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While Christmas music played, 100 South Korean men and women gathered at a hotel near the capital of Seoul with their names written for others to see.
随着圣诞音乐响起，100名韩国男女聚集在首尔附近的一家酒店，他们写下自己的名字，以让其他人看到。
They were hoping to find love.
他们希望能找到真爱。
The government hopes they will make babies.
韩国政府希望他们能生孩子。
The young men and women were at a blind dating event held by the city of Seongnam.
这些年轻男女参加了城南市举办的相亲活动。
Blind dating is when two people who do not know each other meet in hopes of forming a relationship.
相亲是指两个互不相识的人见面，希望能建立一段关系。
The local government is attempting to fight the falling birth rate in a country where the popularity of marriage and parenthood has fallen.
在一个婚姻和为人父母的受欢迎程度已经下降的国家，当地政府正试图遏制出生率的下降。
Those who joined were in their 20s and 30s.
那些参加相亲活动的人都是二三十岁的年轻人。
They sat quietly next to one another until a relationship expert started the event with a game called rock-paper-scissors.
他们静静地坐在一起，直到一位情感专家以一种名为石头剪刀布的游戏开始了这一活动。
People soon began to talk and laugh.
人们很快就开始有说有笑。
The city appeared set on making a match.
这座城市似乎决心要进行配对。
It prepared food and drinks like red wine and chocolate.
它准备了红酒和巧克力等食物和饮料。
There were also games, free beauty services, and even services to look into people's backgrounds for the singles that joined.
还有游戏、免费的美容服务，甚至还为参加活动的单身人士提供背景调查的服务。
Lee Yu-mi is 36 and works for the city government.
36岁的李友美在市政府工作。
She said she registered to join three times before she was finally accepted to join the event.
她说，她注册了三次才最终被接受参加这个活动。
"I had no idea it would be this competitive," she said.
她说：“我没想到竞争会这么激烈”。
After five such gatherings this year, 198 people among 460 left the event as "couples", agreeing to exchange contact information, the city said.
该市表示，在今年举办了五次这样的聚会之后，460人中有198人以“情侣”的身份离开了活动，并同意交换联系方式。
The South Korean capital Seoul had considered a similar event but put the plan on hold after facing criticism.
韩国首都首尔曾考虑举办类似的活动，但在受到批评后搁置了该计划。
Some said the event was a waste of taxpayers' money and it failed to deal with the reasons people were choosing to not marry and have babies.
有些人表示，这项活动是在浪费纳税人的钱，而且未能解决人们选择不结婚不生孩子的原因。
Those reasons include the high costs of housing and education.
人们选择不结婚不生孩子的原因包括高昂的住房和教育成本。
Hwang Da-bin took part in a September event.
黄大斌参加了9月份的活动。
He said it saved him the cost of joining other social events or signing up for professional match-making services.
他说，这节省了他参加其他社交活动或注册专业婚介服务的费用。
"We are facing a real demographic crisis and the government needs to do whatever it can. I don't understand people complaining over this," Hwang said.
黄说：“我们正面临着真正的人口危机，政府需要尽其所能。我不理解人们对此的抱怨”。
The average number of children born to each South Korean woman, called the fertility rate, fell to 0.78 last year.
去年，每名韩国女性平均生育的子女数量（即生育率）降至0.78。
The country has the lowest fertility rate in the world.
这个国家的生育率是世界上最低的。
The number is far below 1.66 in the United States and 1.3 in Japan in 2021.
2021年，韩国的生育率远远低于美国的1.66和日本的1.3。
The average rate among countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, a group of 37 democracies with market economies, was 1.58 that same year.
同年，由37个市场经济民主国家组成的经济合作与发展组织的成员国的平均生育率为1.58。
Jun Jae-hoon teaches social welfare at Seoul Women's University.
全在勋在首尔女子大学教授社会福利。
He said it was "nonsense" to expect these events to lead to higher birth rates.
他说，指望这些活动会导致更高的出生率简直是“无稽之谈”。
"You need to spend more money directly on supporting pregnancy, child delivery and parenting to call it a policy…" to increase birth rates, Jung said.
全说，“为了提高出生率，需要直接在支持怀孕、分娩和育儿方面投入更多资金，这才能称为‘政策’”。
But even with criticism, thousands of people have signed up for this year's blind-dating events held by the Seongnam city.
但是，尽管饱受批评，仍有数千人报名参加了城南市今年举办的相亲活动。
Seongnam Mayor Shin Sang-jin said spreading good views on marriage would at some point help raise the birth rates.
城南市市长申相镇表示，在某种程度上，传播良好的婚姻观会有助于提高出生率。
He said that the blind-dating events are just one of many policies his city has created to deal with the falling rates.
他说，相亲活动只是他所在的城市为应对生育率下降而制定的众多政策之一。
"Low birth rates cannot be resolved with a single policy," Shin said.
申说：“低出生率不是单一政策就能解决的”。
"It's also the city's job to create the environment for people who want to marry find their partners."
“为想结婚的人找到伴侣创造环境也是这座城市的工作。”
I'm Gregory Stachel.
格雷戈里·施塔赫尔为您播报。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
