Do you believe that blood types, like zodiac signs, candetermine your personality? People in Japan take blood types veryseriously, according to a recent BBC report. They have bigimplications for life, work and love. “What’s your blood type?” isoften a key question in everything from matchmaking to jobapplications。

　　你相信血型会像星座一样，决定一个人的性格吗？近日，英国广播公司BBC报道称，在日本人们很注重血型。从生活、工作到恋爱，他们都会参考血型。“你是什么血型？”已经成为一个关键性问题，关系到相亲、求职以及生活的方方面面。

　　Last year, four of Japan’s top 10 best-sellers were about howblood type determines personality, selling more than 5 millioncopies altogether。

　　去年，日本10大畅销图书中有4本与血型决定性格有关，四本书的总销量超过500万册。

　　Taku Kabeya, chief editor at Bungeisha, the publisher of oneof the books, told The Huffington Post that he thought the appealof these books comes from having one’s self-image confirmed.Readers discover the definition of their blood type and “It’s like‘Yes, that’s me!’”

　　作为其中一本图书的发行人、文芸社主编TakuKabeya在接受《郝芬顿邮报》采访时称，他认为这类图书的魅力源自人们对自我形象的认知。读者看到书中对自己血型所下的定义时便会觉得“太对了，这就是我！”。

　　As defined by the books, type As are sensitive perfectionistsand good team players, but they tend to be over-anxious. Type Osare curious and generous but stubborn, while ABs are artistic butalso mysterious and unpredictable. Type Bs are cheerful, but haveeccentric, individualistic and selfish traits。

　　按照书中定义，A型血的人是敏感的完美主义者以及优秀的团队领导者，但同时往往过于焦虑。O型血的人好奇心强，慷慨大方，但十分固执；而AB型血的人很有艺术气质，但太过神秘莫测。B型血的人性格开朗，却性格古怪，崇尚利己主义且十分自私。

　　About 40 percent of the Japanese population are type A and 30percent are type O, while only 20 percent are type B, with ABaccounting for the remaining 10 percent, according to theBBC。

　　BBC报道称，日本人口中大约有40%的人是A型血，30%是O型血，而B型和AB型血的人数仅占20%和10%。

　　Morning television shows, newspapers and magazines oftenpublish blood type horoscopes and discuss relationshipcompatibility based on blood types. Popular comics and video gamesoften mention a character’s blood type。

　　早间新闻节目、报纸以及杂志常常会发布一些类似于占星术的血型分析，并探讨恋人间的血型相容性。热门喜剧以及电子游戏也常常会提到某个人物的血型。

　　You can even buy soft drinks, chewing gum, and bath saltscatering to different blood groups。

　　你甚至可以买到根据不同血型人群所定制的软饮、口香糖以及浴盐。

　　Blood types, however, are simply determined by proteins in theblood. Why is it such a popular belief that they determine one’scharacter? One reason often given about the craze is that in arelatively uniform and homogenous society, it provides a simpleframework to divide people up into easily recognizablegroups。

　　然而，简单来说血型是由血液中蛋白质决定的。为何“血型决定性格”这种说法会如此受到人们的欢迎呢？导致这股热潮的原因之一便是：在相对制式、趋同的社会里，血型理论提供了一种简单的框架将人分为不同的类型。

　　“Being the same is considered a good thing here in Japanesesociety,” translator Chie Kobayashi told the BBC. “But we enjoyfinding little differences that distinguish people。”

　　译者千绘小林在接受BBC采访时表示：“在日本社会，‘从众’被视为一种美德。但我们也喜欢找到这些区别人们的小差异。”

　　The beliefs surrounding blood groups have been used in unusualways。

　　血型理论还被应用到许多不同寻常的事物中去。

　　The women’s softball team that won gold for Japan at theBeijing Olympics is reported to have used blood type theories todesign training for each player. Major companies reportedly makedecisions about assignments based on employees’ blood types。

　　北京奥运会上夺取冠军的日本女子垒球队便针对每个队员的不同血型进行训练。据说，大多数公司会参考血型来为员工安排任务。

　　In 1990 the Asahi Daily newspaper reported that MitsubishiElectronics had announced the creation of a team made up entirelyof AB workers, because of “their ability to make plans”。

　　1990年，《朝日新闻》的一篇报道称，日本三菱电器组建了一个完全由AB型血员工组成的团队，认为“他们企划能力强”。

　　These beliefs even affect politics. Last year, the country’sMinister for Reconstruction Ryu Matsumoto was forced to resignafter only a week in office, after a bad-tempered encounter withlocal officials was televised. In his resignation speech he blamedhis failings on his blood type。

　　血型学说甚至波及到政坛。去年，日本复兴担当大臣松本龙由于脾气暴躁而与日本地方官员发生冲突，该事件被电视报道后，上任仅一周的松本龙就被迫辞职。在辞职演说中，他将自己的过失归咎于血型。

　　“My blood is type B, which means I can be irritable andimpetuous, and my intentions don’t always come across,” said aremorseful Matsumoto。

　　松本龙十分懊悔地表示：“我是B型血，这意味着我容易烦躁和冲动，我的本意经常被误解。”

　　Not all see the craze about blood types as harmless fun, andthe Japanese now have a term for it, “bura-hara,” meaningblood-type harassment。

　　并非所有的人都将这股热潮视为无伤大雅的玩笑，现在在日本有一个专门术语叫“bura-hara”，意思就是血型骚扰。

　　People with blood B and AB are especially looked down uponbecause according to their blood types they are strange and can’tget along with others. The negative images are so widelyacknowledged that people with these blood types are reluctant to“come out”. It even affects their willingness to become blooddonors。

　　B型和AB型的人尤其遭到人们的白眼，因为这些血型的人性格古怪，无法与他人相处。这些负面形象得到人们的广泛认同，使得这些血型的人十分抗拒站出来。这甚至还影响到他们想献血的意愿。