日本明仁天皇迎來76歲生日

Japanese Emperor Akihito turned 76 on Wednesday, wishing his people an early economic recovery in the coming year and voicing hope that the country would not be crippled by a resurgent swine flu pandemic.

"The first thing that comes to my mind is the plight of the many people who are facing difficulties due to the severe economic conditions in our country, triggered by the global financial crisis," he said in a birthday statement.

"It grieves my heart that there are people who have even lost their homes."

The emperor added: "In autumn, there was an increase in the number of patients infected by the new strain of influenza H1N1... I am concerned as to how the situation will turn out in the coming year.

"I am hoping that preventive measures such as the implementation of the flu vaccine will prevent a pandemic."

The son of wartime emperor Hirohito said he had been in a good health in a year in which he marked 20 years on the Chrysanthemum Throne and 50 years of marriage to Empress Michiko.

"My health is now better than it was last December, and I would like to spend the coming year as I did this year and I will try not to give people cause for concern."

The emperor underwent a surgery toremove prostate cancer in 2003 and suffered an irregular pulse last year, and the palace has lightened his schedule of official functions.

Nearly 24,000 people visited the palace in the morning alone, the largest number since 1989, when he took the throne of the world's oldest monarchy, the palace said.

The emperor greeted the flag-waving wellwishers, appearing three times on the glass-shielded balcony with the empress.

Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako, as well as the emperor's second son Prince Akishino and his wife Princess Kiko, joined him on the balcony.

本週三，日本明仁天皇迎來了他76歲的生日。他祝願來年日本經濟早日復甦，並表示希望日本免遭新一輪甲型流感的襲擊。

他在生日當天發表的一份聲明中說：“現在我最關心的問題是日本民衆的境況，全球金融危機導致日本經濟形勢十分嚴峻，很多民衆生活困難。”

“有些人甚至無家可歸，令我非常難過。”

天皇說：“今年秋季，日本感染新型甲型H1N1流感的病例出現上升。我很關心來年疫情的發展。”

“我希望接種疫苗等預防措施將能夠防止疫情的大範圍流行。”

明仁天皇是“二戰”時期日本天皇裕仁的兒子。明仁天皇說這一年來他的健康狀況良好。今年恰逢明仁天皇即位20週年，以及與美智子皇后結婚50週年。

“現在我的身體狀況比去年12月好了很多，我希望明年能繼續保持，儘量不讓大家擔心。”

2003年，明仁天皇接受了前列腺癌切除手術，去年出現心律不齊，日本皇室因此減少了他的公務活動。

日本皇室稱，僅天皇生日的當天早晨，就有近2.4萬人前來拜訪日本皇宮，是自1989年明仁即位以來訪客人數最多的一次。日本菊花皇室是世界上最古老的君主政體之一。

明仁天皇向前來表達祝福的熱情民衆致以問候，他和皇后三次出現在玻璃防護陽臺上。

陪同明仁天皇一同亮相的還有皇太子德仁、皇太子妃雅子，明仁次子文仁親王以及王妃紀子。

Vocabulary:

cripple：to seriously damage or harm somebody or something（嚴重毀壞）

flag-waving：an ostentatiously emotional display of patriotism or factionalism（熱情的，狂熱的愛國主義的）