2014高考英语二轮阅读理解三月特训72.docVIP

2014届高考英语二轮复习 三月精品练习阅读理解 1． Japans post-World War II value system of diligence, cooperation, and hard work is changing. Recent surveys show that Japanese youth have become a Me Generation that rejects traditional values. Many Japanese, especially young people, abandoned the values of economic success and began searching for new sets of values to bring them happiness, writes sociologist Yasuhiro Yoshizaki in Comparative Civilizations Review. Japanese youth are placing more importance on the individuals pursuit of happiness and less on the values of work, family, and society. Japanese students seem to be losing patience with work, unlike their counterparts in the United States and Korea. In a recent survey of college students in the three countries, only 10% of the Japanese regarded work as a primary value, compared with 47% of their Korean counterparts and 27% of American students. A greater proportion of Japanese aged 18 to 24 also preferred easy jobs without heavy responsibility. Concern for family values is waning among younger Japanese as they pursue an inner world of private satisfaction. Data collected by the Japanese government in 2005 shows that only 23% of Japanese youth are thinking about supporting their aged parents, in contrast to 63% of young Americans. It appears that many younger-generation Japanese are losing both respect for their parents and a sense of responsibility to the family. Author Yoshizaki attributes the change to Japanese parents over-indulgence of their children, material affluence, and growing concern for private matters. The shift toward individualism among Japanese is most pronounced among the very young. According to 2003 data from the Seimei Hoken Bunka Center of Japan, 75% of Japanese youth aged 16 to 19 can be labeled self-centered, compared with 53% among those aged 25 to 29. To earn the self-centered label, the young people responded positively to such ideas as I would like to make decisions without considering traditional va