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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 the sentence structure here is more advanced, the words in this article are actually fairly easy - 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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中新网1月28日电据日本新闻网27日报道，日本<strong>警察厅</strong>发表消息说，越来越多的老人加入了小偷小摸的<strong>行列</strong>。在过去一年里，65岁以上老年人在超市和便利店等地方偷窃东西的人数比2009年增加了343人(增1.3%)，总数达到2万7362人，占到全体遭<strong>检举</strong>小偷总人数的26%，几乎与“小偷少年”(14-19岁)的总人数 (27%)相同。

<strong>据称</strong>，在这些被抓的“小偷老人”行窃的原因里，有71.8%的人是因为想要这些东西却不愿意花钱买。还有13.2%的人是因为口袋里实在没钱买东西。还有0.9%的老人只是觉得好玩，有一种游戏的感觉。按照男女比例来分，女性小偷是48.2%，男性小偷是51.8%，比例几乎相近。

报道说，这些老人偷窃的东西主要是食品。警察厅分析说，可能是这些老人对于自己今后的生活感到不安，怀着“<strong>节俭</strong>”的动机行窃。同时，<strong>调查</strong>也显示这些老人久居在家，没有社会的归属感，长期的孤独无助导致他们精神疲劳过度，而放松了对<strong>自制心</strong>。

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<a href="http://news.cyol.com/content/2011-01/28/content_4133594.htm">Read the original story</a>
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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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