(本文选自《经济学人》20201205期)
背景介绍：
提起日本奈良，最知名的一个景点便是有着1000多只小鹿的奈良公园。前往奈良旅游的游客往往都会来到奈良公园观赏并喂食这些小鹿，络绎不绝的游客也让这群小鹿养成了只吃仙贝不吃草的习惯。然而，疫情之下，无人喂食的小鹿只得重新开始吃草。
A crash in tourism leaves Japanese deer
ravenous
for treats
The sacred deer of Nara miss their old diet of rice crackers
The more than 13m tourists who visit Nara, an ancient capital of Japan, each year tend to follow a well-worn path. On their way into a park at the edge of the city they pass the towering wooden pagoda of Kofuku-ji, a temple complex founded in 710.
日本古都奈良每年接待游客超过1300万人次，前往奈良的游客通常都会沿着一条老线路游览参观。在前往位于城郊的奈良公园时，人们首先会经过兴福寺（一座始建于710年的寺庙）高耸的木塔。
They continue to nearby Todai-ji, gazing in awe at Japan’s largest Buddha, a bronze
behemoth
weighing 400 tons and standing 15 metres tall. And finally they feed shika senbei, a special kind of rice cracker, to the sacred deer, some 1,300 of which live in the park.
紧接着会路过东大寺，人们会在这里充满敬畏地凝视日本最大的佛像（一座重达400吨、高15米的青铜佛像）。继续前行便会来到大约生活着1300只小鹿的奈良公园，人们会给这些小鹿喂食仙贝（一种特制的米饼）。
The deer, though wild, have come to love the crackers. With tourism reduced to a trickle because of the pandemic, they are hungry. Many have begun wandering far from home in search of food.
小鹿虽是野生的，却很喜欢吃仙贝。但受到疫情影响，前来的游客越来越少，小鹿也变得饥肠辘辘了。许多小鹿只得离开公园，前往别处寻找食物。
A recent study by the Nara Deer Preservation Foundation and Tatsuzawa Shirow of Hokkaido University shows that 20% fewer are spending their days in the park; incidents of damage caused by deer in town have shot up. The less enterprising ones, apparently accustomed to eating only crackers, have become
emaciated
.
奈良小鹿保护基金会和北海道大学的辰泽志郎最近的一项研究表明，仍呆在公园里的小鹿的数量减少了20%；城里因鹿造成的破坏事件正在激增。一些已经习惯只吃仙贝的懒散的小鹿如今也变得瘦骨嶙峋。
The deer are not the only ones going hungry. So are businesses in places like Nara, which have come to rely ever more heavily on tourism in recent years. Fewer than 7m foreign tourists visited Japan in 2009; last year some 32m did. Revenue from tourism hit a record 4.8trn yen ($46bn).
挨饿的不仅仅是小鹿，同时也包括奈良等地越来越依赖于旅游业的商户们。前往日本旅游的外国游客从2009年的不到700万人次激增至去年的大约3200万人次。旅游业收入也达到了创纪录的48万亿日元（约合460亿美元）。
With the Olympics scheduled for this past summer, Japan had hoped to welcome 40m foreigners this year. Instead, after a near-total closure of its borders because of the pandemic, arrivals have dropped by 99.4%.
凭借原定于今年夏天举行的奥运会，日本原本期望今年外国游客接待量能够增至4000万人次。但事与愿违，随着疫情爆发后全面封锁，日本入境游客数量骤降99.4%。
The government has tried to cushion the blow by encouraging its own citizens to get out more. The Diet earmarked ¥1.35trn ($12.9bn) for “Go To Travel” subsidies, which provide discounts of up to 35% at domestic hotels and inns; a concurrent programme called “Go To Eat” applies to restaurants. The ministry of tourism says nearly 40m nights have been booked under the programme since it was launched in July.
于是，日本政府希望通过促进国内旅游，以缓解疫情带来的冲击。日本国会拨款1.35万亿日元（约合129亿美元）作为“旅游”补贴，为本土酒店和旅馆提供高达35%的折扣；同时还推出了适用于餐馆的“用餐”补贴。日本旅游局表示，自今年7月补贴计划实施以来，已促成近4000万单补贴住宿。
That is a
pyrrhic
victory: the campaign is thought to have contributed to a recent uptick in covid-19. Daily cases reached a record of 2,680 on November 28th. Suga Yoshihide, Japan’s prime minister, recently announced that the subsidies would be
suspended
in areas with high caseloads. In addition, older Japanese have been asked not to make use of them.
但这场胜利也付出了惨痛的代价：这项补贴计划也被认为是导致日本疫情加重的原因之一。11月28日，日本每日确诊病例增长至创纪录的2680例。日本首相菅义伟已于近日宣布，将在病例高发地区暂停实施补贴计划。此外，他还建议老年人不要外出游玩。
Japan is loth to give up on tourism, or to let the infrastructure that supports it wither. (Mr Suga himself championed tourism as chief cabinet secretary to his predecessor, Abe Shinzo.) Officials see spending by foreign visitors as a means to compensate for Japan’s own shrinking population. Tourism may also help make Japan more open to foreign migrants in the future, says Saito Jun of the Japan Centre for Economic Research, a think-tank in Tokyo.
日本不愿意放弃旅游业，或者说不愿意让支撑旅游业的基础设施陷入萎靡。（在安倍晋三执政时期担任内阁官房长官的菅义伟就曾大力发展旅游业。）日本官员将外国游客的消费视为弥补日本自身人口减少的一种手段。东京智库日本经济研究中心的斋藤纯表示，旅游业或将推动日本进一步放宽外国移民政策。
Meanwhile, the more
resourceful
deer in Nara have reverted to a healthier diet of plants and nuts, which has been good for their insides. Their droppings, made pale and runny by the crackers, have become firmer and darker again. If only belt-tightening were as good for the economy.
与此同时，那些更为聪明的奈良小鹿又恢复了健康饮食，以植物和坚果为食，这对它们的健康大有益处。过去以仙贝为食，小鹿的粪便又白又稀，如今变得又硬又黑了。如果勒紧裤腰带同样也有利于经济那就好了。
(红色标注词为重难点词汇)
本文翻译：Vinnie
校核：Vinnie
编辑：Vinnie
今年年初，随着新冠肺炎疫情的爆发，日本的旅游业受到了严重的冲击。在日本奈良，游客的骤然减少让奈良小鹿再也吃不到美味的仙贝了。饥肠辘辘的小鹿们无奈之下只得重新吃起草来。虽然美味的仙贝吃不到了，但回归自然的饮食习惯十分有益于小鹿的健康。
重难点词汇：
ravenous
[ˈrævənəs] adj. 贪婪的；渴望的；狼吞虎咽的
behemoth
[bɪˈhiːməθ] n. 巨兽；庞然大物 adj. 巨大的；高大的
emaciated
[ɪˈmeɪsieɪtɪd] adj. 瘦弱的；憔悴的
