VOA慢速英语2021--日本107岁姐妹刷新全球最长寿双胞胎纪录

107-year-old Sisters from Japan Become Oldest Twins

Guinness World Records has confirmed two Japanese sisters as the world's oldest living identical twins at 107.

Identical twins are two people born at the same time who are produced from a single egg and look almost exactly the same.

The announcement came Monday. It took place on Respect for the Aged¹ Day, a national holiday in Japan.

Umeno Sumiyama and Koume Kodama were born on Shodoshima island in western Japan on November 5, 1913.

The twins were separated after elementary school. Kodama was sent to work as a maid in Oita on Japan's southern island of Kyushu. She later married there. Sumiyama remained on Shodoshima island and had her own family.

The sisters said they experienced difficulties in their younger days. Growing up, they said they were bullied² because of prejudice against children of multiple births in Japan.

The sisters lived their own lives for many years. They rarely got together until they were 70. They then started taking trips together to some of the 88 Shikoku temples. They enjoyed being reconnected.

Sumiyama and Kodama were 107 years and 300 days old as of Sept 1. They have broken the earlier record set by the famous Japanese sisters Kin³ Narita and Gin Kanie, who lived until they were 107 years and 175 days old.

Guinness World Records announced the new record in a statement.

Because of anti-coronavirus measures, the certificates for their record were mailed to the separate nursing homes where they now live. Guinness said Sumiyama accepted hers with tears of happiness.

Their families told Guinness that the sisters often joked about outliving the earlier record holders⁴, known as "Kin-san, Gin-san." Those twins became extremely popular in Japan in the late 1990s for both their age and humor.

Japan has the world's fastest aging population. The health and welfare ministry⁵ says about 29 percent of Japan's 125 million people are 65 years or older. About 86,510 of them are 100 years or older.

Words in This Story

bullied –adj. to have been frightened, hurt or threatened by someone stronger

prejudice –n. an unfair feeling of dislike for a person or group because of race, sex, religion or some other reason

temple –n. a building for worship or religious observance

certificate –n. a document that is official proof that something happened or has been done

1 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

2 bullied   

adj.被欺负了v.恐吓，威逼( bully的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• My son is being bullied at school. 我儿子在学校里受欺负。
• The boy bullied the small girl into giving him all her money. 那男孩威逼那个小女孩把所有的钱都给他。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 kin   

n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的

参考例句：

• He comes of good kin.他出身好。
• She has gone to live with her husband's kin.她住到丈夫的亲戚家里去了。

4 holders   

支持物( holder的名词复数 )； 持有者； （支票等）持有人； 支托（或握持）…之物

参考例句：

• Slaves were mercilessly ground down by slave holders. 奴隶受奴隶主的残酷压迫。
• It is recognition of compassion's part that leads the up-holders of capital punishment to accuse the abolitionists of sentimentality in being more sorry for the murderer than for his victim. 正是对怜悯的作用有了认识，才使得死刑的提倡者指控主张废除死刑的人感情用事，同情谋杀犯胜过同情受害者。

5 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。