日本首相夫人:下輩子不會嫁菅直人
Japan's outspoken first lady said Wednesday she would not marry Premier Naoto Kan again in another life, in a display of tough love to a husband already battling political rivals and low support ratings.
The prime minister's wife Nobuko Kan, 65, who is renowned for pulling few punches, admitted that she is not the kind of person who supports her husband through encouragement.
"I rather go for scolding and scolding. I pull back a little when I think I've been too severe," she told reporters when asked how she can support her husband when he is faced with criticism from media and opposition parties.
"He goes to parliament, telling me 'I hate (being grilled in) parliament, but it is easier than arguing against you'," said the woman Kan has called his "opposition in the home".
Nobuko last year published a book entitled 'What on Earth will change in Japan after you become prime minister?', which said Kan lacked dress sense, could not cook and had badly flunked delivering his first policy speech.
Nobuko said she would not marry Kan again if she was reborn.
"I wouldn't do it another time. The reason is that I have already lived this life and it's not fun to repeat the same thing. I would want to have a totally different life," said the unconventional first lady.
Kan took power in June last year as Japan's fifth premier in four years.
Public support ratings for Kan's cabinet have since tumbled to below 30 percent, amid public discontent over his centre-left government's management of economic and foreign affairs.
Nobuko quipped that she had told Kan there is a limit to just how bad things can get, telling him: "There is no such thing as a support rate below zero."
"Both of us may be too easy-going... but it is impossible (for Kan) to quit only because of low support ratings or bullying-like criticism," she said.
The couple, who are cousins, have been married for 40 years and have two sons who are both in their 30s.
言辭犀利的日本首相夫人菅伸子本週三稱，如果有來生，她不會選擇再嫁給菅直人。日本首相菅直人正爲與政敵鬥爭以及低迷的支持率頭疼不已，而首相夫人則在此時向他展示出自己的“嚴愛”。
日本首相夫人菅伸子現年65歲，以直言不諱著稱。她坦承自己不是那種通過鼓勵來支持丈夫的妻子。
在被問及當丈夫面對來自媒體和反對黨的指責時如何支持他時，菅伸子告訴記者：“我寧可責罵他。但如果覺得過於嚴厲，我也會適當緩和語氣。”
菅伸子說：“他經常去議會，還告訴我，‘我討厭在議會上受指責，但這比和你爭論容易多了。’” 菅直人稱夫人是“家中的反對派”。
菅伸子在去年出版的名爲《你當首相，日本會有何變化？》的書中羅列了丈夫的諸多缺點，比如穿衣品味差、不會做飯、首次施政演說也很失敗等等。
菅伸子直言下輩子不會嫁給菅直人。
這位現代派首相夫人說：“我不會再嫁給他了。因爲上輩子做過的事再重複就沒有樂趣了，我希望下輩子能過上一種完全不同的生活。”
菅直人去年6月就任日本首相，成爲日本近4年來的第5任首相。
由於對左派政府的經濟和外交政策不滿，菅直人內閣的民衆支持率暴跌至30%以下。
菅伸子打趣稱，她已經告訴丈夫，事情變糟總有個限度，“支持率總不可能跌成負數吧”。
她說：“我倆也許都太隨和了，但是菅直人不可能僅僅因爲支持率低迷或者蠻橫的批評就辭職。”
菅伸子和丈夫是表親，結婚已有40年，兩個兒子都已經年過30。
Vocabulary:
pull punches: to act with restraint or hold back the full force or implications of something（委婉地批評，謹慎地行事）
grill: to subject to severe and persistent cross-examination or questioning（盤問，責問）
