《中英對照讀新聞》Egypt struggles against population ’catastrophe’ －埃及奮力對抗人口「大災難」

◎孫宇青

Ali Abdelaziz sees children as a "gift from God," so much so that he has 10 of his own, even if Egypt’s government struggles to stem a "catastrophic" population boom.

阿里．阿卜杜拉齊茲視孩子為「真主的禮物」，即使埃及政府奮力阻止「災難性」人口爆炸，他仍生養10名小孩。

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However, Egypt’s overpopulation is adding pressure on the economy, already reeling from the political and security turmoil since the 2011 uprising that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak.

然而，前總統穆巴拉克2011年遭推翻後，埃及的經濟就捲入政治和安全亂局，人口過剩則讓經濟狀況雪上加霜。

With 96 million inhabitants, the Arab world’s most populous country adds 1.6 million people every year to its population.

人口達9600萬的埃及是阿拉伯世界人口最多的國家，且以每年160萬人的速度持續增加。

With 95 percent of Egypt’s land uninhabitable desert, the population is concentrated around the narrow Nile valley and Nile Delta.

由於埃及95%土地是無法居住的沙漠，人口多集中在狹窄的尼羅河谷和尼羅河三角洲地區。

In Cairo, a megalopolis of nearly 20 million inhabitants, the population density is around 50,000 inhabitants per square kilometer, or nearly 10 times that of London.

在近2000萬人口的開羅都會區，人口密度約為每平方公里5萬人，近乎倫敦的10倍。

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has said population growth is "a challenge as critical as that of terrorism". The government launched a new family planning campaign last year under the slogan "two are enough," to try to contain the phenomenon.

埃及總統阿卜杜勒－法塔赫．塞西表示，人口增長是「與恐怖主義一樣嚴峻的挑戰」。政府去年擬定新版家庭計畫，喊出「兩個剛剛好」的口號，試圖遏制這個現象。

《新聞辭典》

stem：動詞，逆行；阻止。例句：A pile of garbage has stemmed the current.（一堆垃圾堵住了水流。）

topple：動詞，推翻。例句：Rebel forces aim to topple the regime.（反抗軍意圖推翻政權。）

contain：動詞，控制。例句：I cannot contain my tears watching the movie.（看這部電影時，我無法控制自己不哭出來。）