Section Ⅱ Use of English
(15 minutes)
Read the following text and fill each of the numbered spaces with ONE suitable word.Write your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.
Recent surveys show that Japanese youth have become a "Me Generation" that rejects traditional values.
"Around 1980 many Japanese, (31)______ young people abandoned the values of economic success and began (32)______ for new sets of values to(33) ______ them happiness, " writes sociologist Yasuhiro in Comparative Civilizations Review. Japanese youth are placing more importance on the individual' s pursuit of
(34) ______ and less on the values of work, family, and society.
Japanese students seem to be losing patience with work, (35)______ their counterparts in the United States and Korea. In a 1993(36) ______ of college students in the three countries, only 10% of the Japanese regarded (37) ______ as a primary value compared with 47% of Korean students and 27% of American students. A greater
(38)_ of Japanese aged 18 -24 also preferred easy jobs(39)______heavy responsibility.
The younger Japanese are showing less concern for family values as they pursue an inner word of private satisfaction. Data collected(40)______ the Japanese government in i993 shows that only 23% of Japanese youth are thinking about supporting their aged parents, in contrast(41 )______63% of young Americans. It appears that many younger-generation Japanese are (42)______ both respect for their parents (43)______a sense of responsibility to the family. Author Yoshizaki attributes the change (44)______ Japanese parents' over-indulgence of their children, material affluence, and growing (45) ______ for private matters.
The shift (46)______ individualism among Japanese is most pronounced among(47)______ very young. According to 1991 data (48) ______ the Bunka Center of Japan, 50% of Japanese youth aged 16 -19 can be labeled "self-centered" compared with 33% among (49)______ aged 25-29. To earn the self-centered label, the young people responded positively to (50) ______ ideas as "I would like to make decisions without considering traditional values" and "I don' t want to do anything I can' t enjoy doing. "
