【视频讲解】

The government has legalised casinos, but Japanese still do not like the idea.
日本政府对于赌场的合法化处理并没有受到人们欢迎。
MOST forms of gambling are banned in Japan, but many Japanese still like to have a flutter.
虽然日本禁止了大部分的赌博项目，但是许多日本民众还是喜欢小赌一把。

Casino 赌场
Flutter
1. 拍动，飞舞：暗指以震颤飞翔的方式移动或坠落：
“Her arms rose, fell, and fluttered with the rhythm of the song”(Evelyn Waugh)
“她的手臂升起、落下并随着歌曲的节奏震动”(伊夫琳•沃)
2. 小赌注，赌博：一个小赌注；一次赌博：
“If they like a flutter, Rick will get them better odds than the bookies”(John le Carré)
“如果他们喜欢冒点风险，瑞克将会提供他们比赌马业者更大的胜算”(约翰•勒•卡里)

Over ￥23trn ($203bn) is waged annually on pachinko, a noisy variant of pinball.
每年柏青哥（一种热闹、形式多样的弹球游戏）产业就能创造23万亿日元的收入（约2030亿美元）。
Add in lottery tickets, plus horse, boat and bicycle racing—the only other types of betting allowed—and you have a vast industry.
再加上彩票、赛马、赛船、赛车等（其他几种能进行赌博的项目），这实际上是个蕴藏巨大商机的产业。

Pachinko 弹球盘; 日本一种类似于弹球的赌博游戏
Pinball 弹球游戏
Wage
1. 收入
2. 发动 (运动或战争)
The government, along with the three factions that had been waging a civil war, signed a peace agreement.
政府和发动了内战的3方一起签订了1份和平协议。

Pachinko players alone spend more than the combined betting revenue of all the casinos in the world's top gambling resort, Macau.
柏青哥玩家们在这一个项目上投入的钱要超过世界顶级赌场胜地澳门的各大赌场收入的总和。
Resort
1. 诉诸
Congress has a responsibility to ensure that all peaceful options are exhausted before resort to war.

国会有责任确保在所有和平的手段用尽之后再诉诸武力。
2. 作为最后手段
Nuclear weapons should be used only as a last resort.
核武器应该只被用作最后手段。
3. (度假) 胜地
The ski resorts are expanding to meet the growing number of skiers that come here.
该滑雪胜地正在扩建以应付来这里滑雪的不断增长的人数。

Japan's government has struggled to convince citizens that the current strictures should be relaxed.
日本政府一直试图让民众相信目前严格的博彩业管理是可以适度放松的。
Stricture
1. 限制; 约束
Your goals are hindered by financial strictures.

你的目标受到经济条件的限制。
2. 苛评; 反对
...Mencken's strictures on the 1920s, with its self-righteous prohibition on alcohol and unconventional ideas.
...门肯对20世纪20年代自以为是的禁酒令及对非传统思想的禁锢的苛评。

When the Diet legalised casinos in December after years of political wrangling, a poll by NHK, the country's public broadcaster, put support for the move at just 12%.
日本放送协会（日本最大的广播电视机构）做了一项民意调查，结果显示，当国会经过几年考虑最终于12月同意将赌博合法化时，这项举动的支持率只有12%。
Wrangle
争吵 = bicker, squabble
The two sides have spent most of their time wrangling over procedural problems.
双方花了大部分的时间争论程序上的一些问题。

The leader of Komeito, a party with Buddhist roots that is part of the governing coalition, voted against the bill.
日本公明党（与佛教组织有密切关系，现为日本联合政府一部分的党派）领袖投票否决此法案。
Root
1. 根源
2. 深入人心
Time would be needed for democracy to take root.
民主的深入人心需要时间。
3. 根除：连根拔除或好象连根拔除。常与up 或 out 连用：
“declared that waste and fraud will be vigorously rooted out of Government”(New York Times)
“宣称要强有力地铲除政府中的挥霍和欺诈现象”(纽约时报)
root and branch
完全地；彻底地： Utterly; completely:
The organization has been transformed root and branch by its new leaders.
这个组织已被它的新领导人彻底改变了性质

Critics said it would exacerbate problem gambling and attract “anti-social forces”, a euphemism for Yakuza gangs.
批评家们说这项规定将恶化问题赌博并且会引起反社会分子（也就是日本黑道）的注意。
Exacerbate
使…恶化
Longstanding poverty has been exacerbated by racial divisions.
由来已久的贫穷因种族分裂而更加恶化了。
Euphemism
委婉语
“Euphemisms such as ‘slumber room’ . . . abound in the funeral business”(Jessica Mitford)
“委婉语‘睡眠的房间’，在葬礼业常用”(杰西卡•米特福德)
Gang 黑社会

Shinzo Abe, the prime minister, insists casinos will be only one part of family-friendly resorts, with hotels, shops and conference facilities.
首相安倍晋三坚称赌场将会是有利于家庭生活的、带有宾馆、商店和会议设施的胜地。
Prime
1. 主要的
Political stability, meanwhile, will be a prime concern.
与此同时，政治稳定将是头等大事
2. 事先交代 (某人做某事)
Lisa had not known until John primed her for her duties that she was to be the sole female.
直到约翰向她交待她的职责时，丽莎才知道她将是惟一的女性。
3. 最典型的
The prime example is Macy's, once the undisputed king of California retailers.

最典型的例子是梅西百货，曾是加州零售商们公认的王者。

In an anemic economy, his enthusiasm is not hard to understand: the construction of these huge complexes could generate ￥5trn in economic activity—with another ￥2trn a year once they have opened, largely from increased tourism, estimates Makoto Yonekawa of the Daiwa Institute of Research, a think-tank.
在没有活力的经济情况下，安倍的热情并不是很难理解，因为日本大和研究所的智囊团中的Makoto Yonekawa认为这样巨大的圣地会在经济活动方面产生5万亿美元，一旦这些场所开了之后，还会产生2万亿美元，这些收益来自不断增强的旅游业。

Anemic 贫血 =》 无力的：缺乏活力的；精神不振的，虚弱的：
an anemic attempt to hit the baseball; an anemic economic recovery.
无力的击球动作；毫无活力的经济复苏
Complex 合成体：由相互关联交织的部分组成的整体：
a complex of cities and suburbs; the military-industrial complex.
城郊结合体；军事工业合成体

Foreign casino-operators have already begun lobbying for a slice of this pie. Las Vegas Sands, MGM Resorts and Hard Rock Café International are among the companies looking for licences and local partners.
外国赌场经营商们已经在暗中争取经营许可权，寻求当地合作伙伴，从而能及时分得一杯羹。拉斯维加斯金沙集团、米高梅度假村硬石咖啡国际集团就位列其中。
Operator 操作员 =》 经营者
...the nation's largest cable TV operator.

…全国最大的有线电视运营商。
A slice of 一部分
When the building is sold, the operators will take a slice of the capital gains.
大厦出售时，运营者也将分一杯羹

Bureaucrats are crafting more legislation to decide how many resorts to permit and where to put them. This, say analysts, is where the road could get bumpy.
官员就在不停规划赌场区。而这就是分析家们说的“不好做”的地方。
Craft
精巧地制作：极其谨慎地或精巧地制作或建造（某物）：
“It was not the Chamber of Commerce that crafted the public policies that have resulted in a $26 billion annual subvention to the farmers”(William F. Buckley, Jr.)
“每年发给农民260亿美元津贴的这项公共政策并不是由商会精心策划的”(小威廉F.巴克利)

Bumpy
崎岖不平的：颠簸的
...a hot and bumpy ride across the desert.
…穿过沙漠的炎热、颠簸的车程。