迷茫的日本少女

1 、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 hardworking 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.

戰(zhàn)后日本的生產(chǎn)率和社會(huì)的和諧為美國(guó)和歐洲所稱羨，因此漫無(wú)目標(biāo)很難說(shuō)是戰(zhàn)后日本的特色。但是，日本人正在經(jīng)歷傳統(tǒng)工作道德價(jià)值觀的日益衰退。10年前，日本人工作勤奮，將工作視為他們存在的主要理由，但現(xiàn)在日本大體上已經(jīng)滿足了其經(jīng)濟(jì)需求，年輕人卻不知道他們下一步的目標(biāo)在哪里。

2、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 teenagers 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.

戰(zhàn)后嬰兒出生高峰期的到來(lái)及婦女進(jìn)入男性主宰的就業(yè)市場(chǎng)，限制了青少年的發(fā)展機(jī)遇，這些青少年已經(jīng)開(kāi)始質(zhì)疑在進(jìn)好學(xué)校，找好工作，攀登日本等級(jí)森嚴(yán)的社會(huì)階梯的過(guò)程中所做出的沉重的個(gè)人犧牲是否值得。在最近一次調(diào)查中發(fā)現(xiàn)與62.7％的美國(guó)學(xué)生相比較，只有24.5％的日本學(xué)生對(duì)學(xué)校生活完全滿意。此外，與被調(diào)查的其他10個(gè)國(guó)家的工人相比，對(duì)自身工作表示不滿的日本工人多得多。

3、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 2125 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 War Ⅱ had weakened the "Japanese morality of respect for parents".

雖然日本的教育因強(qiáng)調(diào)基礎(chǔ)知識(shí)而經(jīng)常受到外國(guó)人的贊揚(yáng)，但是它往往強(qiáng)調(diào)考試和機(jī)械學(xué)習(xí)，而不重視創(chuàng)造性和自我表現(xiàn)。“在考分中得不到體現(xiàn)的那些東西——個(gè)性、能力、勇氣或人性——完全被忽視，”執(zhí)政的自民黨教育委員會(huì)主席Toshiki Kaifu說(shuō)，“對(duì)這類事情灰心喪氣，致使孩子輟學(xué)、放蕩不羈�！比ツ耆毡景l(fā)生了2125起校園暴力事件，其中包括929起襲擊老師事件。在一片抗議聲中，許多保守黨領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人正在力圖回復(fù)到戰(zhàn)前，強(qiáng)調(diào)道德教育；去年，當(dāng)時(shí)任教育大臣的Mitsuo Setoyama就提出責(zé)難，他申辯說(shuō)二戰(zhàn)后美國(guó)占領(lǐng)當(dāng)局引進(jìn)的自由改革削弱了“日本人尊敬父母的道德觀”。

4、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.

但是，那也許與日本人的生活方式關(guān)系更大。“在日本，”教育家 Yoko Muro說(shuō)，“問(wèn)題絕對(duì)不是你是否喜歡自己的工作和生活，而僅僅是你能承受多大的負(fù)荷�！彪S著經(jīng)濟(jì)的發(fā)展，居住集中化也跟著來(lái)了，在日本1億1900萬(wàn)人當(dāng)中，足有76％住在城市，在那里社區(qū)和幾世同堂的大家庭已經(jīng)成為過(guò)去，而取而代之的是單門獨(dú)戶的兩代之家。城市里的日本人長(zhǎng)期忍受著漫長(zhǎng)的上下班來(lái)回路程和擁擠不堪的居住條件，隨著舊的群體家庭道德觀的削弱，令人不舒服的結(jié)果開(kāi)始顯現(xiàn)出來(lái)。在過(guò)去10年中，日本的離婚率，盡管仍遠(yuǎn)在美國(guó)之下，已經(jīng)上升了50％，而自殺事件則上升了近1/4。

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