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.

戰后日本的生產率和社會的和諧為美國和歐洲所稱羨，因此漫無目標很難說是戰后日本的特色。但是，日本人正在經歷傳統工作道德價值觀的日益衰退。10年前，日本人工作勤奮，將工作視為他們存在的主要理由，但現在日本大體上已經滿足了其經濟需求，年輕人卻不知道他們下一步的目標在哪里。

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.

戰后嬰兒出生高峰期的到來及婦女進入男性主宰的就業市場，限制了青少年的發展機遇，這些青少年已經開始質疑在進好學校，找好工作，攀登日本等級森嚴的社會階梯的過程中所做出的沉重的個人犧牲是否值得。在最近一次調查中發現與62.7％的美國學生相比較，只有24.5％的日本學生對學校生活完全滿意。此外，與被調查的其他10個國家的工人相比，對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調基礎知識而經常受到外國人的贊揚，但是它往往強調考試和機械學習，而不重視創造性和自我表現。“在考分中得不到體現的那些東西——個性、能力、勇氣或人性——完全被忽視，”執政的自民黨教育委員會主席Toshiki Kaifu說，“對這類事情灰心喪氣，致使孩子輟學、放蕩不羈。”去年日本發生了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，許多保守黨領導人正在力圖回復到戰前，強調道德教育；去年，當時任教育大臣的Mitsuo Setoyama就提出責難，他申辯說二戰后美國占領當局引進的自由改革削弱了“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系更大。“在日本，”教育家 Yoko Muro說，“問題絕對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荷。”隨著經濟的發展，居住集中化也跟著來了，在日本1億1900萬人當中，足有76％住在城市，在那里社區和幾世同堂的大家庭已經成為過去，而取而代之的是單門獨戶的兩代之家。城市里的日本人長期忍受著漫長的上下班來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，令人不舒服的結果開始顯現出來。在過去10年中，日本的離婚率，盡管仍遠在美國之下，已經上升了50％，而自殺事件則上升了近1/4。

　　相關推薦：

　　2012考研英語翻譯中介詞的五種翻譯技巧

　　 2012年考研英語保過班《翻譯》習題精選匯總