A restaurant inTokyohas announced that it will refuse to serve couples on Christmas Eve because their happiness would serve to remind single members of staff of their loneliness.

因担心情侣共度平安夜的场景会让店内单身员工更感孤独，日本东京一家餐厅宣布平安夜拒绝接待情侣食客。

The owner of PiaPia, a pasta restaurant in theHachiojisuburb of westTokyo, has placed a handwritten sign in the window of the restaurant that reads, "We will be refusing entry to all couples on December 24, with no exceptions!"

位于东京西部八王子市郊区的意大利面餐厅PiaPia在橱窗上贴了一张手写告示：“本店在12月24日拒绝情侣入内，没有特例！”

The message is accompanied by an outline of a male figure in blue and a female figure in red and a heart with a large red cross through the image.

这份告示还配上了蓝男红女加桃心，上面加了一个大红叉的简笔画，彰显了店家的决心。

The message suggests that the presence of couples would upset employees having to work on Christmas Eve, stating that romantic duos "would cause severe emotional trauma to members of our staff".

它还指出，情侣们约会的模样会让平安夜还在工作的员工们心生不满。“浓情蜜意的情侣们会让我们的员工情感受到伤害。”店家写道。

Takashi Kyozuka, an employee of PiaPia, said that the sign was put in the window because singles would "feel sad that they are by themselves".

高知冢（音译）是PiaPia的一名员工，他说这个告示之所以会贴出来，是因为单身狗们会为“自己形影一人的孤单而失落。”

"To start with, someone said we should ban couples as a bit of a joke, but then we realized that it's true," he said. "If you are single on Christmas Eve, then it's easy to get down."

“一开始，有人开玩笑说我们店应该禁止情侣入内。到后来，我们意识到这个做法其实是很合理”他说“如果在平安夜，你只有自己一个，那这时候你就很可能会消沉了。”

Christmas is not celebrated in Japan and is a regular working day ahead of the traditional celebrations centered on the New Year. In recent years, however, Christmas Eve has become an important occasion for young couples to exchange gifts and have a meal together, even if they are largely unaware of the religious significance of the holiday.

在日本，圣诞节只是传统新年前一个普通的工作日。但是近些年来，平安夜已然成为小情侣们一块吃饭、交换礼物的大日子。尽管他们压根不知道平安夜蕴藏的重大宗教意义。

But Japan is experiencing a couples crisis, with people getting married later in life and having fewer children, meaning that the nation's birth rate is in decline at the same time as older people are living longer thanks to advances in medicine.

实际上，日本现正遭遇一场婚育危机。青年情侣们婚后并不生育下一代，导致国内人口出生率下降。与此同时，随着医学的发展，老人们寿命不断延长。

The population of Japan currently stands at 126.6 million, although 25 percent of that total are aged 65 or older, an increase of 1.12 million people on the fiscal 2012 figure. Equally, the fertility rate of 1.41 babies per woman during her lifetime means there are not enough babies being born to sustain the population at its present levels.

日本现有人口保持在1亿2660万，但其中有25%是年过65岁的老年人。这个数字跟2012年比增加了112万。但是每名女性终生只生育1.41个孩子的低生育率，反映出了现有新生婴儿不足以维持现有人口水平。

If those trends continue, the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research has warned that there will be a mere 49.59 million Japanese by 2100, a decline of more than 61 percent on the 2010 figure.

日本国家人口和社会安全研究所一项研究指出，如果这个趋势持续发展下去，在2100年全国人口将仅有4959万。与2010年的人口数相比，降幅高达61%。

Nevertheless, commentators on social media sites are largely applauding the restaurant's stand against couples, with messages on Twitter and other sites proclaiming, "Good move boss! I support you!" and "I wish all restaurants would ban couples on Christmas Eve".

尽管如此，PiaPia餐厅“为单身狗发声”的做法得到网友们的一致好评。一众单身狗们在推特和各大社交网站上纷纷赞赏道：“宇宙好老板！支持你！”“我希望到了平安夜所有餐厅都像他们这样禁止情侣入内！”

（翻译：菠萝油八戒 编辑：马文英）