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<strong>Chinese title:</strong> "日本老年人犯罪创纪录 2万名老人曾偷超市物品".

Theft by the elderly is on the rise in Japan, reports China Youth Daily. While I usually classify news items as advanced reading, the words in this article are actually fairly easy - slightly complex sentence structure but not a whole lot of complex vocabulary, worth a shot for intermediate students.<!--more--> 

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<h4>Click to Listen</h4>
警察厅 - [pinyin]jing3 cha2 ting1[/pinyin] - Japan's National Police Agency
行列 - [pinyin]hang2 lie4[/pinyin] - Procession
检举 - [pinyin]jian3 ju3[/pinyin] - To report a crime / incident
据称 - [pinyin]ju4 cheng1[/pinyin] - Allegedly, according to reports
节俭 - [pinyin]jie2 jian3[/pinyin] - Thriftiness, penny-pinching
调查 - [pinyin]diao4 cha2[/pinyin] - Investigation, inquiry
自制心 - [pinyin]zi4 zhi4 xin1[/pinyin] - Self-control

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从前有个妇人，她带着女儿住在一座漂亮的花园里，院子里种了许多卷心菜。冬天，有只兔子来到院子里偷吃卷心菜，妈妈对女儿说：“去把那兔子赶走。”小姑娘就出来对兔子说: “喂！兔子，你快把我们家的卷心菜吃光了。” 兔子对小姑娘说：“小姑娘，来坐到我尾巴上来吧，我带你上我家去。”

小姑娘不肯。

 第二天，兔子又来吃卷心菜了。妈妈又对女儿说：“到院子里去把那只兔子赶走。”小姑娘就出来对兔子说：“喂！兔子，你快把我们家的卷心菜吃光了。”兔子对小姑娘说： “小姑娘，来坐到我尾巴上来吧，我带你上我家去。”小姑娘还是拒绝了。

第三天，兔子又来了，坐在卷心菜上面。妈妈对女儿说：“去把那兔子赶走。”小姑娘就出来对兔子说：“喂！兔子，你快把我们家的卷心菜吃光了。”兔子对小姑娘说：“小姑娘，来坐到我尾巴上来吧，我带你上我家去。”小姑娘坐到兔子尾巴上，被带到了很远的兔子家。它对姑娘说：“现在动手烧饭吧，用青菜和小米，我去请来参加婚礼的客人。”接着，所有的客人都到了（谁是客人？我把别人告诉我的说给你听吧：全是兔子！奶牛是牧师，为新郎新娘主持婚礼；狐狸是司仪，祭坛在彩虹下面。）

姑娘十分难过，因为只有她是人。小兔子走来说：“开门开门快开门，客人们都很有兴趣。”被当成新娘的姑娘一言不发地抽泣起来，兔子走了出去。它再回来时又说：“开饭开饭快开饭，客人们肚子都很饿了。”新娘还是一声不吭，顾自流泪，兔子又走了。它第三次回来时对小姑娘说：“揭开锅盖快揭开，客人已经不耐烦。”新娘沉默着，兔子又出去了。于是姑娘将自己的衣服套在一个稻草人身上，给它一把勺子装成搅拌锅里煮的东西的样子，然后把它摆在锅边，自己回家找妈妈去了。小兔子又回来喊：“快开饭，快开饭！”然后站起来，对着新娘就是一拳，结果把稻草人的帽子给打掉了。

小兔子发现这不是它要的新娘，十分难过地离开了那里。
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Japanese news agencies reported on the 27th that Japanese National Police Agency released information stating that more and more old people are joining the ranks [lit: procession] of thieves. In the past year, the number of people over the age of 65 who have stolen things from supermarkets and convenience stores has increased by 343 people (a 1.3% increase), with the total reaching 27,362 people, comprising 26% of all reported instances of theft, almost identical to the number (27%) of "Young Thieves" (14-19 year-olds).

Allegedly, among the reasons given by "Old thieves" who were caught, 71.8% said it was because they wanted the thing [they stole] but weren't willing to pay money to buy it. Another 13.2% said it was because they didn't have the money to buy it. An additional 0.9% of old people just thought it was fun, and [said] that it felt like a game. In terms of the proportion of men to women, 48.2% of the thieves were women, 51.8% were men, almost the same numbers. 

Reports say that goods stolen by old people mostly consist of foodstuffs. National Police Agency analysis suggests that perhaps these old people are concerned about their future livelihoods, and their motivation to steal is based in "thriftiness". At the same time, the investigation illustrates that these old people have lived for a long time without society's support, lonely, isolated and without help, causing the excessive psychological fatigue which lead them to relax their self-control.

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