Japan to drop plan to have female monarch(28785)-英语教育-(67)-21英语网

　　JAPAN will drop plans to allow women to inherit the country's imperial throne, following the birth last year of a long-awaited male heir, a news report said on January 3. 　　The Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to ditch recommendations by a government panel in 2005 that an emperor's first child - boy or girl - should accede the throne. 　　The reform was designed to defuse a looming succession crisis for the royal family, which had produced no male heir in four decades. A law change allowing female monarchs would have put 5-year-old Princess Aiko second in line to the throne. 　　Abe has repeatedly shown reluctance to change Japan's 1947 Imperial Household Law, which says only males with emperors on their father's side can reign as monarch. 　　Despite Hisahito's birth, recent opinion polls show the public still supports the idea of a reigning empress. The imperial family, which traces its roots back 1,500 years, is highly respected in Japan but plays a largely symbolic role with no political power. 　　

(China Daily Jan. 4, 2007)

　　据日本媒体1月3日报道，由于去年日本皇室盼望已久的男性继承人诞生，日本政府将放弃之前提出修改皇室继承法、允许女性继承皇位的方案。　　2005年，小泉政府的顾问机构提出一个方案，建议取消皇室继承人的性别限制，天皇的长子或长女均可继承皇位。　　这一改革方案的提出是为了解决日本皇室40多年未添男丁的困局，化解皇室继承危机。允许女性继承皇位的法律若通过，5岁的公主将成为第二顺次皇位继承人。然而，现任首相安倍已计划否决这一提议。安倍曾多次表示反对修改日本1947通过的《皇室典范》。他坚持只允许男性皇室成员继承皇位的意见。　　悠仁小皇子的诞生使得允许日本出现女天皇的建议遭遇搁浅,而最近的一项民意调查却显示，不少日本公众仍然支持日本出现女天皇。　　尽管拥有1，500多年历史的皇室家族在日本受到高度尊敬，但在政权方面，它只扮演了象征性角色。　　　　