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 mascot¹ from the final candidates via voting.

东京奥运会和残奥会组织委员会上周二宣布，奥运吉祥物或将由日本小学生从最终候选设计中投票选出。

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.

东京奥组委预计将让全日本各小学的每个班级对最终候选吉祥物进行一次投票，并将选择获得孩子投票数最高的作为吉祥物。

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

东京奥组委表示，这将是奥运史上首个此类举措。

The committee is consulting the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry² and other related parties to decide the application requirements and screening method by mid-May, and a committee review panel³ will narrow the candidates for the mascot down to three or four by the end of the year.

东京奥组委正在与文部科学省等有关方面进行商讨，将在5月中旬前决定吉祥物申请要求和筛选办法；今年年底前，奥组委评委会将把吉祥物候选范围缩至三四个。

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.

之后将于2018年年初举行投票，争取在2018年上半年之前确定吉祥物的设计图案。

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.

根据教育部门的学校基本调查显示，在2016学年，日本全国共有20313所公立和私立小学，一共有271764个班级。