在这篇文章里，我主要分析《经济学人》里的一篇标题为How Japan’s prime minister plans to cope with daunting demography的第四段及第五段。

第四段

第四段分析

一）内容总结：
第四段提及的是移民，这是个最容易想到的解决日本少子老龄化的方案。但是日本便没有太大的提倡，只是暗地里接受以学生或培训生名义的外国职工，以及通常只给5年工作签证的蓝领工人。

二）实用表达总结

• in the guise of
  表示“在……伪装下”，in也可以用under来代替。文章写日本只收以学生及培训生名义的外国职工。
  《经济学人》有篇文章写以反恐为幌子，美国想要伊朗的石油，是这样写的：

But his contention that the Muslim ummah or nation is being attacked, “economically and religiously”, reflected the common Muslim belief that America wants Iraq for its oil, and assaults Islamic morals in the guise of its war on terror.

造句：

Patents are actually afraid of losing face in the guise of helping the kids for their own good.（家长经常说为了孩子好，其实怕丢自己面子。同组肉丸子提供）

三）重难点分析

The plan before the Diet aims to attract blue-collar workers in 14 industries, including construction, shipbuilding and caring for the elderly.

这里有两个梗：

• before
  这句话的“before”是“摆在…面前”“使面对”“使面临”的意思。这话句可以这么理解“摆在国会面前的计划为了吸引14个行业的蓝领工人”。
  如果我们想说摆在前面的艰巨任务，可以这么说：

Everyone in the room knew it was the single hardest task before them.

造句：The question before me is this: did she make excuse or did she fall ill?

• Diet
  这里是日本的国会。为什么日本国会会采用“Diet”作为国会的英文译名，而不采用像英国的国会的“parliament”？
  我们先说说Diet，最熟悉的意思是“饮食”，不过它还有另个意思。在《英语词源趣谈》提到它意指“集会”或“议会”。它源于拉丁语diēs(一天）的派生词diēta（一天的旅程，一天的工作，某一天举行的集会）。

diet (Oxford English Dictionary 2nd v4)

根据上面的词条，我们可以diet其实是神圣罗马帝国的Reichstag（国会)的英文说法，这个神圣罗马帝国后来分化成许多国家，其中包括德国。而在“明治维新”时期，日本效仿的德国，而德国就是用“Diet”表示国会的。

• 提炼句型
  这句话可以提炼出以下句型：

The plan before X aims to attract Y， including Z.
造句：
The plan before the City Hall aims to attract the talented people in 16 areas, including AI, STEM and education(市政府的计划吸引某些领域人才）

第五段

第五段分析

一）内容总结：
第五段则提倡更多的女性参加工作。前面三句话承上启下，外国职工只是最后的手段。则在第四句提到了在他的六年任期里，女性参与工作的比例大大提高了。安倍继续会在妇女这块作努力。

二）实用表达总结

• play down
  表示“轻描淡写”“淡化”。
  一篇写《经济学人》打击墨西哥毒枭的文章Out of sight, not out of mind，它的副标题很好地诠释了为什么“眼不见，心却还烦”。

Having decided to play down the fight against drug kingpins, Enrique Peña Nieto has yet to come up with a serious alternative.

造句：

Having decided to play down the fight between children, her eyes shifted attention away from them.（家长不理，小孩子间就慢慢不吵了）

• portray
  我们都很熟悉“portray”的名词形式“portrait”，表示“画像”“肖像”。它本身这个动词形式表示“描述”，可以代替“describe”。它是《经济学人》的高频词，就在16 Nov,218这期里就出现了4次。
  它经常跟as以“portray sth/sb as”形式出现。

《经济学人》的Letters里有人给拿破仑的身高平反。

The reasons why we think of Napoleon as diminutive are his nickname (le petit caporal), the towering Imperial Guard that protected him, and a number of British caricatures that portrayed him as a childish toddler.

在同期杂志里，where borders are the migrants里这么一句：

Catalonian separatists portray themselves (though it is a stretch, given Spain’s modern democratic nature) as the freedom-seeking victims of a still-Francoist state.

造句：

Housewives portray themselves as the hardworking employees without reward.（家庭主妇是没工资的员工）

• as a last resort
  在此文中表示”最终手段“”最后的办法“。只是把外国劳工作为最后选择，可以看出日本不喜欢外国劳工。
  核武器只能作为最后才用，我们可以这么说：

Nuclear weapons should be used only as a last resort.

如果你想表达你最后不得不接受了他们的观点，你可以这样表达：

As a last resort you may have to accept their point of view.

• at pains
  这里的“be at pains”可以表示“尤指为避免困境而急切想做，迫切想要做”。
  表示某些人想急切地跟丑闻划清界线，可以这么说：

They were at pains to distance themselves from the scandal.
这个短语在《经济学人》中还是比较常用的。
Palestinian spokesmen were quick to claim a “victory” for the Palestinian cause, and were at pains to insist that no covert deal had been struck with Israel over the fugitives. （这里的be quick to跟be at pains to属于同个意思）
As he had throughout a seven-week campaign, he was at pains to deny his opponents' portrayal of him as a far-right clone of George Bush. (有关加拿大选举）

造句

He was at pains to meet his kids after a long business trip.

三）重难点分析
1、 第一句

He has increased the number of nurseries and made big companies document their efforts to promote female workers.
大致的意思：政府增加托儿所的数量，同时鼓励大企业为女性员工提供更灵活的工作安排。

• document
  因为document跟their efforts的这种搭配很少见，我就一直在社群群友及很多字典询问及查找。最后，我觉得Merrianm-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary里这条解释比较符合。

document

• promote
  一看到“promote”，我就想到“晋升”。可是这里不是这层意思，它有种“提倡”“促进”的意味在。而这种意思原来是超级常用的，我在11月23日这期的《经济学人》就有三处：

Even though it co-operates in the fight against jihadist groups, Saudi Arabia still feeds their ideology through textbooks that promote the view that Jews, Christians, Shia Muslims and others are infidels.

An annual football tournament in Aldershot, the Gurkha Cup, also aims to promote integration.

Eschewing college for work promotes conscientiousness but narrows minds.（这个是讲教育与工作文章的副标题，意思是不上大学而直接去工作虽然有助于自觉性但是它使人视野变小。）

造句：

To reduce environmental pollutions, the plan aims to promote organic food.（提倡有机食品）。

2、 第二句

“We have tried to make a society that enables more women to be active, advanced and empowered,” he says.

这句话很有节奏感，active跟advance押头韵，advanced和empowered压尾韵。

结束语

现在我能深深地理解那些翻译家有多不容易了，要找到合适的英文解释再找恰当的中文表达，再考虑上下文再组织。字典是个好东西，社群是个好交流平台。