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  3. After World War II the glorification of an ever-larger GNP formed the basis of a new materialism, which became a sacred obligati

After World War II the glorification of an ever-larger GNP formed the basis of a new materialism, which became a sacred obligati

admin2010-05-05  10
问题     After World War II the glorification of an ever-larger GNP formed the basis of a new materialism, which became a sacred obligation for all Japanese governments, businesses and trade unions. Anyone who mentioned the undesirable by-products of rapid economic growth was treated as a heretic. Consequently, everything possible was done to make conditions easy for the manufacturers. Few dared question the wisdom of discharging untreated waste into the nearest water body or untreated smoke into the atmosphere. This silence was maintained by union leaders as well as by most of the country’s radicals; except for a few isolated voices, no one protested. An insistence on treatment of the various effluents would have necessitated expenditures on treatment equipment that in turn would have given rise to higher operating costs. Obviously, this would have meant higher prices for Japanese goods, and ultimately fewer sales and lower industrial growth and GNP.
    The pursuit of nothing but economic growth is illustrated by the response of the Japanese government to the American educational mission that visited Japan in 1947. After surveying Japan’s educational program, the Americans suggested that the Japanese fill in their curriculum gap by creating departments in chemical and sanitary engineering. Immediately, chemical engineering departments were established in all the country’s universities and technical institutions. In contrast, the recommendation to form sanitary engineering departments was more or less ignored, because they could bring no profit. By 1960, only two second-rate universities, Kyoto and Hokkaido, were interested enough to open such departments.
    The reluctance to divert funds from production to conservation is explanation enough for a certain degree of pollution, but the situation was made worse by the type of technology the Japanese chose to adopt for their industrial expansion. For the most part, they simply copied American industrial methods. This meant that methods originally designed for use in a country that stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific with lots of air and water to use as sewage receptacles were adopted for an area a fraction of the size. Moreover, the Japanese diet was much more dependent on water as a source of fish and as an input in the irrigation of rice; consequently discharged wastes built up much more rapidly in the food chain.
Notes:
heretic 异教徒
sanitary 卫生的
for the most part 基本上
receptacle 储存地
选项 A、they were reckoned to be unnecessary.
B、they would check economic development.
C、no one was much interested in them.
D、pollution was held as inevitable at that time.
答案B
解析 细节归纳题。本题问：根据本文，二战以后日本在环保方面没有采取措施的原因何在?第1段最后两句写道："An insistence on treatment of the various effluents would have necessitated expenditures on treatment equipment that in turn would have given rise to higher operating costs．Obviously，this would have meant higher prices for Japanese goods，and ultimately fewer sales and lower industrial growth and GNP"．(坚持认为处理各种污染流出物将必须花钱购买处理设备，而这笔开支又会使运行成本提高。显然，这就意味着日本货的价格更贵，因而最终使销量减少、工业增长率和国民生产总值降低)。归结起来，日本人认为，环保投资会妨碍经济发展。注意：GNP(gross national product)国民生产总值。resort to(=adopt)采取。check vt．妨害，制止，阻止。例如：We have checked the advance of the enemy，(我们制止了敌人的前进)。
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