流利阅读 2019.4.4 Reiwa: how Japan's new era name is breaking tradition

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Reiwa: how Japan’s new era name is breaking tradition
令和：日本的新年号如何打破传统

Reiwa—Japan’s new imperial era—adheres to the established naming custom in that it comprises two kanji and is easy to read and write.
令和——日本的新年号——遵循了已有的年号命名惯例。因为它由两个汉字组成，并且容易读写。

But it also represents a break with centuries of tradition as the first era name to have been inspired by a Japanese, rather than Chinese, work of classical literature.
但是，作为第一个灵感来源于日本古典文学作品，而非中国典籍的年号，“令和”也打破了千百年来的传统。

The characters are taken from a stanza in a poem about plum blossoms that appears in Man’yoshu, the oldest existing collection of Japanese poetry, compiled sometime after 759.
“令和”取自《万叶集》一首咏梅诗中的一个诗节。而《万叶集》是现存最古老的日本诗集，编撰于公元 759 年后。

Placed in that literary context, the kanji can be read to mean “fortunate” or “auspicious”, and “peace” or “harmony”.
在诗歌的文学语境中，“令”可以解读为“幸运”或“吉祥”，而“和”则意味着“太平”或“和谐”。

The naming of a new imperial era for Japan—and for only the third time in almost a century at that—carries enormous significance. Like the era name system, or gengo, throughout Japan’s modern history, Reiwa is supposed to reset the national mood ahead of the new emperor’s reign, which begins on 1 May.
日本新年号的命名——而且是近一个世纪以来仅仅第三次的命名——有着极大的意义。和贯穿日本现代史的所有年号（时代命名系统）一样，“令和”的目的是在新天皇即位之前鼓舞国民的情绪。新天皇将于 5 月 1 日即位。

According to Japan’s prime minister, the new era should encompass pride in the country’s history and traditions along with hope for the future.
日本首相称，这个新时代应该带有对国家历史和传统的自豪感，以及对未来的希望。

Not everyone shared the generally enthusiastic reception the new era name received on Monday, with some describing it as a throwback to prewar monarchism.
周一当天，群众普遍对这个新年号表示热烈欢迎，但不是所有人都抱有同样的态度。有民众将新年号描述为战前君主主义的一次回潮。

“Japanese society is no longer controlled by an emperor,” Hiroshi Kozen, an emeritus professor at Kyoto University, told Kyodo news agency. “The era system should reflect people’s desires, and that should start with a discussion about why we need it,” he said.
京都大学的荣誉退休教授兴膳宏告诉共同通讯社：“日本社会不再由天皇统治。”他说道：“年号系统应该反映人们的心愿，而要做到这一点，我们应该从讨论为什么我们需要年号开始。”