歷年考研英語閱讀理解2000年04
[00:03.34]2000 Passage4
[00:07.54]Aimlessness has hardly been typical of the postwar Japan
[00:11.47]whose productivity and social harmony
[00:14.20]are the envy of the United States and Europe.
[00:17.42]But increasingly the Japanese are seeing a decline
[00:20.54]of the traditional work-moral values.
[00:24.14]Ten years ago young people were hardworking
[00:27.69]and saw their jobs as their primary reason for being,
[00:31.32]but now Japan has largely fulfilled its economic needs,
[00:35.46]and young people don't know where they should go next.
[00:39.50]The coming of age of the postwar baby boom
[00:42.73]and an entry of women
[00:44.33]into the male-dominated job market
[00:46.55]have limited the opportunities of teen-agers
[00:49.29]who are already questioning the heavy personal sacrifices
[00:53.01]involved in climbing Japan's rigid social ladder to
[00:56.58]good schools and jobs.
[00:59.00]In a recent survey, it was found
[01:01.42]that only 24.5 percent of Japanese students
[01:05.35]were fully satisfied with school life,
[01:07.98]compared with 67.2 percent of students in the United States.
[01:13.57]In addition, far more Japanese workers expressed dissatisfaction
[01:18.21]with their jobs than did their counterparts
[01:21.03]in the 10 other countries surveyed.
[01:23.86]While often praised by foreigners
[01:26.28]for its emphasis on the basics,
[01:28.39]Japanese education tends to stress test taking
[01:32.22]and mechanical learning over creativity and self-expression.
[01:36.66]"Those things that do not show up in the test scores--
[01:39.80]personality, ability, courage
[01:42.13]or humanity --are completely ignored,"
[01:45.65]says Toshiki Kaifu, chairman of the ruling
[01:48.68]Liberal Democratic Party's education committee."
[01:52.65]Frustration against this kind of thing
[01:54.97]leads kids to drop out and run wild."
[01:58.40]Last year Japan experienced 2,125 incidents
[02:03.84]of school violence,
[02:05.66]including 929 assaults on teachers.
[02:09.49]Amid the outcry, many conservative leaders
[02:12.71]are seeking a return to the prewar emphasis
[02:15.23]on moral education.
[02:18.25]Last year Mitsuo Setoyama,
[02:21.18]who was then education minister,
[02:23.71]raised eyebrows when he argued
[02:25.48]that liberal reforms introduced
[02:27.69]by the American occupation authorities after World War Ⅱ
[02:31.24]had weakened the
[02:31.94]"Japanese morality of respect for parents."
[02:36.27]But that may have more to do
[02:38.19]with Japanese life-styles.
[02:40.11]"In Japan," says educator Yoko Muro,
[02:43.23]"it's never a question of
[02:44.98]whether you enjoy your job and your life,
[02:47.40]but only how much you can endure."
[02:49.63]With economic growth has come centralization;
[02:53.57]fully 76 percent of Japan's 119 million citizens
[02:58.91]live in cities where community
[03:01.02]and the extended family have been abandoned
[03:03.65]in favor of isolated,
[03:05.04]two-generation households. Urban Japanese
[03:09.17]have long endured lengthy commutes
[03:11.69](travels to and from work) and crowded living conditions,
[03:16.66]but as the old group and family values weaken,
[03:19.98]the discomfort is beginning to tell.
[03:22.81]In the past decade, the Japanese divorce rate,
[03:26.26]while still well below that of the United States,
[03:29.29]has increased by more than 50 percent,
[03:32.22]and suicides have increased by nearly one-quarter.
