東京奧運吉祥物或由小學生投票決定

The Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games announced last Tuesday that the nation's elementary school children will likely choose the Game's mascot from the final candidates via voting.

東京奧運會和殘奧會組織委員會上週二宣佈，奧運吉祥物或將由日本小學生從最終候選設計中投票選出。

The committee is expected to give each elementary class across Japan one vote on the final mascot candidates and will choose the one the children select the most.

東京奧組委預計將讓全日本各小學的每個班級對最終候選吉祥物進行一次投票，並將選擇獲得孩子投票數最高的作爲吉祥物。

The committee said it will be the first effort of its kind in the history of the Games.

東京奧組委表示，這將是奧運史上首個此類舉措。

The committee is consulting the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry and other related parties to decide the application requirements and screening method by mid-May, and a committee review panel will narrow the candidates for the mascot down to three or four by the end of the year.

東京奧組委正在與文部科學省等有關方面進行商討，將在5月中旬前決定吉祥物申請要求和篩選辦法；今年年底前，奧組委評委會將把吉祥物候選範圍縮至三四個。

The vote will then be held at the beginning of 2018 with the intention of deciding the design of the mascot by the first half of the year.

之後將於2018年年初舉行投票，爭取在2018年上半年之前確定吉祥物的設計圖案。

According to the education ministry's School Basic Survey, in academic year 2016, there were 20,313 public and private elementary schools nationwide, making up a total of 271,764 classes.

根據教育部門的學校基本調查顯示，在2016學年，日本全國共有20313所公立和私立小學，一共有271764個班級。