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  3. On Jan. 17, 1995, Kobe was hit by a 6.9-magnitude quake. The Great Hanshin Earthquake killed 6,400 people. Damage was estimated

On Jan. 17, 1995, Kobe was hit by a 6.9-magnitude quake. The Great Hanshin Earthquake killed 6,400 people. Damage was estimated

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问题     On Jan. 17, 1995, Kobe was hit by a 6.9-magnitude quake. The Great Hanshin Earthquake killed 6,400 people. Damage was estimated at more than $100 billion, similar to current estimates of the toll of last week’s 9.0-magnitude temblor in the Tohoku region of northern Japan. Yet, within 18 months, economic activity in Kobe had reached 98 percent of its pre-quake level. A state-of-the-art offshore port facility was built, housing was modernized—and a scruffy port city became an international showpiece.
    The March 11 earthquake and tsunami devastated a society that, for all its wealth, was stuck in a rut. Over the past two decades, Japan’s economic growth averaged an anemic 1 percent a year. Politically, the country was rudderless. The Liberal Democratic Party, which had governed almost continuously since the end of the U.S. military occupation following World War II, had finally worn out its welcome. And the novice Democratic Party of Japan, which had assumed power in 2009, was flailing.
    For four decades after the war, Japan experienced cozy politics backed by a robust economy. Lightly populated rural districts had a disproportionate effect on national politics. The government financed multibillion-dollar bridges to nowhere, expensive port facilities for small fishing villages and bullet trains to traverse bucolic rural areas—and seemingly lined every riverbed in Japan in concrete.
    But in 1990, the bubble burst. The working-age share of the population began to fall. In 1998, the labor force started to shrink, and a decade later, the country’s population began to decline. Eventually, voters concerned about the mounting costs of wasteful projects tossed out the LDP.
    Before the earthquake and tsunami devastated the Tohoku region on March 11, the country was already facing a slowing economy, fiscal strain and deflation, and decades of wasteful spending had saddled the country with a debt more than twice the size of the economy. Now, beyond the tragedy’s human toll, the economic costs are still being counted—and could be vastly expanded if the nuclear reactor damage is closer to that of Chernobyl than to Three Mile Island. But if rebuilding is handled skillfully, there is hope that a different kind of Japan will emerge.
    Despite its weak starting point, the government holds a few cards. Ninety-five percent of Japan’s debt is owned by its citizens, not foreign hedge funds; it’s unlikely that those citizens would dump their bond holdings if the government takes on more debt to rebuild the city of Sendai, for example. Financially, the government has more maneuvering room than might seem apparent.
    Some rebuilding can be financed by redirecting spending from useless white-elephant projects to the higher priority of remaking Tohoku. The quality of public investment in the nation could improve, perhaps permanently, as a result of this crisis.
    What is really at stake—and what will determine whether these other changes have any chance of coming to pass—is the structure of Japanese politics. If the incumbent DPJ successfully manages this emergency, the episode could reassure Japanese voters that this fledgling party represents a credible alternative to the LDP. Japan would then have a true two-party system in which political power and ideas are genuinely contested. The Great Tohoku Earthquake could be the shock that pushes Japan not only to rebuild a city, but to remake itself politically for the 21st century.
Which of the following is the most proper title of the text?
选项 A、Will the Crisis Create a New Japan?
B、The History of Great Earthquakes in Japan.
C、How Japanese Government Will Cope With the 311 Emergency
D、Virtues and Vices of March 11 Earthquake and Tsunami
答案A
解析 属主旨题。标题往往是对文章的抽象概括，是文章的主旨所在。正确的标题应该统领全篇，不含糊其辞，能够起到一眼看上去就明白文章主要反映哪几个方面内容的作用。纵观全文，文章第一段首先拿阪神大地震作为引子，让读者怀着此次东北大地震是否能够让人们看到一个不一样的日本的问题进入下文。文章第二段至第五段介绍了在此次地震发生之前日本经济和政治所面临的网境，第六段至第八段又讲到此次地震会给日本带来的一些变化。选项B纯属无中生有，选项C的问题在本文并不是重点内容，本文也没有系统地对该次地震的利弊作类比分析，故选项D也不是文章主旨。故纵观全文，选项A最为贴近文章的主旨。
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