2. 职称英语
  3. It is interesting to reflect for a moment upon the differences in the areas

It is interesting to reflect for a moment upon the differences in the areas

游客2025-04-24  12
问题     It is interesting to reflect for a moment upon the differences in the areas of moral feeling and standards in the peoples of Japan and the United States. The Americans divide these areas somewhat rigidly into spirit and flesh, the two being in opposition in the life of a human being. Ideally, spirit should prevail but all too often it is the flesh that does prevail. The Japanese make no such division, at least between one as good and the other as evil. They believe that a person has two souls, each necessary. One is the "gentle" soul, the other is the "rough" soul. Sometimes the person uses his gentle soul, sometimes he must use his rough soul. He does not favor his gentle soul, neither does he fight his rough soul. Human nature in itself is good, Japanese philosophers insist, and a human being does not need to fight any part of himself. He has only to learn how to use each soul properly at the appropriate times. Virtue for the Japanese consists in fulfilling one’s obligations to others. Happy endings, either in life or in fiction, are neither necessary nor expected, since the fulfillment of duty provides the satisfying end, whatever the tragedy it inflicts. And duty includes a person’s obligations to those who have conferred benefits upon him and to himself as an individual of honor. He develops through this double sense of duty a self-discipline which is at once permissive and rigid, depending upon the area in which it is functioning.
    The process of acquiring this self-discipline begins in childhood. Indeed, one may say it begins at birth—how early the Japanese child is given his own identity! If I were to define in a word the attitude of the Japanese toward their children I would put it in one succinct word. Love? Yes, abundance of love, warmly expressed from the moment he is put to his mother’s breast. For a mother this nursing of her child is important psychologically.
    Rewards are frequent, a bit of candy bestowed at the right moment, an inexpensive toy. As time comes to enter school, however, discipline becomes firmer. To bring shame to the family is the greatest shame for the child.
    What is the secret of the Japanese teaching of self-discipline? It lies, I think, in the fact that the aim of all teaching is the establishment of habit. Rules are repeated over and over, and continually practiced until obedience becomes instinctive. This repetition is enhanced by the expectation of the elders. They expect a child to obey and to learn through obedience. The demand is gentle at first and tempered to the child’s tender age. It is no gentle as time goes on, but certainly it is increasingly inexorable.
    Now, far away from that warm Japanese home, I reflect upon what I learned there. What, I wonder, will take the place of the web of love and discipline which for so many centuries has surrounded the life and thinking of the people of Japan? [br] To the Japanese, the aim of existence is______.
选项 A、the pursuit of happiness
B、reward in the afterlife
C、a happy ending to one’s activities
D、fulfilling one’s duty
答案 D
解析 分析题。根据文中的内容可知，对于日本人来说、美德存在于一个人对另外一些人所尽的义务中。无论是在生活中或是在小说中，快乐的结局并非必要也非期望，因为责任的履行提供了令人满意的结果，无论它造成怎样的不幸。职责包含一个人对那些给予他利益的人的义务，还有属于他本人个人荣誉的义务。通过这种双重责任感，他形成了一种自律性。这些可以说明日本人的生活目标就是履行职责。所以正确答案是D项。
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