It is interesting to reflect for a moment upon the differences in the areas of moral feeling and standards in the peoples of Japan and the United States. The Americans divide these areas somewhat rigidly into spirit and flesh, the two being in opposition in the life of a human being. Ideally, spirit should prevail but all too often it is the flesh that does prevail. The Japanese make no such division, at least between one as good and the other as evil. They believe that a person has two souls, each necessary. One is the "gentle" soul, the other is the "rough" soul. Sometimes the person uses his gentle soul, sometimes he must use his rough soul.He does not favor his gentle soul, neither does he fight his rough soul. Human nature in itself is good, Japanese philosophers insist, and a human being does not need to fight any part of himself. He has only to learn how to use each soul properly at the appropriate times. Virtue for the Japanese consists in fulfilling one’s obligations to others. Happy endings, either in life or in fiction, are neither necessary nor expected, since the fulfillment of duty provides the satisfying end, whatever the tragedy it inflicts. And duty includes a person’s obligations to those who have conferred benefits upon him and to himself as an individual of honor.He develops through this double sense of duty a self-discipline which is at once permissive and rigid, depending upon the area in which it is functioning.The process of acquiring this self-discipline begins in childhood. Indeed, one may say it begins at birth--how early the Japanese child is given his own identity! If I were to define in a word the attitude of the Japanese toward their children I would put it in one succinct word. Love Yes, abundance of love, warmly expressed from the moment he is put to his mother’s breast. For a mother this nursing of her child is important psychologically.Rewards are frequent, a bit of candy bestowed at the right moment, an inexpensive toy. As time comes to enter school, however, discipline becomes firmer. To bring shame to the family is the greatest shame for the child.What is the secret of the Japanese teaching of self-discipline It lies, I think, in the fact that the aim of all teaching is the establishment of habit. Rules are repeated over and over, and continually practiced until obedience becomes instinctive. This repetition is enhanced by the expectation of the elders.They expect a child to obey and to learn through obedience. The demand is gentle at first and tempered to the child’s tender age. It is no gentle as time goes on, but certainly it is increasingly inexorable.Now, far away from that warm Japanese home, I reflect upon what I learned there. What, I wonder, will take the place of the web of love and discipline which for so many centuries has surrounded the life and thinking of the people of Japan The training of the Japanese child can best be described as ().
A. a system of rewards and punishments
B. frequent disciplining which becomes more inexorably severe as the child grows older
C. benevolent and indulgent during the early years, but somewhat more severe as the child grows older
D. almost entirely psychological
Despite much discussion, and efforts by both women’s and business groups to break "the glass ceiling" down, the world’s biggest companies are still almost () run by men.
A. exceptionally
B. excessively
C. exclusively
D. exceedingly
It is interesting to reflect for a moment upon the differences in the areas of moral feeling and standards in the peoples of Japan and the United States. The Americans divide these areas somewhat rigidly into spirit and flesh, the two being in opposition in the life of a human being. Ideally, spirit should prevail but all too often it is the flesh that does prevail. The Japanese make no such division, at least between one as good and the other as evil. They believe that a person has two souls, each necessary. One is the "gentle" soul, the other is the "rough" soul. Sometimes the person uses his gentle soul, sometimes he must use his rough soul.He does not favor his gentle soul, neither does he fight his rough soul. Human nature in itself is good, Japanese philosophers insist, and a human being does not need to fight any part of himself. He has only to learn how to use each soul properly at the appropriate times. Virtue for the Japanese consists in fulfilling one’s obligations to others. Happy endings, either in life or in fiction, are neither necessary nor expected, since the fulfillment of duty provides the satisfying end, whatever the tragedy it inflicts. And duty includes a person’s obligations to those who have conferred benefits upon him and to himself as an individual of honor.He develops through this double sense of duty a self-discipline which is at once permissive and rigid, depending upon the area in which it is functioning.The process of acquiring this self-discipline begins in childhood. Indeed, one may say it begins at birth--how early the Japanese child is given his own identity! If I were to define in a word the attitude of the Japanese toward their children I would put it in one succinct word. Love Yes, abundance of love, warmly expressed from the moment he is put to his mother’s breast. For a mother this nursing of her child is important psychologically.Rewards are frequent, a bit of candy bestowed at the right moment, an inexpensive toy. As time comes to enter school, however, discipline becomes firmer. To bring shame to the family is the greatest shame for the child.What is the secret of the Japanese teaching of self-discipline It lies, I think, in the fact that the aim of all teaching is the establishment of habit. Rules are repeated over and over, and continually practiced until obedience becomes instinctive. This repetition is enhanced by the expectation of the elders.They expect a child to obey and to learn through obedience. The demand is gentle at first and tempered to the child’s tender age. It is no gentle as time goes on, but certainly it is increasingly inexorable.Now, far away from that warm Japanese home, I reflect upon what I learned there. What, I wonder, will take the place of the web of love and discipline which for so many centuries has surrounded the life and thinking of the people of Japan The Japanese idea of virtue is ().
A. sublimating the "rough" soul to permit ascendancy of the "gentle" soul
B. fulfilling one’s obligations to others
C. doing good and avoiding evil
D. being friendly and courteous to all people
Yoga, the ancient practice of postures, breathing and meditation, is gaining a lot of attention from the material world that its serious practitioners are trying to escape. Yoga practitioners are trying to keep themselves away from the material world. And no wonder, Americans who practice yoga are often well-educated, have higher-than-average household income and are willing to spend a bit more on so-called "green" purchases seen as benefiting the environment or society. "It’s kind of growing out of the crunchy stage of yoga to the Starbucks stage," said Bill Harper, publisher of Yoga Journal. "From the videos and the clothes and the toe socks...people are pursuing this market with a vengeance." A glance through recent issues of his monthly magazine, whose readership has doubled in the past four years to 325,000, illustrates the point. There are four-color ads from the likes of Asics athletic shoes, Eileen fisher apparel and Ford Motor Co. Yoga Journal is now licensing a Russian edition and preparing to expand in other international markets. Americans spend some $2.95 billion a year on yoga classes, equipment, clothing, holidays, videos and more, according to a study commissioned by the magazine, fuelled in part by ageing baby boomers seeking less aggressive ways to stay fit. Roughly 16.5 million people were practising yoga in the United States early last year, in studios, gyms or at home, up 43 percent from 2002, the study found. Established sellers of yoga gear such as Hugger Mugger and Gaiam have been flooded with competition in the market for yoga mats, incense, clothing and fancy accoutrements ranging from designer yoga bags to eye pillows. Vancouver, British Columbia-based Lululemon Athletica, for one, has seen sales of its yoga apparel rise to $100 million since Canadian entrepreneur Chip Wilson founded the company in 1998. Customers are snapping up its trendy pants and tops to wear to class and, increasingly, to the supermarket or out to dinner. Another expanding business, Exhale, markets itself as a "mindbodyspa", with tony locations in Los Angeles, New York and other urban areas that combine yoga classes with facials, massage and alternative treatments such as acupuncture. Some question how all the consumption is changing a discipline with a strong spiritual foundation. "We’ve taken this ancient tradition, science, and art of yoga out of a culture and a religion and world view and we’ve tried to transplant to the other side of the planet," said Judith Hanson Lasater, a longtime yoga instructor and author who holds a doctorate in East-West psychology. "I believe there’s not a complete match-up." Even so, several entrepreneurs stressed that they are able to adhere to yoga’s healing principles while also turning a profit. Use three words to describe the practice of yoga.