英语新闻：日本首相夫人直言下辈子不会再嫁菅

Japan's outspoken¹ first lady said Wednesday she would not marry Premier² Naoto Kan again in another life, in a display of tough love to a husband already battling political rivals and low support ratings.

言辞犀利的日本首相夫人菅伸子本周三称，如果有来生，她不会选择再嫁给菅直人。日本首相菅直人正为与政敌斗争以及低迷的支持率头疼不已，而首相夫人则在此时向他展示出自己的“严爱”。

Nobuko Kan, wife of Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan shows her book about her husband during a press conference in Tokyo.
The prime minister's wife Nobuko Kan, 65, who is renowned³ for pulling few punches, admitted that she is not the kind of person who supports her husband through encouragement.

"I rather go for scolding（责骂） and scolding. I pull back a little when I think I've been too severe," she told reporters when asked how she can support her husband when he is faced with criticism from media and opposition⁴ parties.

"He goes to parliament, telling me 'I hate (being grilled⁵ in) parliament, but it is easier than arguing against you'," said the woman Kan has called his "opposition in the home".

Nobuko last year published a book entitled 'What on Earth will change in Japan after you become prime minister?', which said Kan lacked dress sense, could not cook and had badly flunked（不及格，失败） delivering his first policy speech.

Nobuko said she would not marry Kan again if she was reborn.

"I wouldn't do it another time. The reason is that I have already lived this life and it's not fun to repeat the same thing. I would want to have a totally different life," said the unconventional（非传统的） first lady.

Kan took power in June last year as Japan's fifth premier in four years.

Public support ratings for Kan's cabinet have since tumbled to below 30 percent, amid public discontent over his centre-left government's management of economic and foreign affairs.

Nobuko quipped that she had told Kan there is a limit to just how bad things can get, telling him: "There is no such thing as a support rate below zero."

"Both of us may be too easy-going... but it is impossible (for Kan) to quit only because of low support ratings or bullying-like criticism," she said.

The couple, who are cousins, have been married for 40 years and have two sons who are both in their 30s.