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  3. The uniqueness of the Japanese character is the result of two, seemingly contradictory forces: the strength of traditions and se

The uniqueness of the Japanese character is the result of two, seemingly contradictory forces: the strength of traditions and se

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问题    The uniqueness of the Japanese character is the result of two, seemingly contradictory forces: the strength of traditions and selective receptivity of foreign achievements and inventions. As early as the 1860s, there were counter movements to the traditional orientation. Yukichi Fukuzawa, the most eloquent spokesman of Japan’s "Enlightenment," claimed "The Confucian civilization of the East seems to me to lack two things possessed by Western civilization: science in the material sphere and a sense of independence in the spiritual sphere." Fukuzawa’s great influence is found in the free and individualistic philosophy of the Education Code of 1872, but he was not able to prevent the government from turning back to the canons of Confucian thought in the Imperial Rescript of 1890. Another interlude of relative liberalism followed World War I, when the democratic idealism of President Woodrow Wilson had an important impact on Japanese intellectuals and, especially, students; but more important was the Leninist ideology of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. Again, in the early 1930s, nationalism and militarism became dominant, largely as a result of failing economic conditions.
   Following the end of World War U, substantial changes were undertaken in Japan to liberate the individual from authoritarian restraints. The new democratic value system was accepted by many teachers, students, intellectuals, and old liberals, but it was not immediately embraced by the society as a whole. Japanese traditions were dominated by group values, and notions of personal freedom and individual rights were unfamiliar.
   Today, democratic processes are clearly evident in the widespread participation of the Japanese people in social and political life and there is no universally accepted and stable value system. Values are constantly modified by strong infusions of Western ideas, both democratic and Marxist. School textbooks expound democratic principles, emphasizing equality over hierarchy and rationalism over tradition; but in practice these values are often misinterpreted and distorted, particularly by the youth who translate the individualistic and humanistic goals of democracy into egoistic and materialistic ones.
   Most Japanese people have consciously rejected Confucianism, but vestiges of the old order remain, an important feature of relationships in many institutions such as political parties, large corporations, and university faculties is the oyabun-kobun or parent-child relation. A party leader, supervisor, or professor, in return for loyalty, protects those subordinate to him and takes general responsibility for their interests throughout their entire lives, an obligation that sometimes even extends to arranging marriages. The corresponding loyalty of the individual to his patron reinforces his allegiance to the group to which they both belong. A willingness to cooperate with other members of the group and to support without qualification the interests of the group in all its external relations is still a widely respected virtue. The oyabun-kobun creates ladders of mobility which an individual can ascend, rising as far as abilities permit, so long as he maintains successful personal ties with a superior in the vertical channel, the latter requirement usually taking precedence over a need for exceptional competence, as a consequence, there is little horizontal relationship between people even: within the same profession.
Which of the following is most similar to the relationship of the oyabun-kobun described in the passage?
选项 A、A political candidate and the voting public.
B、A gifted scientist and his protector.
C、Two brothers who are partners in a business.
D、A judge presiding at the trial of a criminal defendant.
答案B
解析 这是进一步推论应用题。要将文章中提及的oyabun-kobun的含义应用在一种新的情景中。这种关系的特征是什么呢?首先oyabun-kobun所指的关系就像父子间的关系，一个人比另一个人的地位高。这样的关系与C的内容不同，因为C的内容是两人间的等同关系。父子关系的另一种含义是亲密无间，这样一来，A的内容也不能成立。这是一个人与许多人之间的关系。D尽管说的是一个人与一个人的关系，但是法官与被告之间投有父子间的亲密关系，也是错的。最后剩下B，这是一个人与一个人之间的关系，protector是被有影响力者保护的人，两者的利益相似，而且一方高于另一方。所以B是正确的答案。
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