卡民信用卡管理软件:暑期英语悦读：生活方式导致的当代日本现象

Aimlessness has hardly been typical of the postwar Japan whose productivity and social harmony are the envy of the United States and Europe. But increasingly the Japanese are seeing a decline of the traditional work-moral values. Ten years ago young people were hard-working and saw their jobs as their primary reason for being, but now Japan has largely fulfilled its economic needs, and young people don't know where they should go next.

The coming of age of the postwar baby boom and an entry of women into the male-dominated job market have limited the opportunities of teen-agers who are already questioning the heavy personal sacrifices involved in climbing Japan's rigid social ladder to good schools and jobs. In a recent survey, it was found that only 24.5 percent of Japanese students were fully satisfied with school life, compared with 67.2 percent of students in the United States. In addition, far more Japanese workers expressed dissatisfaction with their jobs than did their counterparts in the 10 other countries surveyed.

While often praised by foreigners for its emphasis on the basics, Japanese education tends to stress test taking and mechanical learning over creativity and self-expression.“Those things that do not show up in the test scores—personality, ability, courage or humanity―are completely ignored,” says Toshiki Kaifu, chairman of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's education committee.“Frustration against this kind of thing leads kids to drop out and run wild.” Last year Japan experienced 2,125 incidents of school violence, including 929 assaults on teachers. Amid the outcry, many conservative leaders are seeking a return to the prewar emphasis on moral education. Last year Mitsuo Setoyama, who was then education minister, raised eyebrows when he argued that liberal reforms introduced by the American occupation authorities after World WarⅡ had weakened the “Japanese morality of respect for parents.”

But that may have more to do with Japanese life-styles. “ In Japan,” says educator Yoko Muro, “it's never a question of whether you enjoy your job and your life, but only how much you can endure.” With economic growth has come centralization; fully 76 percent of Japan's 119 million citizens live in cities where community and the extended family have been abandoned in favor of isolated, two generation households. Urban Japanese have long endured lengthy commutes (travels to and from work) and crowded living conditions, but as the old group and family values weaken, the discomfort is beginning to tell. In the past decade, the Japanese divorce rate, while still well below that of the United States, has increased by more than 50 percent, and suicides have increased by nearly one-quarter.

全文翻译

盲目性不是战后日本的特色，它的生产率和社会的和谐为美国和欧洲所羡慕。但是，日本人正在逐渐经历传统工作道德价值观的日益滑坡。10年前，日本年轻人工作勤奋，将工作视为他们存在的主要理由，但如今日本基本上已经满足了其经济需求，年轻人却不知道他们随后该去何方。

战后婴儿出生高峰期出生的人已到成年，以及妇女进入男性主宰的就业市场，限制了青少年的发展机遇，这些青少年已经开始质疑攀登日本等级森严的社会阶梯以求进好学校，找好工作中付出的沉重的个人牺牲是否值得。最近一次调查发现只有24.5%的日本学生对学校生活完全满意，相比之下，美国学生的比例是62.7%。此外，与被调查的其他10个国家的工人相比，对自身工作表示不满的日本工人多得多。

虽然日本的教育因强调基础知识而经常受到外国人的赞扬，但是它强调考试和机械学习而不是创造性和自我表现。“那些在考分中不能体现的东西——个性、能力、勇气或人性——完全被忽视了，”执政的自民党教育委员会主席Toshiki Kaifu说，“这类事情造成的挫折致使孩子辍学以及变得狂野。”去年日本发生了2,125起校园暴力事件，其中包括929起袭击老师事件。在抗议声中，许多保守党领导人正在力图重新重视战前那种道德教育；去年，时任教育大臣的Mitsuo Setoyama就冒出惊人之语，他坚持认为二战后美国占领当局引进的自由改革削弱了“日本人尊敬父母的道德观”。

但是，这可能和日本人的生活方式关系更大。教育家Yoko Muro说“在日本，你喜欢不喜欢自己的工作和生活，这从来都不是问题，问题是你有多大的承受力。”经济的增长伴随着人口的集中，在日本1.19亿人当中，76%的人住在城市，在那里，人们已经抛弃了社区和大家庭，而更加喜欢单门独户的两代人构成的家庭。日本的城里人长期忍受着漫长的上下班来回路程和拥挤的居住条件，但是随着旧的集体和家庭价值观的削弱，人们的不满开始显现。在过去10年中，日本的离婚率虽然仍远在美国之下，但是也已经上升了50%，而自杀则上升了近1/4。