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進入《中英對照讀新聞》As Japan’s society ages, cats set to overtake dogs as house pets 隨著日本社會老化，貓將超越狗稱霸居家寵物
◎張沛元
With the rapid aging of society, cats are on course to overtake dogs as the nation’s No. 1 pet, according to the Japan Pet Food Association.
根據「日本寵物食品協會」，隨著社會快速老化，貓即將取代狗成為日本排名第一的寵物。
"It is becoming difficult to take care of dogs as the number of people living alone, as well as the number of elderly increases," said the association, a Tokyo-based industry group.
這個總部位於東京的產業組織表示，隨著獨居者與老人增加，照顧狗也變得愈來愈困難。
It said the estimated number of house cats was almost on a par with that of pet dogs in 2015.
該協會說，估計2015年寵物貓與寵物狗的數量幾乎並駕齊驅。
"Owners do not need to walk cats and keeping cats does not represent a big financial burden, compared with keeping dogs," it said.
「相較於養狗，貓不需要遛，養貓也不是太大的財務負擔。」該協會說。
There were 9.87 million domestic cats last year, a year-on-year drop of 0.9 percent.
去年全日本有987萬隻家貓，比前一年減少0.9%。
The comparable figure for pet dogs was 9.91 million, down by 4.1 percent from the previous year.
相較之下，寵物狗有991萬隻，比前一年減少4.1%。
The number of pet dogs has been declining steadily since 2011, while that of house cats remains fairly constant, according to the association.
根據該協會，寵物狗數量自2011年起穩定減少，寵物貓則大致持平。
The gap between the number of cats and dogs narrowed to about 40,000 in 2015. In 2013, the figure was about 1.13 million, and in 2014 about 390,000.
寵物貓狗的差距在2015年減少為約4萬隻。此一差距在2013年時約113萬隻，2014年約39萬隻。
新聞辭典
on a par with somebody/something：慣用語，與…相等，與…一樣。
on course：慣用語，朝意欲或期待的方向前進。例句：Are we on course to finish this project on time?（我們能準時完成計畫嗎？）
compare someone or something with someone or something：慣用語，比較。例句：He tried to compare the virtues of saving account with investing in the stock market.（他試圖比較把錢存在銀行與投資股市的好處。）
