Nearly half of stations now unmanned; bane for the disabled

 

近半數車站現為無人車站；身障者很傷腦筋

 【摘要2021.7.23.自由】◎張沛元

Nearly half of all railway stations in Japan are unmanned, an increase of 10 percent over the past two decades or so, leading to a litany of complaints from people with disabilities and others who require assistance, transport ministry data shows.

國土交通省數據顯示，日本近半數車站是無人站，過去約20年來成長10%，導致身障人士與其他需要協助者抱怨連連。

Safety issues also come into play, for example, when a passenger falls from a platform and there are no station staff to come to the rescue.

這也事涉安全，例如，當乘客（在無人站）跌落月台時，沒有站務員能前來營救。

In 2002, the country had 9,514 stations and 43.3 percent, or 4,120 of them, were unstaffed. As of March 2020, the overall number of stations remained almost unchanged, at 9,465, but the figure for unmanned stations jumped to 4,564, or 48.2 percent of the total.

2002年，日本的9514座車站中，43.3%即4120座是無人站；截至2020年3月，車站總數為9465座，幾乎不變，但無人站數量增為4564座，佔整體48.2%。

新聞辭典

bane：名詞，禍根，災星，掃把星，（麻煩或不幸的）根源。

a litany of something：慣用語，一連串（反覆發生的不愉快的事情）；litany：名詞，連禱文。例句：The outgoing president could face a litany of lawsuits after he steps down.（這位即將卸任的總統下台後恐將面臨一連串訴訟。）

come to the play：慣用語，起作用，成為…因素，牽涉到…。例句：The president said he would change his approach to the Syrian civil war if chemical weapons came into play.（總統表示，倘若牽涉到化學武器，他會改變對敘利亞內戰的做法。）