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The Island of a Thousand Legal Cases 诉讼之岛

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A young lawyer has handled more than 1,000 cases in three years on one small island  派驻在一座小岛上的年轻律师，在三年内处理了千件以上的诉讼案

For three years, 29-year-old Japanese lawyer Satoko Tomita has been working on Sado Island, Niigata Prefecture, as the first person to be assigned from a program to give far-flung areas desperately needed legal services.

二十九岁的日本律师富田聪子（音译），在新泻县佐渡岛上工作已三年。有项计划专门派遣人员到亟需法律扶助的偏远地区服务，而她是该计划派出的第一人。

Sent by the Houterasu program run by the Japan Legal Support Center, she has helped residents of the Sea of Japan island solve legal issues, including numerous debt-related cases. In that time, Tomita said she has managed to help residents secure 410 million yen in total refunds related to excessive interest payments.

富田受「日本法律扶助中心」管理的「法阳台」计划（译注：取名为阳台是因为该机构希望能提供一处像阳台一样能让人轻松自在的处所）所指派，在位于日本海的这座岛上，协助岛民解决法律问题，其中包括了不计其数的债务相关案件。富田表示，在这段期间里，她协助岛民讨回被超收的过高利息，退款总额达四亿一千万日圆。

Sado Island is about 1.4 times bigger in area than the combined 23 wards of Tokyo. Before the Houterasu office opened, there was only one lawyer on the island, a 70-year-old man.

佐渡岛面积比东京二十三区的总面积还大上一点四倍，但在「法阳台」办公室开始营运之前，岛上仅有一名七十岁的律师。

Tomita volunteered for the Sado assignment and recalled thinking, “I want to do everything on my own in the remote area to force myself to grow professionally.” When her dispatch to Sado Island was decided, one of her senior colleagues told her, “There’ll probably be only a few cases [to handle].” However, the day before the Houterasu office opened on the island, the telephone would not stop ringing.

富田自愿接下派驻佐渡岛的任务，她回想说：「我想在偏远地区自食其力，这样就可以逼自己变得更专业。」她被派遣到佐渡岛一事确定后，一名资深同事告诉她：「可能没多少案子可办。」然而，「法阳台」办公室在岛上开张的前一天，电话铃声就已经响个不停了。

Helping overcome debt  助岛民度过债务难关

Over the three years, she has dealt with more than 1,000 legal consultations.

三年来，富田经手了超过一千件法律咨询案。

Recently, she helped a fisherman in his 50s tackle a 40 million yen debt by helping him apply for voluntary bankruptcy procedures, letting him restart his financial life.

最近，她帮一名五十多岁的渔民解决了四千万日圆的债务，方法是教他提出自愿破产声请程序，好让他能重整自己的财务状况。

The man inherited his father’s debt, plus the payment burdens on his own housing loan. Because his income was hit by a decline in fish prices, he failed to repay the debts on schedule and his home was auctioned by creditors.

这名渔民不仅继承父亲的债务，还得负担自己的房贷。由于鱼货价格下跌，使得他收入锐减，无法按时清偿债务，导致房子遭到债权人拍卖。

“Before, I didn’t know what I should do first,” the man said. “Now, I can get a sense of where my life can go from here on.”

「要是以前，我真不知道第一步该如何是好，」渔民说道，「但现在，我对未来的人生方向比较有概念了。」

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prefecture [ˋprifɛktʃɚ] n. 府；专区；县

secure [sɪˋkjʊr] v. 弄到，获得

refund [ˋri͵fʌnd] n. 退款；偿还金额

ward [wɔrd] n. 行政区，选区，区

consultation [͵kɑnsəlˋteʃən] n. 咨询；商议

tackle [ˋtæk!] v. 着手对付（或处理）

auction [ˋɔkʃən] v. 拍卖，把……拍卖掉

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Life on Sado Island  佐渡岛的生活

Agriculture and fisheries are big industries on the island, where ties between residents are strong. This means that usually there are not many major conflicts in daily life.

农业和渔业是佐渡岛的两大产业。岛民关系相当紧密，这意味着平日不太会有重大的冲突纠纷。

然而，大多数岛民的收益来源有限，收入一般来说并不高，因此贷款的岛民很容易就会拖欠利息，而掉进财务深渊。

However, most residents have only small sources of revenue and incomes are generally low, making it all too easy for a person who has borrowed money to fall behind on interest payments and fall into a financial abyss.

“People close to a person [with financial trouble] support one another to prevent him or her from declaring voluntary bankruptcy,” Tomita said. “It complicates debt problems.”

「亲朋好友会互相帮助有财务问题的人，以免他们宣告自愿破产。」富田表示，「但这却让债务问题变得更复杂难解了。」

She learned to ask clients who visited the office for the first time whether other family members also were in debt.

富田学到，要询问所有第一次来办公室的委托人，有没有其他家人也在负债。

Often she found her clients were being forced to make interest rate payments higher than limits set by Japan’s Interest Rate Restriction Law. She helped file more than 300 lawsuits demanding refunds for excessive interest payments, and her clients have received a total of about 410 million yen.

她往往发现，委托人被迫缴付高于日本「利率限制法」规定上限的利息。她协助提出超过三百件的诉讼案，要求退回超收的利息，最后所有委托人收到总共约四亿一千万日圆。

Unique Situations  特殊情况

But the individual circumstances of her clients have varied widely. In one case, an elderly person had become a victim of a vicious sales scheme and the person’s home was auctioned off.

然而每个委托人的个别情况可说是天差地远。有件案例是，一名老人遭到恶意推销诈财，落得房子被拍卖。

In another case, a woman with dementia began shouting at her home care helper, fearing she would be robbed of money. Tomita consulted a local social welfare council and became the woman’s legal guardian. Tomita managed the woman’s assets and signed a contract with a nursing care service facility so the woman would be able to use the services of the helper.

另一件案例中，一名患有老年痴呆症的妇人，对家里的看护大吼大叫，深怕对方会抢走她的钱财。富田于是和当地社会福利处商议，并成为妇人的法定监护人。她管理妇人的资产，并且和一家看护中心签约，妇人便可使用看护的各项服务。

“If experts in different fields, such as legal, welfare and nursing care services, collaborate, we can support many people,” Tomita said. “I have begun to see new potential for lawyers.”

「要是如法律、社福、看护服务等不同领域的专家，都能同心协力，那么就能帮助更多人了，」富田说道，「我开始看到律师可以发挥潜力的新着力点了。」

−by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

单词发音

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fishery [ˋfɪʃərɪ] n. 渔业，水产业

fall behind 落后, 赶不上 to be financially in arrears; to fail to keep up a pace; lag behind

interest rate 利率   the percentage that a bank or other financial company charges on borrowed money

auction off 拍卖掉  to see something, especially buildings or furniture, at a public sale where things are sold to the person who offers the most money

dementia [dɪˋmɛnʃɪə] n. 痴呆  a medical condition that affects especially elderly people, causing the memory and other mental abilities to gradually become worse, and leading to confused behavior

consult [kənˋsʌlt] v. 与……商量

council [ˋkaʊns!] n. 会议；政务会；协调会

guardian [ˋgɑrdɪən] n.【律】监护人

单词发音

Vocabulary Focus

far-flung [ˋfɑrˋflʌŋ] adj. 遥远的 describes places that are a great distance away

excessive [ɪkˋsɛsɪv] adj. 过高的; 过重的; 过分的 too much

dispatch [ˋdɪspætʃ] n. & [dɪˋspætʃ] v. 派遣 when someone or something is sent somewhere, especially for a particular purpose

abyss [əˋbɪs] n. 深渊；深坑；深处 a difficult situation that brings trouble or destruction

vicious [ˋvɪʃəs] adj. 恶意的 describes actions that show an intention to hurt someone very badly

collaborate [kəˋlæbə͵ret] v. 共同工作；合作 to work with someone else for a special purpose