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進入《中英對照讀新聞》Valley of the dolls：scarecrows outnumber people in Japan village 娃娃谷：稻草人比人多的日本鄉村
日本名頃村人口凋零，民眾四處擺放人偶，營造生氣蓬勃之感。（法新社檔案照）
◎ 孫宇青
In the tiny village of Nagoro, deep in the mountains of western Japan, the wind howls down a deserted street with not a living soul to be seen.
在日本西部深山裡的小鄉村「名頃村」，山風橫掃廢棄街道，舉目杳無人煙。
But yet the street appears busy, dotted with life-sized dolls that outnumber humans. This is the product of local resident Tsukimi Ayano’s bid to counter the emptiness and loneliness felt in Nagoro, like many Japanese villages decimated by depopulation.
不過，街上乍看熙熙攘攘，遍布真人大小、數量多過真人的人偶。這是當地居民綾野月見對抗名頃村空虛寂寥的作法，日本還有許多鄉鎮也都因人口減少而沒落消失。
"Only 27 people live in this village but the number of scarecrows is tenfold," the 69-year-old doll maker said. It all started 16 years ago when the dexterous Ayano created a scarecrow dressed in her father’s clothes to prevent birds eating the seeds.
這位69歲的人偶製作師說：「現在只有27人還住在村裡，稻草人的數量卻多出10倍。」此事源於16年前，為了避免鳥兒來吃種子，雙手靈巧的綾野縫製一組穿著父親衣服的稻草人。
Since then, Ayano has not stopped creating the life-size dolls. The secret to breathing life into the dolls? Applying pink color to the lips and cheeks with a make-up brush, revealed Ayano.
在那之後，綾野從未停止製作真人大小的人偶。讓人偶栩栩如生的秘訣是什麼？綾野透露，在嘴唇塗上粉紅色，並用彩妝刷具在雙頰刷上一層。
According to experts, around 40 percent of Japan’s 1,700 municipalities are defined as "depopulated."（AFP）
專家指出，日本1700多個市鎮中，約有4成被定義為「人口減少」。（法新社）
新聞辭典
scarecrow：名詞，稻草人。例句：There were many scarecrows set up in the rice fields.（稻田裡豎起多組稻草人。）
decimate：動詞，大批毀滅；重挫。例句：Wars decimate the population.（戰爭使人民大量死亡。）
dexterous：形容詞，（雙手）靈巧的；敏捷的。例句：The bomb is the work of a dexterous expert.（這枚炸彈出自一名技術純熟的專家之手。）
