2. 外语
  3. These days lots of young Japanese do omiai, literally, "meet and look." Many of them do so willingly. In today’s prosperous and

These days lots of young Japanese do omiai, literally, "meet and look." Many of them do so willingly. In today’s prosperous and

admin2013-07-30  75
问题     These days lots of young Japanese do omiai, literally, "meet and look." Many of them do so willingly. In today’s prosperous and increasingly conservative Japan, the traditional omiai kekkon, or arranged marriage, is thriving.
    But there is a difference. In the original omiai, the young Japanese couldn’t reject the partner chosen by his parents and their middleman. After World War II, many Japanese abandoned the arranged marriage as part of their rush to adopt the more democratic ways of their American conquerors. The Western ren ’ai kekkon, or love marriage, became popular; Japanese began picking their own mates by dating and falling in love.
    But the western way often found wanting in an important respect: it didn’t necessarily produce a partner of the right economic, social, and educational qualifications. "Today’s young people are quite calculating," says Chieko Akiyama, a social commentator.
    What seems to be happening now is a repetition of a familiar process in the country’s history, the "Japanization" of an adopted foreign practice. The Western ideal of marrying for love is accommodated in a new omiai in which both parties are free to reject the match. ""Omiai is evolving into a sort of stylized introduction," Mrs. Akiyama says.
    Many young Japanese now date in their early twenties, but with no thought of marriage. When they reach the age — in the middle twenties for women, the late twenties for men — they increasingly turn to omiai. Some studies suggest that as many as 40% of marriages each year are omiai kekkon. It’s hard to be sure, say those who study the matter, because many Japanese couples, when polled, describe their marriage as a love match even if it was arranged.
    These days, doing omiai often means going to a computer matching service rather than to a nakodo. The nakodo of tradition was an old woman who knew all the kids in the neighbourhood and went around trying to pair them off by speaking to their parents; a successful match would bring her a wedding invitation and a gift of money. But Japanese today find it’s less awkward to reject a proposed partner if the nakodo is a computer.
    Japan has about five hundred computer matching services. Some big companies, including Mitsubishi, run one for their employees. At a typical commercial service, an applicant pays $80 to $125 to have his or her personal data stored in the computer for two years and $200 or so more if a marriage results. The stored information includes some obvious items like education and hobbies, and some not-so-obvious ones, like whether a person is the oldest child.(First sons, and to some extent first daughters, face an obligation of caring for elderly parents.)
What do today’s young Japanese prefer according to the passage?
选项 A、A traditional arranged marriage.
B、A new type of arranged marriage.
C、A Western love marriage.
D、A more Westernized love marriage.
答案B
解析 首段提到，最近许多日本年轻人都很乐意去omiai(相亲)。随后提到传统的omiai kekkon(包办婚姻)正方兴未艾。第二段首句提到但是有一点不同。根据第二段提到的“在原来的omiai中，年轻的日本人不能拒绝父母和媒人给挑选的对象”和第四段第二句提到的“西方为爱而婚的理想在一种新的omiai中被接受，在这种相亲活动中双方都有拒绝对方的权利”可知，以前和现在的包办婚姻的不同之处在于能否拒绝相亲的对象，由此可知，现在的婚姻是一种新型的包办婚姻，故答案为[B]，同时排除[A]。由第三段提到的西方婚姻模式的不足可推断出，尽管它在日本变得流行，但日本年轻人也不喜欢这种单纯的自由恋爱，故排除[C]。由第四段首句可知，日本人青睐的是本土化的西方式婚姻，而不是西式的爱情婚姻，故排除[D]。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/KI97777K
0

大学英语六级

相关试题推荐
随机试题
最新回复(0)