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

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

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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 to 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 ah a result of failing economic conditions.
    Following the end of World War II, 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; yet 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 oyaburt-kobttn creates ladders of mobility which an individual can ascend, rising as far as abilities permit, so long as he maintains successful personalities 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 best states the central thesis of the passage?
选项 A、The value system of Japan is based upon traditional and conservative values which have in modern times, been modified by Western and other liberal values.
B、Students and radicals in Japan have used Leninist ideology to distort the meaning of democratic, Western values.
C、The notions of personal freedom and individual liberty did not find immediate acceptance in Japan because of the predominance of traditional group values.
D、Modern Japanese society is characterized by hierarchical relationships: in which a personal tie to a superior is often more important than merit.
答案A
解析 大意判断题。文章的中心思想是日本社会的社会特征和民族准则是传统的儒家思想，但随着时间的推移，西方思想的影响越来越大。
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