单选题
After World War II the glorification of an ever-larger GNP
formed the basis of a new materialism, which became a sacred obligation for all
Japanese governments, businesses and trade unions. Anyone who mentioned the
undesirable by-products of rapid economic growth was treated as a heretic.
Consequently, everything possible was done to make conditions easy for the
manufacturers. Few dared question the wisdom of discharging untreated waste into
the nearest water body or untreated smoke into the atmosphere. This silence was
maintained by union leaders as well as by most of the country's radicals; except
for a few isolated voices, no one protested. An insistence on treatment of the
various {{U}}effluents{{/U}} would have necessitated expenditures on treatment
equipment that in turn would have given rise to higher operating costs.
Obviously, this would have meant higher prices for Japanese goods, and
ultimately fewer sales and lower industrial growth and GNP. The
pursuit of nothing but economic growth is illustrated by the response of the
Japanese government to the American educational mission that visited Japan in
1947. After surveying Japan's educational program, the Americans suggested that
the Japanese fill in their curriculum gap by creating departments in chemical
and sanitary engineering. Immediately, chemical engineering departments were
established in all the country's universities and technical institutions. In
contrast, the recommendation to form sanitary engineering departments was more
or less ignored, because they could bring no profit. By 1960, only two
second-rate universities, Kyoto and Hokkaido, were interested enough to open
such departments. The reluctance to divert funds from
production to conservation is explanation enough for a certain degree of
pollution, but the situation was made worse by the type of technology the
Japanese chose to adopt for their industrial expansion. For the most part, they
simply copied American industrial methods. This meant that methods originally
designed for use in a country that stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific
with lots of air and water to use as sewage receptacles were adopted for an area
a fraction of the size. Moreover, the Japanese diet was much more dependent on
water as a source of fish and as an input in the irrigation of rice;
consequently discharged wastes built up much more rapidly in the food
chain.
单选题
It can be learned from the text that after World War II ______.
A. nobody attached great importance to the remedy for public hazards
B. the government tried to deal with the pollution problem but in vain
C. people unanimously found it acceptable to discharge industrial wastes
into the sea
D. hardly anyone suspected that it was unwise to contaminate the water and
air
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】[考点] 判断题
[解析] 根据题干信号词after World War II，难以精确回文定位，故需将各选项一一回文定位，进行比对判断。
单选题
After the second world war, environmental protection was ignored in
Japan because ______.
A. the harm of pollution was held as negligible
B. no one was willing to be labeled as a heretic
C. it would check economic growth
D. it was reckoned to be unnecessary
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】[考点] 原因分析题
[解析] 根据题干信号词environmental protection was ignored in Japan可回文定位到首段第五句...except for a few isolated voices，no one protested，考生注意：“没有人抗议环境污染”，即“环境污染被忽视”。但鉴于原因分析题的解题思路是在定位信息的上下文，尤其在下文，寻找原因线索，故考生须关注接下来的第六七句：An insistence on treatment of the various effluents would have necessitated expenditures on treatment equipment that in turn would have given rise to higher operating costs, Obviously, this would have meant higher prices for Japanese goods, and ultimately fewer sales and lower industrial growth and GNP(坚持治理各种工业废水意味着要投资购买相关设备，这反过来将导致经营成本的上升。显然，这意味着日本商品价格的提升，并最终导致销售额下降以及工业增长率和GNP的降低)，这两句为本题目的“题眼”，即二战后日本忽略环保的真正原因是“治理污染会降低工业增长率”。
单选题
Judging from the context, the word "effluents" (Para.1) most probably
means ______.
A. liquid wastes
B. risks
C. by-products
D. solid wastes
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】[考点] 词汇推断题
[解析] 根据题干信号词“effluents”以及出处提示表达“Para.1”可回文定位至首段第六句An insistence on treatment of the various effluents would...。但鉴于词汇推断题的思路是根据问题词汇的上或下文信息分析推断词义，故考生须关注本句的上下文信息，考虑到问题词前面的定冠词the(特指上文提及的信息)和treatment(治理)，可进一步锁定首段第四句为“题眼”：Few dared question the wisdom of discharging untreated waste into the nearest water body or untreated smoke into the atmosphere(把未经处理的废水排入附近的水体或者把未经处理的气体排进大气层，对于这种智慧几乎没有人敢质疑)，显然本句中的untreated waste和untreated smoke是effluents所指内容，故答案选A。
单选题
It can be concluded from paragraph 2 that ______.
A. chemical engineering departments are more profitable and therefore
preferred
B. Japanese educational institutions are less intrigued with sanitary
engineering
C. the Japanese government concerned itself only with economic gain
D. Japan was markedly influenced by the U. S. in education
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】[考点] 段落主旨题
[解析] 根据题干信号词concluded from paragraph 2可知本题目是段落主旨题。这类题型的解题思路是关注该段的主题句，主题句往往是段首句、段尾句或段落转折句。
根据is illustrated (阐明) by可知第二段首句The pursuit of nothing but economic growth is illustrated by the response of the Japanese government to the American educational mission that visited Japan in 1947. (日本政府对于1947年造访本国的美国教育代表团所做的反应明确表明他们对于经济增长的一味追求)是本段主旨句，也是本题目的“题眼”，整个下文都在具体讲述“日本政府对美国教育代表团所做的反应”这一事例，并以此为据阐述“日本对经济增长的一味追求”。
单选题
The reasons for the intensity of pollution in Japan include all of the
following EXCEPT
A. Japan placed too much stress on economic growth and neglected
environment.
B. Only two second-rate universities opened sanitary engineering
departments
C. Japan was reluctant to allocate funds for environmental problems
D. Japan was generally modeled on the American pattern of industrial
development