For nearly three decades, millions of Japanese have clamored for their every album, lined up with breathless anticipation for their concerts and gathered on Monday nights for their hit television show.

Now, the nation is awash with anguish over word that SMAP — Japan’s longest-running boy band, if it can still be called that with its youngest member pushing 40 — is splitting up.

將近30年來，無數日本人每逢他們發專輯就叫好搶購，排隊屏息期待他們的演唱會，並在周一夜聚在一起觀賞他們火紅的電視節目。

現在，SMAP即將解散這消息讓這個國家陷入了愁雲慘霧。SMAP是日本歷史最悠久的男孩樂團，如果它還能稱作男孩樂團的話，最年輕的成員都已年近40。

The news has dominated newspaper headlines and television talk shows since the band’s announcement this month. Even the mayor of Tokyo and two members of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Cabinet have weighed in. One said he was worried about the effect on the Japanese economy, the world’s third-largest.

“We will not let them stop!” a grieving fan wrote in one of more than a dozen petitions on change.org pleading with the aging heartthrobs to remain together. “If we let them go and disband, it means Japan is finished.”

樂團決定解散的消息本月宣布後，隨即攻占報紙的頭條和電視談話節目。甚至東京都知事和首相安倍晉三內閣的兩位成員也發表看法。其中一人表示擔心日本經濟會受影響，日本是世界第三大經濟體。

change.org網站上懇求這個已有歲數的偶像天團不要解散的請願文一打不止，一名傷心粉絲寫道：「我們不准他們喊停！如果我們讓他們走和解散，日本也就完了。」

To understand the bedlam unfolding here, think of the Beatles’ breaking up, the airing of the final episode of “Seinfeld” and the “conscious uncoupling” of Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin all rolled into one — the end of an era on the Japanese cultural landscape.

SMAP’s most famous saccharine single, “The Only Flower in the World,” is regularly taught in Japan’s schools. But SMAP is not just a wildly popular band whose albums have sold more than 35 million copies, making it one of the most successful musical acts in Japanese history.

想了解此間的抓狂狀態，不妨想像「披頭四」分手、「歡樂單身派對」播出最後一集，以及好萊塢女星葛妮絲派楚和丈夫克里斯馬丁「清醒分手」的三合一效果──它代表日本文化景觀一個時代的謝幕。

SMAP最知名的甜蜜單曲「世界上唯一的花」，是日本學校的必教歌曲。SMAP唱片總銷量超過3500萬張，是日本史上最成功的樂團，然而它卻不只是個紅到不行的樂團。

For two decades, its five members — Masahiro Nakai, Takuya Kimura, Goro Inagaki, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi and Shingo Katori — have also hosted one of Japan’s top-rated television programs, “SMAP X SMAP,” a family-friendly variety show in which they cook for celebrity guests, compete in games, perform comedic skits and, of course, sing. Each has starred on his own in numerous television series, movies and commercials. The frontman, Nakai, has been a newscaster for several Olympic Games.

20年來，SMAP的5位成員，中居正廣、木村拓哉、稻垣吾郎、草彅剛和香取慎吾，同時是日本收視率極高電視節目「SMAP X SMAP」的主持人。他們在這個適合闔家觀賞的綜藝節目中為名人嘉賓做菜、玩競賽遊戲、表演喜劇橋段，當然，還有唱歌。每一團員都獨自在許多電視連續劇、電影和廣告中擔綱。主唱中居正廣還是數屆奧運的新聞主播。

The group, whose members started out as teenagers performing on skateboards and now range in age from 39 to 44, managed to both broaden its audience beyond adolescent girls and hold on to them over the years. Many of their most ardent fans are women who grew up with them.

SMAP, an acronym for Sports Music Assemble People, also has legions of fans in China, South Korea, Taiwan and elsewhere in Asia.

這個天團的成員出道時是青少年，在滑板上表演，現今年齡在39到44歲間。多年來他們既成功擴大觀眾群，不讓它只限於青少女，又牢牢抓住這些青少女。許多最死忠的粉絲是和他們一起長大的女性。

SMAP是「運動音樂結合人類」的縮寫，在大陸、南韓、台灣和亞洲其他地區都有粉絲軍團。

說文解字看新聞 文／王麗娟

日本偶像天團SMAP宣布將於今年底解散，不僅日本舉國譁然，紐約時報也特別報導。導言一連用了clamor for與line up以及gather來描述SMAP家喻戶曉的魅力，隨後更以1960年代的英倫天團「披頭四」解散、「酷玩」樂團主唱克里斯馬丁與奧斯卡影后葛妮絲派楚勞燕分飛（conscious uncoupling）做比喻，協助不是那麼熟悉SMAP的讀者進入狀況，是很有技巧的寫作方式。

SMAP分手的理由，各界揣測紛紜，除非當事人出面解釋，將永遠成謎。SMAP解散，除了印證合久必分道理，紐時文章標題和內文均用aging（已有歲數、不再年輕、老化、）一字形容該團，雖然aging後面接的是heartthrob（萬人迷）一字，說明SMAP魅力仍在，筆者使用aging應是認為這個老大不小的男孩團體或許真的到了該單飛的時候。

長江後浪推前浪，即使不是現在，SMAP應該早晚還是會分。儘管SMAP的地位永在，已有跡象顯示這個國民天團有逐漸被取代的態勢。東京原宿的傑尼斯店已不在檯面上擺放SMAP的卡片供歌迷選購，只有時下新生代男孩團體的卡片。

The eight medical schools in New York City will no longer accept the city’s unclaimed bodies as cadavers, forswearing a practice that dates back to the 19th century, the schools announced on Wednesday. And a group representing the 16 medical schools in the state is withdrawing its opposition to a recently passed bill that would end the educational use of bodies with no known survivors.

The announcements, made in a statement by the Associated Medical Schools of New York, reflect the changing politics and practicalities of acquiring bodies for dissection in a time of public sensitivity to inequality and informed consent.

紐約市8所醫學院周三（10日）宣布，不再以該市無人認領的遺體為解剖用大體，拋棄這種始自19世紀的作法。一個代表紐約州16所醫學院的團體也表示，不再反對近日通過的一項法案，該法案規定不得再把沒有遺屬的屍體用於教學。

紐約醫學院聯合協會透過聲明宣布了這個決定，反映出在大眾對不平等與知情同意十分在意的當下，獲取解剖大體的策略和實作已經有了改變。

New York-based medical schools, which train more students than those in any other state, have had a dwindling need for unclaimed bodies in recent years as their body donation programs grew. Still, the association strongly opposed a bill this year that would require written consent from a spouse or next of kin before city officials could release an unclaimed body to a school, unless the deceased had already registered as a body donor. It cited a current shortfall of 38 cadavers out of about 800 typically used to teach future doctors each year.

But the bill passed both houses overwhelmingly in June, a month after a New York Times investigation highlighted provisions in the current law that give families as little as 48 hours to claim a relative’s body before the city must make it available for dissection or embalming practice.

紐約州的醫學院訓練的學生多過美國任何其他州，這些學校近年由於自行建置的大體捐贈系統發展良好，使用無人認領遺體的需求不斷降低。儘管如此，該協會仍強烈反對今年通過的一項法案，該法案規定在市府官員將無人認領的遺體交給學校之前，需先取得配偶或近親書面同意，除非死者本已註記為大體捐贈者。該協會指出，目前每年通常約需800具大體供醫學院學生教學用，卻短少38具。

該法案六月在州議會兩院以壓倒性票數通過，此前一個月紐約時報在一篇調查報導中特別指出，依照現行法令，家屬只有短短的48個小時去認領親人遺體，之後市政當局就必須准許將遺體供作解剖或防腐處理之用。

That bill is awaiting the signature of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, to become law. Now, the association says that medical schools can make up any shortfall by promoting their body donation programs. The two schools without such a program — CUNY College of Medicine and Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine — have both begun developing them, the association said. Traditionally, medical schools share donated cadavers with schools that run short.

“Donating your body to science is the ultimate gift a person can make,” Jo Wiederhorn, president of the medical schools association, said. “We can’t train future doctors without these donations, and, in many cases, we can’t make medical discoveries that lead to cures and life improvements without them.”

該法案正等著民主黨籍州長郭謨簽署成為法律。如今該協會表示，各醫學院將藉由推展大體捐贈計畫來彌補任何短缺，紐約市立大學醫學院和杜魯大學骨科醫學院這兩所沒有類似計畫的學校，都已經開始設置這種計畫。傳統上，醫學院間會在受贈大體上互通有無。

醫學院協會會長裘．韋德罕說：「將遺體捐給科學界是一個人能提供的極致贈禮。」她說：「少了這些捐贈，我們無法訓練未來的醫師，而且在許多情況下，少了它們，我們無法取得能夠幫助我們治療疾病、改善生活的醫學發現。」