雅思閱讀素材：日本震后重建

Japan’s reconstruction following the devastating earthquake and tsunami nearly one year ago exactly is being delayed by an unlikely factor — ghosts.

距離日本強(qiáng)震海嘯的發(fā)生已經(jīng)近一年了，如今日本的災(zāi)后重建工作卻受到了意外因素“鬼魂”的阻礙。

Numerous reports of ghost sightings have reportedly been made by residents in the city of Ishinomaki in Miyagi prefecture， home to nearly a fifth of all tsunami fatalities.

據(jù)報(bào)道，日本宮城縣石卷市的很多居民稱自己遭遇“活見鬼”，大約1/5的海嘯遇難事故都發(fā)生在這附近。

Reconstruction and repair have been put on hold in some instances due to workers’ fears that the spirits of the dead who passed away a year ago will bring them bad luck if they continue.

某些重建和修復(fù)工作被暫時(shí)擱置，因?yàn)楣と撕ε氯绻^續(xù)下去，一年前的亡靈會(huì)給他們帶來厄運(yùn)。

Highlighting one half-repaired supermarket， local Satoshi Abe， 64， told the reporter： “I heard people working to repair the store became sick because of ghosts. People died here everywhere， here and there. The city is full of such stories.”

在一個(gè)修復(fù)了一半的超市，64歲的當(dāng)?shù)厝税脖堵敻嬖V記者：“我聽說很多修復(fù)這家商店的工人都因?yàn)楣砘晟×?。這里曾經(jīng)到處都是死人。市里有很多類似的故事。”

A taxi driver， who did not want to be named， added that he was unwilling to stop in certain parts of the city that were badly damaged in the tsunami for fear of picking up a customer who is a spirit of the dead.

一位不愿透露姓名的出租車司機(jī)補(bǔ)充說，他不愿意在城市的某些遭到海嘯破壞嚴(yán)重的地區(qū)停車，害怕上車的乘客是死者的魂魄。

Meanwhile， another local woman described hearing stories of people seeing queues of people rushing towards the hills， a replay of their final moment as they attempted to escape the tsunami.

另一位當(dāng)?shù)嘏悦枋龇Q，聽到有人說看到成群結(jié)隊(duì)的“人”往山上跑去，重現(xiàn)了人們?cè)噲D躲避海嘯的最后場(chǎng)景。

As the first anniversary of the disaster approaches， Ishinomaki appears， on the surface at least， to be returning to a new level of normality， with the tsunami debris cleared away in most areas and a growing number of businesses reopening.

日本大地震一周年就要到了，石卷市似乎回歸了常態(tài)，至少表面上是這樣。大部分地區(qū)的海嘯殘骸都清理干凈了，越來越多的商家重新開張。

At the same time， the emotional impact of the massive losses of human life are clearly continuing to take their toll on residents： close to 4，000 Ishinomaki locals were killed in the tsunami out of a total death toll of 19，000 for the northeast region.

而與此同時(shí)，大批人逝去的精神創(chuàng)傷很明顯仍在影響著居民：接近四千名石卷市民在海嘯中遇難，日本東北部地區(qū)因此喪生1.9萬人。

However， experts described the city’s apparent widespread belief in ghosts as a “natural” side effect of a large-scale tragedy which wiped out vast swathes of the community and a potentially positive part of the healing process.

但專家表示，城市里表面上流行的鬼魂思想是席卷眾多社區(qū)的大災(zāi)大難后的“正常”負(fù)面反應(yīng)，并在恢復(fù)過程中起著潛在的積極影響。

“Human beings find it very difficult to accept death， whether they are inclined by nature to superstition or are very scientifically minded，” said Takeo Funabiki， a cultural anthropologist.

文化人類學(xué)家船引武夫說：“人類很難接受死亡，不管是天生迷信，還是具有科學(xué)頭腦。”

“A sudden or abnormal death， anything other than someone dying in bed of old age， is particularly difficult for people to comprehend.

“突然的非正常死亡和因年老死去不一樣，人們很難理解。”

”When there are things that many people find difficult to accept， they can find expression in the form of rumours or rituals for the dead， among other things. The point is that it takes the shape of something that you can share with other people in your society.“

“當(dāng)很多人都很難接受某件事的時(shí)候，他們可以在有關(guān)死者的傳聞或者傳統(tǒng)儀式等形式中找到答案。重要的是，這些都是以能夠和社會(huì)中的其他人分享的形式存在的。”