新奇事件簿 学校停课 谁来照顾孩子

Governments say they want to protect children from the COVID-19 coronavirus. Schools in Japan will remain closed until April the 8th, which is the start of the new school year. Parents are now worried about the school closures. Working parents have to think about how to care for younger children. Grandparents will look after many children while their parents go to work. However, many children have no grandparents or extended¹ family who live nearby. Parents may have to pay for expensive childcare fees.

政府表示他们希望保护孩子们免受COVID-19冠状病毒的感染。日本学校将停课到4月8日，这是新学年的开始。现在父母们在为学校停课而担忧。有工作的父母们不得不考虑如何照顾年幼的孩子。祖父母们将要在父母们上班的时候照顾照看很多孩子。但很多孩子们没有祖父母或没有亲戚住在附近。父母们可能不得不支付昂贵的托管费。

Japan's Prime² Minister Shinzo Abe shut the country's schools after a meeting of Japan's anti-virus task force. He said the next two weeks are critical to control the spread of COVID-19. He wants to "stem³ the risk of many children and teachers becoming infected through gathering⁴ for long hours every day". The government said it would urge public services and private companies to make it easier for people to take time off work to look after their children. An angry mother said: "I wonder if the government thinks it is OK to leave children at home alone for long hours." She asked: "What's the point of closing schools if parents are still commuting⁵ in packed trains in which passengers may have COVID-19?"

日本首相安倍晋三在日本反病毒工作组会议后关闭了日本国内学校。他表示接下来的两周是控制COVID-19传播的关键时期。他希望“阻止儿童和教师因每天长时间的聚集而被感染的风险”。政府表示将敦促公共服务部门和私营公司让员工更容易请假照顾孩子。一名愤怒的母亲说到：“我想知道政府是否认为让孩子长时间独自呆在家里是没有问题的。”她问道：“如果家长们仍然乘坐拥挤的火车上下班，而同车的乘客们可能是COVID-19患者，那么学校停课又有什么意义呢？”

1 extended   

adj.延伸的；伸展的；延长的；扩大的v.延伸(extend的过去式和过去分词)；伸展；延长

参考例句：

• an extended lunch hour 延长了的午餐时间
• France has greatly extended its influence in world affairs. 在世界事务中，法国的影响已大大地扩大了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 prime   

adj.首要的，主要的；最好的，第一流的

参考例句：

• The prime minister spoke of the general insecurity in the country.总理谈到了全国普遍存在的不安全。
• He met with the Prime Minister of Japan for an hour.他和日本首相会见了一个小时。

3 stem   

n.茎，干，船首，词干，血统；vt.堵住，阻止，抽去梗；vi.起源于，发生

参考例句：

• Cut the stem cleanly,just beneath a leaf joint.把茎切整齐点，正好切在叶根下。
• The ship was in a blaze from stem to stern.整艘船从头到尾都着火了。

4 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

5 commuting   

交换（的）

参考例句：

• I used the commuting time to read and answer my mail. 我利用上下班在汽车中的时间来阅读和答复给我的函电。
• Noncommuting objects are as real to the mathematicians as commuting objects. 对于数学家来说，不可交换的对象与可交换的对象是一样真实的。