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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.
The author is mainly concerned with______.
选项 A、explaining the influence of Confucianism on modern Japan
B、analyzing the reasons for Japan’s postwar economic success
C、discussing some important determinants of Japanese values
D、describing managerial practices in Japanese industry
答案C
解析 主旨题，最好的选择就是它能完整地反映出整篇文章的主题。A的内容不够完整，作者提到了 Confucianism，但这仅是文章的一部分，所以是错的。B的内容扩展了。作者提及了社会结构及价值观念，但不是经济结构；也涉及了管理策略，但是其主题是人与人之间的关系，而非经济关系。n与A一样，不完整，这方面的讨论仅是文章内容的一部分。C才是正确的答案。文章的第一句作者就谈及两种影响塑造日本的价值观念。一种是早期影响(文章的第一段)，另一种是西方现代思想的影响(文章中的第二及第三段)，然后又回到了传统的影响。
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