考研英语阅读理解中的文章，很多来自一些外刊杂志方面的题材。接下来，北京文都考研网为扩宽2020考研学子的知识面，整理了考研英语经济学人外刊:最后一枚个人印章，供考生参考。
2020考研英语经济学人外刊:最后一枚个人印章
Are Japan’s ubiquitous personal seals endangered?
日本曾经随处可见的个人印章是否濒临灭绝?
The government is trying to do away with the paperwork they adorn
政府正试图废除要用到个人印章的文书工作
Dust settles over the shelves in Fujio Kawasaki’s shop. Customers once sought out this corner of Tokyo for quality hanko, the personal seals Japanese use as signatures.
在川崎藤雄的店铺中，货架上积满了灰尘。顾客们曾经为了优质的hanko(日本人用来签名的个人印章)而找到东京的这个角落。
Among the goods on display is a seal carved from elephant tusk, a relic from a bygone era. Nobody will fork out ¥80,000 ($720) for such items these days, says Mr Kawasaki. Now he fears the government will force him out of business altogether.
在店里展出的物品中有一枚由象牙雕刻而成的印章，这是一个旧时代的遗物。川崎表示，如今没有人愿意花8万日元(约合720美元)买一枚个人印章了。现在他担心政府会让他完全失业。
Hanko are a feature of life in Japan. Every adult—even the emperor—has one. They are required to buy a car, rent an apartment or get married. Managers use them to sign off on the endless faxes, memos and other antiquated documents that continue to circulate in offices.
Hanko 是日本人生活中的一大特征。每个成年人(甚至是皇帝)都有一枚属于自己的个人印章。他们买车、租房或者结婚都会用到。经理们用个人印章来签署无穷无尽的传真、备忘录以及仍在办公室流传的废弃文件。
All this paperwork makes Japanese offices among the least efficient in the rich world. Dogged by low productivity and hence poor profitability, Japan’s three biggest banks have begun allowing customers to open accounts without hanko.
所有这些文书工作都使得日本成为发达国家中办公室效率最低的国家之一。受低生产率和低利润率的困扰，日本三大银行已经开始允许客户在没有 hanko 的情况下开户了。
Most Japanese will soon be pressing fingers to screens instead of wood to paper, predicts Noriaki Maruyama, president of an online bank. Local governments are starting to process transactions electronically, too. The Digital First Bill, currently zipping through parliament, seeks to do away with yet more forms and stamps.
Noriaki Maruyama(一家网上银行的总裁)预测，不久之后，大多数日本人将会以手指按压屏幕来代替盖在纸上的印章。地方政府也开始电子化处理交易了。目前正在经议会审议的“数字第一法案”旨在废除越来越多的表格和印章。
The rationale for the legislation is simple and sound, argues Takuya Hirai, minister of science and technology.
日本科技部长 Takuya Hirai 认为，立法的理由简单而合理。
Japanese people waste far too much time filling in forms, he says; the shrinking population can no longer afford to maintain this bloated paper-based bureaucracy. Mr Hirai has little sympathy for the sentimental national attachment to personal seals.
他说，日本人在填写表格上浪费了太多的时间;不断萎缩的人口再也负担不起这种臃肿的纸制官僚制度了。而就日本人对于私人印章的情感，Hirai 鲜有怜悯之心。
The hanko industry has reacted with an emotional letter, pleading with Mr Hirai to scrap his plans. The bill threatens the livelihood of over 10,000 seal shops like Mr Kawasaki’s, it argues.
对此，hanko 产业界以一份带有情绪化的公开信作为回应，恳请Hirai放弃他的计划。该法案威胁到了10,000多家诸如川崎这样的印章店的生计。
Hanko are far superior to “Western-style signatures”, the letter says, because bosses can save time by entrusting their seals to proxies, who can then approve documents on their behalf. “We are proud of how this system contributed to Japan’s post-war economic growth,” it concludes.
信中写道，hanko 远远优于“西式签名”，因为老板们可以把自己的印章委托给代理人去代表他们批准文件，从而可以节省时间。信中还总结道:“这一制度为日本战后的经济增长做出了贡献，我们为此感到自豪。”
Mr Kawasaki thinks the government’s effort to diminish paperwork is a plot to do away with the sort of paper-trails that have been used to hold it to account in several recent scandals.
川崎认为，政府削减文书工作的努力是一个阴谋，目的是为了销毁最近几起丑闻事件中用来追究其责任的书面记录。
Many Japanese seem ready to let go, however. The use of signatures had been spreading even before the government got involved. Mr Kawasaki’s shop is more than 80 years old. His father founded it. But it will not survive to the next generation, Mr Kawasaki laments.
然而，许多日本人似乎准备放手了。甚至就在政府介入之前，用笔签名的方式就已经被广泛应用了。川崎的印章店已经有80多年的历史了，这家店是由他父亲创立的。川崎感叹道，但它可能传不到下一代人的手中了。
[重难点词汇]
ubiquitous [ju'bɪkwɪtəs] adj. 普遍存在的;无所不在的
antiquated ['æntɪkwetɪd] adj. 过时的;陈旧的;年老的
parliament ['pɑrləmənt] n. 议会，国会
bureaucracy [bjʊ'rɑkrəsi] n. 官僚主义;官僚机构;官僚政治
以上是北京文都考研网给出的“2020考研英语经济学人外刊:最后一枚个人印章”，希望对备考2020考研英语的考生有所帮助!祝2020考研顺利!
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