原文標(biāo)題：
Conscription in South Korea
BTS takes on?Kim Jong Un
Military service may be a bit duller than stardom for Jin
韓國的征兵制度
防彈少年團(tuán)挑戰(zhàn)金正恩
對金碩珍來說，服兵役可能比當(dāng)明星更沉悶一些
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Boy band of brothers
男子樂團(tuán)

[Paragraph 1]
KIM SEOK-JIN is in the globally trendsetting, fabulously lucrative?prime?of his career.
金碩珍正處于職業(yè)生涯的巔峰期，引領(lǐng)全球潮流，收入不菲。
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As a member of BTS, the world’s biggest boy band, the 30-year-old has topped charts in many countries, been nominated for several Grammys, addressed the United Nations and met President Joe Biden.
作為世界上第一男子組合防彈少年團(tuán)的成員，30歲的金碩珍，曾在許多國家的音樂排行榜上名列前茅，多次獲得格萊美獎提名，并在聯(lián)合國發(fā)表了演講，甚至?xí)娏嗣绹偨y(tǒng)喬·拜登。
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Along with “Parasite” and “Squid Game”, his band is the go-to example of South Korean soft power.
他的樂隊與《寄生蟲》和《魷魚游戲》影片一樣，是韓國軟實力的典型代表。
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[Paragraph 2]
Yet on December 13th Mr Kim undertook the same dull rite?of passage as most South Korean men.
12月13日，金碩珍，和大多數(shù)韓國男人一樣，進(jìn)行了入伍儀式。
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He became the first BTS member to begin military service.
這是第一位防彈少年團(tuán)成員入伍服役。
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[Paragraph 3]
Unless they have extenuating?circumstances, all South Korean men must serve at least 18 months in the country’s 550,000-strong armed forces, starting before they turn 28.
除非有情有可原的情況，所有韓國男性，在28歲之前，必須在該國55萬人的武裝部隊至少服役18個月。
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BTS’s mega stardom is arguably such a circumstance (notwithstanding the useful capability its members boasted of in their hit, “We are bullet-proof”).
防彈少年團(tuán)的超級巨星地位也可以算作一種情有可原的情況。（雖然他們在其熱門歌曲《We are bullet-proof》中吹噓了自己的防彈能力)。
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South Korea’s parliament therefore passed a law in 2020 to allow those who “excel in popular culture and art” to postpone?their service.
韓國議會也因此在2020年通過了一項法律，允許那些“在流行文化和藝術(shù)方面表現(xiàn)出色”的人推遲服兵役的年齡。
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[Paragraph 4]
The BTS boys could probably have done so indefinitely.
防彈少年團(tuán)的成員更希望能無限延期。
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The government had been mulling giving them an exemption?similar to that enjoyed by top athletes and classical musicians, who are allowed to do basic training and no more.
頂級運動員和古典音樂家享有免服兵役的權(quán)力，因此他們可以僅進(jìn)行基本訓(xùn)練。政府也一直在考慮給予藝人們類似的豁免權(quán)。?
There was also talk of the pop stars being allowed to carry on making music as part of their service—just as those proficient?in science and mathematics may continue their studies in a government-approved research department or company.
還有言論表示，流行歌星將可以繼續(xù)做音樂，作為他們服兵役的一部分。就像那些精通科學(xué)和數(shù)學(xué)的人可以在政府批準(zhǔn)的研究部門或公司繼續(xù)做研究一樣。
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Yet Mr Kim and his colleagues appear to have concluded, like Elvis Presley in 1958, that dodging the draft would be more damaging to their reputations than military service would be dreary.
然而金碩珍和其他成員似乎已有定論，以1958年的埃爾維斯·普雷斯利（貓王）為例，比起服兵役的枯燥生活，逃避服兵役對他們聲譽的損害更大。
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“It’s curtain-call time,” Mr Kim, now sporting a crewcut instead of his usual stylish hairdo, told his fans on social media.
“謝幕時間到了，”金碩珍在社交媒體上對粉絲說，他也把以往時尚的發(fā)型改成了平頭。

[Paragraph 5]
The opportunity cost of military service, exorbitant?in his case, is a general burden on South Korean men.
像他這種情況，服兵役的機(jī)會成本過高。這也是韓國男性的普遍負(fù)擔(dān)。
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The country’s education system is highly competitive; a larger proportion of school-leavers go to university in South Korea than in any other country.
韓國的教育體系競爭激烈;該國的大學(xué)畢業(yè)生比例遠(yuǎn)高于其他國家。
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This makes its graduate jobs market extremely tough, and the enforced career interruption?that military service represents—most conscripts take time out to serve in the middle of their degree course—commensurately painful.
這也形成了一個極其艱難的就業(yè)市場。服兵役導(dǎo)致職業(yè)生涯強(qiáng)行中斷--大多數(shù)應(yīng)征入伍的學(xué)生在攻讀學(xué)位期間也要抽出時間服役--這讓他們相當(dāng)痛苦。
[Paragraph 6]
Military service also tends to be boring.
軍中生活也很乏味。

Fighting across the demilitarised zone (DMZ) that separates South Korea from? the north is very rare.
韓國與朝鮮之間的非軍事區(qū)罕少發(fā)生戰(zhàn)爭。
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Suicide is by far the biggest cause of death among conscripts.
自殺才是迄今為止入伍士兵死亡的最主要原因。
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The only thing 28-year-old Han Seung-joo recalls battling at his station close to the DMZin Yeoncheon, where Mr Kim will do his basic training, was the weather.
據(jù)28歲的韓升洲回憶，在漣川靠近非軍事區(qū)的兵站服役時，唯一的不好就是天氣。金碩珍也將在那里進(jìn)行基礎(chǔ)訓(xùn)練。
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“There was a lot of snow-shovelling,” he recalled. “We would shovel the snow and look back and there would be more snow.”
他回憶道：“在那里會有很多鏟雪活動，感覺雪總也鏟不完?！?br>?
[Paragraph 7]
Many never get near the front.
很多入伍服役的士兵從未去過前線。
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The closest Kim Young-cheol, a 28-year-old software engineer who served in the auxiliary?police, came to action was overseeing, generally uneventful, political protests.
28歲的軟件工程師金永哲曾在輔警部隊服役，他最接近前線的一次行動是監(jiān)督政治抗議活動，這并不具危險性。
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He reckoned each 12-hour shift his squad served amounted to 180 hours of wasted labour.
他估計他們的小隊每執(zhí)勤12小時，就有15個人處于無所事事的狀態(tài)。
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“All these men were sitting on the bus and just doing nothing,” he said.
他說:“所有這些人都坐在公共汽車上，什么都不做?！?br>?
[Paragraph 8]
Those medically unfit to serve also tend to be assigned humdrum?labour.
那些身體狀況不適合服役的人通常會給安排單調(diào)的勞動。
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Lee Sang-yup, who has scoliosis, was posted to a primary school to help serve lunch.
患有脊柱側(cè)凸的李相燁被派到了一所小學(xué)幫忙供應(yīng)午餐。
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“It always felt like a waste of time,” he recalls. “I would do everything to get out of it.”
他回憶道：“我總覺得這是在浪費時間，想盡一切辦法擺脫這種生活”。
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[Paragraph 9]
The fact that Korean women need not serve strikes many men as unfair.
而女性不需要服兵役的事實，令韓國男性感到不公。
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Some believe it gives women an advantage in the job market.
甚至一些人認(rèn)為這讓女性在就業(yè)市場上更具優(yōu)勢。
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If so, it is cancelled out by other factors.
如果事實果真如此，這也會被其他因素抵消掉這些優(yōu)勢。
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Many firms are alleged to give men preferential treatment to reward them for their service.
據(jù)稱，許多公司給予男性優(yōu)惠待遇，以獎勵他們的服役。
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The gap between male and female wages in South Korea is larger than in any other country in the OECD, a club of mostly rich countries.
韓國男女之間的工資差距大于經(jīng)合組織中的任何其他國家。經(jīng)合組織是由發(fā)達(dá)國家組成的俱樂部。
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Still, conscription is a persistent male grievance, which politicians shamefully exploit.
盡管如此，男性仍長期地對服役抱有不滿情緒，而政客們則無恥地對服役加以利用。
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Yoon Suk-yeul, South Korea’s president, won election this year in part by vowing to abolish the country’s gender-equality ministry.
韓國總統(tǒng)尹錫悅今年贏得大選，在一定程度上是因為他宣誓會廢除韓國的性別平等部門。
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He is trying to make good on that promise.
他也在努力兌現(xiàn)承諾。
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[Paragraph 10]
There are compensations for the enforced tedium of service, including camaraderie and a sense of duty fulfilled.
被迫服役雖然枯燥但卻是有補償?shù)?，同時也會獲得戰(zhàn)友間的同志情誼和履職責(zé)任感。
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Nearly half of men in their 20s purport to believe that military service is beneficial to them.
在20多歲的男性中，近乎一半的人認(rèn)為服兵役是有益的。
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Park Jong-tae, a 29-year-old engineer whose main responsibility was guard duty, is proud of his “small contribution” to national security.
29歲的樸鐘泰是一名工程師，主要職責(zé)是警衛(wèi)，他為自己對國家安全的“小貢獻(xiàn)”感到自豪。
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He nonetheless suggests that most conscripts could do with being given more “meaning and a common goal”.
盡管如此，他還是希望大多數(shù)應(yīng)征入伍的士兵可以獲得更多的“意義和共同的目標(biāo)”。
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[Paragraph 11]
With luck, Mr Kim will find some of that in Yeoncheon.
如果幸運的話，金碩珍會在漣川站找到一些服役的意義和目標(biāo)。
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Anyway, he can at least look forward to resuming mega stardom in due course.
總之，他至少可以期待在服役結(jié)束時恢復(fù)超級明星的身份。
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Asked whether his impending service would kill his career, Elvis replied: “That’s the $64 question. I wish I knew.”
在被問及接下來的服役是否會斷送事業(yè)時，埃爾維斯回答道:“這是一個很難回答的問題，我希望我知道答案?！?br>?
If the King is any guide, Mr Kim and his fellow band members should be OK.
如果貓王是一個很好的例子，金碩珍及其他成員也會相繼選擇服兵役。
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（恭喜讀完，本篇英語詞匯量812左右）
原文出自：2022年12月17日《The Economist》Asia版塊。
精讀筆記來源于：自由英語之路

本文翻譯整理: Maree本文編輯校對: Irene
僅供個人英語學(xué)習(xí)交流使用。

【補充資料】（來自于網(wǎng)絡(luò)）
韓國兵役制度：20歲至28歲的男性公民必須服兵役，兵種不同，服役期限也不同，但期限最短的兵種也需要服役23個月。韓國對男性實行征兵制。“蓄意拒絕服役者”（Conscientious Objector）會被判刑監(jiān)禁。對于身體檢查未合格者、體育或?qū)W業(yè)成績有特殊表現(xiàn)者、一些取得國外永久居留權(quán)且未在國內(nèi)停留超過一年者可免除兵役。韓國政府正在研究縮短兵役長度的方案。只有那些有嚴(yán)重疾病或者為國家做出巨大貢獻(xiàn)的人才可能減免兵役。服役期間訓(xùn)練和日常生活都極為艱苦，而每月的津貼折合人民幣只有約1800元左右。
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免服與推遲條件:高學(xué)歷或小學(xué)文化水平，醫(yī)生或神職人員等特殊行業(yè)；在亞運會奪得金牌或奧運會奪得獎牌的選手。2020年12月22日，“大眾文化藝術(shù)領(lǐng)域優(yōu)秀者”列入可以延期征集軍隊的對象，將推遲入伍到30周歲。
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DMZ，是英文“demilitarized zone”的縮寫，中文名稱為“隔離區(qū)”，也稱“非軍事化區(qū)”。它是為了解決安裝防火墻后外部網(wǎng)絡(luò)的訪問用戶不能訪問內(nèi)部網(wǎng)絡(luò)服務(wù)器的問題，而設(shè)立的一個非安全系統(tǒng)與安全系統(tǒng)之間的緩沖區(qū)。
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埃爾維斯·普雷斯利（Elvis Presley，1935年1月8日-1977年8月16日）,又稱貓王 、The King。按照當(dāng)時美國的征兵法，年滿18歲、身體健康的年輕人都有義務(wù)服兩年兵役，然后再服四年預(yù)備役 。1957年12月20日，埃爾維斯·普萊斯利接到了入伍通知。1960年3月，埃爾維斯·普萊斯利正式退伍，退伍費為109.54美元 。

$64 qestion：這個習(xí)語源自二次大戰(zhàn)期間美國廣播中的一個問答節(jié)目,這個節(jié)目于1940年4月開始設(shè)立,名稱叫Take It or Leave It（非拿即留），鮑勃?霍克(Bob Hawk)為首任節(jié)目主持人。節(jié)目首先由主持人在錄音現(xiàn)場選出參賽者，只要你有闖通關(guān)的本領(lǐng)，就可逐次抽題，回答七道由易至難的迷題。當(dāng)然，中間若答錯就遭淘汰。第一關(guān)問題得獎金是2元，累積到最后第七關(guān)總共是64元。由于節(jié)目風(fēng)靡全國，不僅帶動一堆類似的益智節(jié)目，英文也旋即造出“很難回答的問題”的同義詞叫?$64 qestion。其拼法還有: sixty-four dollar question, sixty four thousand dollar question。
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【重點句子】（3?個）
KIM SEOK-JIN is in the globally trendsetting, fabulously lucrative prime of his career.
金碩珍正處于職業(yè)生涯的巔峰期，引領(lǐng)全球潮流，收入不菲。
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The opportunity cost of military service, exorbitant in his case, is a general burden on South Korean men.
像他這種情況，服兵役的機(jī)會成本過高。這也是韓國男性的普遍負(fù)擔(dān)。
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The fact that Korean women need not serve strikes many men as unfair.
而女性不需要服兵役的事實，令韓國男性感到不公。