（重庆市西南师大附中2010届高三第七次月考D篇）

In the past, young people in Japan were expected to take on responsibilities to support their parents and grandparents. Now they expect to be supported well into young adulthood. The “new breed”, born since the 1960s, have never known anything but richness. Youth are seen as resistant to entering society as mature adults, to becoming social citizens. Once the great objective of reconstruction after the Second World War was accomplished, a new generation lost the motivating power that had united the nation together.

Japan’s birth rate has been falling rapidly, partly because of economic decline, and the job and financial insecurity that it has caused. In 1999, the figure was 1.38 children per woman, the lowest ever recorded. At the same time, youth crime, although still especially low by western standards, rose to its highest level since record – keeping began 32 years ago. Likewise, the proportion of students dropping out before graduating, at 2.5% also very low by western standards, has never the less been rising.

Entrepreneurial(企业家的) role models are few and far between. Bill Gates is often mentioned, but a foreign model can only have so much influence. The problem is that Japanese culture discourages people from revealing details of personal life, including such difficult or painful experience as starting a company. In the past, successful companies such as Honda or Hitachi provided role models of a sort. But today they have been faded by the downturn, and few others have risen to take their place.

By the same reason, young people often feel isolated from their fathers, who worked too hard at their jobs to establish much of a relationship with their children. “The one thing they’re sure of is that they don’t want to be like their fathers. And the girls don’t want to be with boys who are like their fathers, so the boys are sure not to be,” says Professor Morishima.

68.According to the passage, young people were formerly expected to _________.

A. enter society before adulthood   B. hold together

C. work hard and support their families                 D. study hard and find a good job

69.The author takes the two examples of the youth crime and students’ drop – out rates to show __________.

A. Japanese youth are overburdened

B. the educational system in Japan is not working

C. public security and order in Japan are bad

D. young people in Japan have lower standards than previously

70.Today, entrepreneurial models are rarely found in Japan because _________.

A. Japanese culture discourages people talking about how to start a company

B. western models are considered to be better

C. people lack experience in starting up complaints

D. the “new breed” don’t want to work hard

71.The passage mainly discusses _________.

A. the decline of the Japanese economy

B. the great change of the ethnical and value concept of youth in Japan.

C. the existence of generation gap between young people and their parents

D. the increase in birth rates in Japan.