Directions: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET.

Text 3

Japan’s mass culture has long prevailed in East Asia. Japanese comics are ubiquitous (无处不在的) on newsstands in Malaysia and Hong Kong, where half of all those sold are from Japan. Stores in remote areas of the Philippines stock snacks made by Tokyo’s companies. And anyone can dial for sushi delivery in Singapore or sing in Karaoke bars in distant Inner Mongolia. With the Japanese cartoon craze now lapping at American and European shores, it is time to ask: why is Japan’s pop culture, especially its comics and cartoon characters, so appealing to Asians and, now, the world?

“It’s because they’re high quality, that’s all,” some people say. True, Japan has few peers in making stylishly produced comic books and animation But Toei and other animation companies have also built a massive promotion machine to marry that quality with market clout. Comic heroes in the 1950s became animated TV star stars in the 1960s.

Soon after, media, comics, animation, publishing, toy and clothing companies joined forces to turn characters into commercial smashed.

Characters do not have to begin on stands or the small screen—all they need is a canny promoter. The well-known cat Hello Kitty was created by merchandiser Sanrio as a logo for children’s goods. In fact, the line between a cartoon and its commercial application has become more and more invisible.

Perhaps what most entrances fans of all ages and from all regions about Japanese cartoons is their adolescent exuberance, their unique glorification of the dreams and imagery of youth. The most popular series, such as Sailor moon and Doraemon, have children or teenagers as central characters. The world of these shows is painted in bubble-gum colors, while love and relationships take on the unserious character of teenage crushes. Futuristic set and situations contribute to suffused sense of innocent wonder.

And Japan’s fascination with childlike things could be a reflection of the “infantilism of postwar Japanese culture,” as an analyst put it. He suggests that the trauma of the postwar period may have encouraged Japanese to look at childhood with fondness. For youth it implies an evasion of responsibility, a major issue for a society still struggling with its vicious role in World War Ⅱ . It is an interesting psychological view.

But there’s still another more convincing and important reason. In a society with strict structures and high expectations, fantasies flourish. Children who spend long, stressful hours preparing for all-important school examinations take refuge in cheerfully fantastic characters and animations. That, coupled with the spending power of Japan’s young—a typical 10-year-old may have $1000 in the bank from doting relatives—can explain the replete pre-adolescent orientation of Japan’s pop culture.

Due to the worries about overwhelming exterior cultural aggression, some Asian governments have taken some measures to supervise or limit Japanese products. But the tide is unlikely to turn. Their attraction is too widespread and Japanese companies too market-savvy. Toei has started a marketing campaign in four cities in China. Even if only 10% of the population in this country gets hooked on its products, Toei will make a market the size of Japan.