“再这样下去，日本将不复存在！”（朗读版）|E0309

▍原文

Japan will cease to exist if it can’t slow a fall in its birth rate that threatens to wreck the social safety net and economy, according to an adviser to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

“If we go on like this, the country will disappear,” Masako Mori said in an interview in Tokyo after Japan announced that the number of babies born last year slumped to a record low.

▍语言点 

1. cease to do sth. 不再出现某种状况

· cease to exist 不复存在(disappear)

2. slow a fall in sth. 减缓……的下降速度

· a fall in revenue 收入的下降

· to slow a fall in revenue 减缓收入的下降

· to slow a fall in the birth rate 减缓出生率的下降

3. birth rate 出生率

4. wreck /rek/ v. 破坏，损坏(to damage or destroy something) 

5. social safety net 社会保障(social security) 

6. an adviser to sb. 某人的顾问

7. slump to a record low 跌至历史最低点

· slump /slʌmp/ v. 下跌

· record low 历史最低点

· hit a record high 冲到历史最高点