日本副首相称老年人是财政负担应让他们“赶紧死”_BEC初级作文

日本副首相称老年人是财政负担应让他们“赶紧死”

日本副首相兼财政大臣麻生太郎近日表示，老年人应该获准“赶紧死”，好帮助政府减轻医疗财政负担。麻生太郎说：“在你想死的时候却被迫活着，这是上天不允许的。如果知道我所有的治疗费用都由政府承担，我每天醒来时的心情会一天比一天沉重。” 他还把那些无法自己进食的老年人称为“管子人”，并称自己已经写下遗嘱，告诉家人不必让他通过这种方式延长生命，“我要快点死”。后来，他又澄清，称以上全部为个人感受。目前，日本60岁以上的人口占全国人口的四分之一，未来50年，这个比例有望上升到40%。为了应付不断增加的福利支出，尤其是老龄人口福利支出，日本政府决定在未来三年内，将消费税提高至10%。日本政府还计划在4月开始的新年度预算中减少福利支出。

Japan's new government is barely a month old, and already one of its most senior members has insulted tens of millions of voters by suggesting that the elderly are an unnecessary drain on the country's finances.

Taro Aso, the finance minister, said on Monday that the elderly should be allowed to "hurry up and die" to relieve pressure on the state to pay for their medical care.

"Heaven forbid if you are forced to live on when you want to die. I would wake up feeling increasingly bad knowing that [treatment] was all being paid for by the government," he said during a meeting of the national council on social security reforms. "The problem won't be solved unless you let them hurry up and die."