For the past 60 years, every generation of freshman¹ students at Izumo Agricultural and Forestry² High School, in Izumo, Japan's Shimane prefecture, has taken the "Class of Life", a controversial six-month course during which the students help hatch and raise chickens, before having to slaughter³ and eat them.

过去60年来，日本岛根县出云市的出云农林高中的每一届新生都要上一门“生命课”。在这门充满争议的六个月课程中，学生们将帮忙孵出小鸡、把鸡养大，然后亲手宰杀并吃掉它们。

Last year, the Class of Life at Izumo High School started in October, when they were presented with around 60 chicken eggs.

去年，出云高中的生命课于十月份开课，约60个鸡蛋被分给了学生。

Under the guidance of a teacher, they prepared them for incubation, washing them, arranging them in a special tray and learning to adjust the humidity and temperature on the incubator.

在一名老师的指导下，学生做了孵化鸡蛋的准备工作，包括清洗鸡蛋、将鸡蛋放在特别的盘中，学习如何调整孵卵器的湿度和温度。

For the next three weeks, they were in charge of monitoring the eggs and making sure that the right conditions for hatching were met. Once the chicks hatched, each student had to pick one and raise it as their own, knowing full well that in just a few months they would have to kill and eat it.

在接下来的三周时间里，学生们负责监控鸡蛋，确保鸡蛋处于合适的孵化条件下。一旦小鸡孵出，每名学生都要挑选一只小鸡，并将自己的小鸡养大，而且他们清楚地知道几个月后他们必须亲手宰杀并吃掉这只鸡。

The students were responsible for the well-being⁴ and proper growth of the chickens. They had to feed them, change their water frequently, monitor the temperature of their enclosure, as well as weight them periodically and record their progress.

学生们负责让各自的小鸡快乐健康地成长。他们必须给鸡喂食、经常给鸡换水、监控鸡舍的温度，定期给鸡称重并记录成长进度。

As you can imagine, some students get attached to the chickens, with some going as far to treat them like pets, despite knowing the gruesome conclusion of the class. Other try their best not to get to close to the birds, for that exact same reason.

你可以想象得到，一些学生对鸡产生了感情，个别学生甚至把鸡当宠物来对待，尽管知道这门课的可怕结局。正因为知道结局，其他人尽量不让自己和鸡亲近。

For example, Arakawa Yumesui, one of the students taking the Class of Life last year, told Nippon TV that she did not dare name her chicken for fear of attachment⁵. Even so, when the time came to take its life, she said she felt uneasy because it was kind of like a pet to her.

去年上过这门课的学生Arakawa Yumesui告诉日本电视台说，她不敢给她的鸡取名字，因为害怕产生感情。即便如此，当她不得不亲手杀掉鸡时，她说自己还是觉得不舒服，因为这只鸡对她来说就像宠物一样。

Last month, after a final measurement and weighing of the chickens, the students were taught how to kill a chicken by their teacher, before having to slaughter the ones they had spent six months raising.

上个月，在最后一次为鸡测量身高和称重后，学生们向老师学习如何杀鸡，然后他们就得亲手杀掉自己养了六个月的鸡。

In a Nippon TV video, some of the girls taking the Class of Life can be seen turning away as the teacher and other students slaughter the chicken, while others shed tears as they force themselves to look on, and told the chickens "I'm sorry" before taking their lives. It's a painful experience, but one that is supposed to teach the students a valuable lesson.

在日本电视台的一段视频中，上这门人生课的一些女孩在老师和其他学生杀鸡的时候把头转过去，其他一些人则一边强迫自己看杀鸡一边流眼泪，并在杀鸡前对鸡说“对不起”。这是一次痛苦的经历，但这门课的本意是让学生得到宝贵的经验。

Finally, after killing⁶ their chickens, the students must cook and eat them to complete the Class of Life. In the video, the students are shown frying chicken meat and then eating it, and thanking the chickens for their sacrifice.

最后，在杀掉鸡后，学生们必须把鸡烹熟了吃掉，这样生命课才算完结。视频中，学生们把面前的炸鸡肉吃掉，并感谢鸡做出了牺牲。

"It's been awful and sad, so I am lonely because I do not have a duty to go back to, but I am glad that I became able to appreciate food," Arakawa Yumesui said.

Arakawa Yumesui说：“吃掉它可怕又让人伤心，我现在感到孤独，因为我不再有需要照看的小鸡，但我也感到欣慰，因为我学会了珍惜食物。”

The Class of Life has been part of the Izumo Agricultural and Forestry High School curriculum for the past six decades, and appears to have also been adopted by this high school in Fukuoka as well.

这门生命课在出云农林高中已经有60年历史，而且福冈高中似乎也引进了同样的课程。

However, not many know about it outside of Japan, so when the Nippon TV video went viral on China's Pear Video platform recently, it caused quite the controversy⁷.

不过，国外没有多少人听说过这种课，所以当日本电视台的这段视频最近在中国梨视频网站播放后，引发了相当大的争议。

While some praised the course, claiming that it teaches students that life itself can be cruel, and that the best way to show you respect food is to eat and not waste it, others called it unnecessary and possibly traumatic for the students.

有些人称赞这门课，声称它教给学生，生命本身可能是残忍的，而尊重食物最好的方式就是好好吃掉不浪费，其他一些人则表示没必要并可能给学生的心理留下创伤。

The Class of Life may seem cruel and pointless, but those who support it consider it the perfect way to teach children both to value life and appreciate the meat and fish they consume.

生命课也许在某些人看来残忍又没有意义，但支持者们认为这是让孩子们学会珍惜生命和自己享用的鱼肉等食物的完美方式。

Many children are brought up with delicious animal-based dishes without ever being told that they come at the expense of other life.

许多孩子都是吃着美味的肉食长大，却从来没有人告诉他们，这些肉食是牺牲其他动物的生命得来的。

They live comfortable, convenient lives without ever giving thought to the lives lost to fill their bellies⁸. This way, at least they know what it feels like to take a life for sustenance⁹.

孩子们过着舒适便利的生活，从来没想过为了填饱自己的肚皮而被杀掉的那些生命。用这种方式，至少他们会知道，杀生取食是什么感觉。

Japanese film director Tatsuya Mori, the author of a book called How to Eat Life, believes that anyone who consumes fish and meat should take the Class of Life at least once in their life. If they are not comfortable doing so, perhaps they should become vegetarians¹⁰.

如何吃掉生命》一书的作者、日本电影导演Tatsuya Mori认为，任何吃鱼和肉的人一生中至少要上一次生命课。如果他们觉得这么做不舒服，也许他们应该做素食者。