◎ 蔡子岳
Temple bells will echo at midnight as families gather around noodles and revelers flock to shrines for the biggest holiday in Japan.
日本最大的節日這天，午夜零點整，鐘聲響起，家庭團圓吃麵，神社聚集慶祝的人們。
"I feel this sense of duality," said Kami Miyamoto, 21, an economics student at Meiji University in Tokyo, who traveled home in Hakusan, Ishikawa prefecture, for the holiday.
「我感到有一種雙重性，」21歲的宮本說，宮本是東京明治大學經濟系學生，她回到石川縣和歌山市家鄉過元旦。
"The world is heading toward conservative insular policies," she said of the U.S. election, Brexit and what she believes lies ahead for elections in Europe in 2017.
「整個世界朝向保守孤立政策，」她提及美國大選、英國脫歐及2017年歐陸陸續大選。
"We learned about how valuable it is to get correct information." One of the most memorable experiences for Miyamoto in 2016 was a three-week study program in South Korea.
「我們學到，獲得正確資訊是一件多麼價值不菲的事。」2016年宮本認為最值得回憶的一件事，是在韓國為期3週的短期學程。
She was surprised and moved by the friendship she formed with South Korean students, and she has decided to focus her studies on relations with South Korea.
韓國學生表現的友誼令宮本驚奇感動，她決定將學習重心放在日韓關係。
"Studying about the U.S. and Europe seems to be about looking at the past, but East Asian studies are focusing on the future," she said.
「研究美國、歐洲好比是回看過去，東亞研究則是聚焦未來，」她說。
Miyamoto’s mother is preparing soba noodles, a standard New Year’s Eve dish in Japan, except in their home it will be filled with green onions and shrimp.
宮本的母親正準備蕎麥麵，日本除夕的傳統菜色，不過在他們家鄉則是佐以青蔥與蝦子。
新聞辭典
flock：動詞，聚集；群集；蜂擁。例句：Hundreds of people flocked to the football match.（數百人湧來觀看足球比賽。）
duality：名詞，雙重性，二元性。例句："Most of us have that sense of duality," says Nguyen, adding that the feeling of having "two faces" is aggravated for immigrants and refugees.（「我們裡面許多人都感到雙重性，」阮說，「兩個臉孔」的感覺在移民與難民的身分上合而為一。）
lie (ahead)：動詞，在前方，未來。例句：We don’t know what lies before our country.（我們不知道我國未來會遭遇什麼。）
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