎了一輛自行車來到警察局,告訴警察說:‘看,這是我偷的。’”
The plan worked. This was Toshio’s first offence, committed when he was 62, but Japanese courts treat petty theft seriously, so it was enough to get him a one-year sentence.
這個辦法果然奏效。這是高田敏夫第一次犯罪,當時他62歲。日本的法律很嚴厲,對小偷小盜也嚴懲不貸,因此偷自行車讓他被判處了一年有期徒刑。
Small, slender, and with a tendency to giggle, Toshio looks nothing like a habitual criminal, much less someone who’d threaten women with knives. But after he was released from his first sentence, that’s exactly what he did.
高田敏夫身材瘦小、愛笑,看起來一點也不像一名慣犯,更不像是會拿刀威脅女人的人。但沒想到的是在他刑滿釋放后,他真就這么做了。
I went to a park and just threatened them. I wasn’t intending to do any harm. I just showed the knife to them hoping one of them would call the police. One did. Altogether, Toshio has spent half of the last eight years in jail.
我只是去公園嚇嚇他們,我沒想過要傷害任何人,我只是把刀拿出來給她們看,然后希望他們中的一個能夠馬上報警。真有一個人報警了??傊?,在過去8年的時間里,高田敏夫有一半的時間是在監(jiān)獄里度過的。
I ask him if he likes being in prison, and he points out an additional financial upside——his pension continues to be paid even while he’s inside.
我問他是否喜歡蹲監(jiān)獄,他說蹲監(jiān)獄在經(jīng)濟上對自己有好處,因為即使在監(jiān)獄里,他的養(yǎng)老金仍會正常發(fā)放。
“It’s not that I like it but I can stay there for free,” he says. "And when I get out I have saved some money. So it is not that painful."
他說:“并不是我喜歡蹲監(jiān)獄,而是我可以免費住在這里,當我出獄的時候,我已經(jīng)存下了一筆錢,所以就不會因貧窮而那么痛苦了。”
Toshio represents a striking trend in Japanese crime. In a remarkably law-abiding society, a rapidly growing proportion of crimes is carried about by over-65s. In 1997 this age group accounted for about one in 20 convictions but 20 years later the figure had grown to more than one in five.
高田敏夫代表了日本犯罪的一種顯著趨勢。在日本這個遵紀守法的社會里,65歲以上老人的犯罪率直線上升。1997年,大約只有5%的罪犯為65歲以上的老人,但在20年后的今天,這一比率已經(jīng)達到了20%。
(全文共328個詞,BBC)
重難點詞匯:
criminal adj. 犯罪的;刑事的;罪過的,錯誤的;不道德的;令人震驚的 n. 罪犯
offence n. 犯罪;違反;過錯;攻擊
petty adj. 瑣碎的;小氣的;小規(guī)模的
conviction n. 定罪;確信;證明有罪;確信,堅定的信仰
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