（每日一读）2014年1月高考英语考前突破 阅读理解能力 文化教育 关于日本人口危机的几件事.docVIP

关于日本人口危机的几件事 Why is Japan in trouble? ? The Japanese now have one of the lowest fertility rates in the world, and at the same time, one of the highest longevity（长寿） rates. As a result, the population is dropping rapidly, and becoming increasingly weighted toward older people. After peaking seven years ago, at 128 million, Japans population has been falling -- and is on a path to decline by about a million people a year. By 2060, the government estimates, there will be just 87 million people in Japan; nearly half of them will be over 65. Without a dramatic change in either the birthrate or its restrictive immigration policies, Japan simply wont have enough workers to support its retirees, and will enter a demographic death spiral. Yet the babies arent coming. ? Why not? ? The British newspaper The Observer recently caused an international stir by reporting that Japanese youth have lost interest in sex. The sensationalist conclusion was mostly based on a single statistic: a survey that found that 45 percent of women and 25 percent of men ages 16 to 24 said they were not looking to have sex. The article also cited the phrase sekkusu shinai shokogun, or celibacy（独身） syndrome, as if it were a major trend. In reality, more Japanese singles are having sex than in past decades. In 1990, 65 percent of unmarried women and 45 percent of unmarried men had never had sex; today, the figures are 50 percent and 40 percent, respectively. Of course Japanese have sex, Asian studies professor Jeff Kingston toldB. If the number of love hotels is any barometer, it seems like many are getting plenty of it. Is celibacy syndrome a myth? ? Not entirely. There clearly is a subset of Japanese youth who have withdrawn from dating. Instead, they focus on online porn and games like Nintendos Love Plus, in which players conduct a relationship with an anime girlfriend. Hundreds of thousands of young men areknown as hikikomori, shut-ins who eschew human contact and spend their days playing video gam