调查：40%的日本人一个月不过性生活Survey： 40 pct. in Japan not having sex

The secret behind Japan's plunging birth rate? A record 39.7 percent of Japanese citizens ages 16-49 have not had sex for over a month - up 5 percentage points from two years ago - according to a survey published this week by the Japan Family Planning Association.

为什么日本的生育率持续下降？据日本计划生育协会本周公布的一项调查显示，在16岁至49岁之间的日本人中，有39.7%的人一个多月没有进行性生活，比两年前高5个百分点。

Among married couples, the rate was only slightly lower, at 34.6 percent.

这一比例在已婚夫妇中略低，为34.6%。

"This is very bad news for the country's birth rate, and something the government needs to look into urgently," said Dr. Kunio Kitamura, the family planning association's director.

计划生育协会主任国生北村博士说：“这对日本的生育率来说无疑是个坏消息，政府必须立即对此采取措施。”

The survey comes amid concerns over Japan's faltering birthrate, which fell in 2005 to a record low of 1.26 births in an average woman's lifetime. The decline has stoked government fears of tax revenue shortfalls and labor shortages.

此调查源于政府对国内的生育率一直停滞不前的担忧。2005年，日本的生育率（普通女性一生中所生孩子的平均数量）跌至历史最低点，只有1.26。这一状况引起了政府对税收收入不足以及劳动力短缺的担忧。

"The situation is dismal," Kitamura said. "My research shows that if you don't have sex for a month, you probably won't for a year."

北村博士说：“目前的状况很可怕。我所做的调查显示，如果你一个月不过性生活，那么可能一年都不会过。”

Kitamura partly blamed stress from busy working lives.

北村博士认为，工作繁忙所产生的压力也是导致这种状况的一大原因。

A decline in physical communication in an increasingly Web-based society was also a factor, he said.

此外，互联网的日益普及造成人们身体接触的减少也是其中的一个因素。

The association said it handed out questionnaires to 2,713 randomly selected people, and received responses from 636 men and 773 women in November 2006. In a similar poll taken two years ago, 35 percent reported having no sex for a month.

2006年11月，日本计划生育协会向随机选取的2731名调查对象分发了调查问卷，并收回636份男性回复和773份女性回复。在两年前的一项类似的调查中，共有35%的受访者一个月没有进行性生活。

Japan came last in a 29-country study of sexual satisfaction published by the University of Chicago last year, with a mere 25.7 percent of lovers expressing satisfaction in bed.

芝加哥大学去年公布的一项涉及29个国家的调查显示，日本的性满意度最低，只有25.7%的情侣对性生活感到满意。

The country was also in last place among 41 nations in a 2005 poll by condom manufacturer Durex, with people having sex just 45 times a year compared to a global average of 103.

安全套制造商杜蕾丝公司2005年在41个国家所做的一项民意调查显示，日本人的年均性生活次数最低，只有45次，而世界年均性生活次数是103次。