新奇事件簿 日本2018年年度汉字‘灾’

The year 2018 is coming to an end. For some people it was a great year, and for other people it wasn't so great. In Japan, an organization conducted a survey to ask people for the word they thought best described 2018. The winner of this survey was the word "disaster". The kanji (Chinese character) that Japanese people chose means "disaster or misfortune". The organization said people chose the kanji for disaster because of the many natural disasters to hit Japan in 2018. Japan was hit by deadly typhoons, earthquakes, heavy rains that caused widespread destruction, and a killer¹ heatwave. Hundreds of people lost their lives in these disasters and many roads and homes were destroyed.

2018年即将接近尾声，对一些人来说这是很棒的一年，对其他人来说并非如此。在日本，一家组织做了一项调查，让大家选择一个最贴切的词描述2018年。该调查的胜利者是“灾”。日本人民选择的这一汉字是“灾难或不幸”的意思。该组织表示人们选择这一词是因为2018年日本遭遇了很多自然灾害。日本遭致命台风、地震、强降雨引起的大面积破坏以及致命高温打击。在这些灾难中，数百人丧命，多条公路和房屋遭破坏。

The organization is called the Japan Kanji Aptitude² Testing Foundation. It has conducted a "word of the year" survey annually³ since 1995. This year, it received suggestions from 193,214 people. The second most popular kanji was the character for "peace". Last year, "north" was the winner. This was because of increasing tensions over North Korea's nuclear tests. The rest of the world was also hit by devastating⁴ natural disasters, including wildfires, hurricanes and tsunami⁵. Wars also raged across the world, especially in Syria and Yemen. There was also a lot of suffering because of immigration - people trying to move to other countries to find a new life. People hope the next kanji will be "happiness".

该家组织名为日本汉字能力检定协会。自1995年起它每年都会进行“年度汉字”调查。今年，他们收到了来自193,214人的民意。排第二的汉字是“平”。去年，“北”是获胜者。这是因为去年北韩核试验导致局势紧张。世界其他国家也遭遇毁灭性的自然灾害，包括森林大火、飓风和海啸。全世界范围内硝烟四起，尤其是叙利亚和也门。移民也带来了很多灾难—为了寻找新生活，人们想要搬到其他国家。大家希望明年的年度汉字是“福”。

1 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

2 aptitude   

n.(学习方面的)才能，资质，天资

参考例句：

• That student has an aptitude for mathematics.那个学生有数学方面的天赋。
• As a child,he showed an aptitude for the piano.在孩提时代，他显露出对于钢琴的天赋。

3 annually   

adv.一年一次，每年

参考例句：

• Many migratory birds visit this lake annually.许多候鸟每年到这个湖上作短期逗留。
• They celebrate their wedding anniversary annually.他们每年庆祝一番结婚纪念日。

4 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

5 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。