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TEXT A "I’m SORRY. "For days that’s been about all Japan has heard from its Olympic athletes. Those were the first words uttered by a young swimmer after competing in the 400-m individual-medley swimming event, a difficult exercise that takes more than 4 1/2 minutes to complete and requires four different strokes. Because her event took place on the opening day of Sydney 2000, her performance was considered especially significant for the fortunes of the nation. But with all of Japan watching, Yasuko Tajima fell short. Never mind that she earned a silver medal. "How disappointing," she said. "Next time I will win the gold." There is a unique form of pressure on Japan’s athletes. Competitors from every country face enormous expectations to win , to make the years of hard work and training pay off, to achieve greatness on the preeminent world stage. American cyclist Lance Armstrong ,winner of two consecutive Tour de France races after surviving a contest with cancer, noted last week that, "If I loses the Olympics, they’ll say, ’I thought he was supposed to be a good cyclist.’" "But whereas failure to win gold might cost Americans a fat endorsement contract, for Japanese a disappointing performance is even more disastrous, as individual failure is somehow wrapped up with a sense of national identity. "For non-Japanese, it’s very peculiar for athletes to say they are sorry. "says Mitsunori Urushibara, a professor of sports philosophy at Shikoku Gakuin University. "Failure is never just an individual matter in Japan. Athletes always face the terror of being excommunicated from the group." Understanding the culture in which Japanese athletes compete makes watching their defeats all the more painful. The agony of gymnast Naoya Tsukahara, whose hopes for an individual all-around medal were dashed last Wednesday when he inexplicably fell off the pommel horse, was obvious as he seemed to sleepwalk through his other events. His body was limp, his expression blank. "I didn’t want to disgrace my nation," he said. Another young swimmer, Tomoko Hagiwara, climbed out of the pool after finishing seventh in her 200-m individual-medley qualifying heat last Monday, her shoulders hanging downward, her head tilted downward. "What was the cause of your poor performance" snapped a reporter for NHK, the national TV network. Hagiwara answered that she didn’t shift smoothly between strokes and that her turns were poor. "Please remember those points and try to do better in the next race," the reporter lectured. "You feel as ff everyone in Japan feels ashamed of you, "former Olympic swimmer Hiroko Nagasaki commented on a Fuji TV broadcast. A memory that still haunts many in Japan is that of Kokichi Tsuburaya, the marathon, runner who finished third at the 1964 Tokyo Games. Four years later, while in training for the Mexico City Olympics, Tsuburaya killed himself by cutting his wrist in his dormitory. He was found holding his bronze medal. "I remember Tsuburaya’ s comments before he committed suicide," follow marathoner Kenji Kimihara told the Nikkan Sports newspaper this year. "He said ’I committed an inexcusable mistake in front of the Japanese people. I have to beg their pardon by running and hoisting the Hinomaru [national flag] in Mexico." The media are partly responsible for the pressure, but they reflect the general attitudes of the population. And the nation’s fans don’t seem to be having much fun. Last week, hundreds of Japanese endured a horrific schedule to watch their team battle Brazil in soccer. They took a nine hour flight from Osaka to Brisbane, traveled by bus to the stadium, dutifully watched the game and left immediately for the airport for the return trip to Osaka. They were home in time for work the next morning. "They got there and acted like the cheering was compulsory," says Urushibara. "They didn’ t seem to really enjoy the game. It is work. It is what members of the group do." Sadly, even when an athlete lives up to expectations, the demanding drum-beat for victory doesn’t cease. On opening day, Tadahiro Nomura won a gold medal in judo in impressive fashion by "dropping" his opponent in just 14 seconds. It was his second Olympic victory, but Nomura had little chance to savor the moment. "What about 2004" a reporter asked seconds after his victory. No one could blame the quiet champion if he felt like folding up his judo jacket and never putting it back on again. What does the last paragraph imply
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About 80% of what you see floating in a ray of sunshine is ______.
TEXT D Science has long had an uneasy relationship with other aspects of culture. Think of Gallileo’s 17th century trial for his rebelling belief before the Catholic Church or poet William Blake’s harsh remarks against the mechanistic worldview of Isaac Newton. The schism between science and the humanities has, if anything, deepened in this century. Until recently, the scientific community was so powerful that it could afford to ignore its critics-but no longer. As funding for science has declined, scientists have attacked "anti-science" in several books, notably Higher Superstition, by Paul R. Gross, a biologist at the University of Virginia, and Norman Levitt, a mathematician at Rutgers University; and The Demon-Haunted World, by Carl Sagan of Cornell University. Defenders of science have also voiced their concerns at meetings sucas "The Flight from Science and Reason", held in New York City in 1995, and "Science in the Age of Misinformation", which assembled last June near Buffalo. Anti-science clearly means different things to different people. Gross and Levitt find fault primarily with sociologists, philosophers and other academics who have questioned science’s objectivity. Sagan is more concerned with those who believe in ghosts, creationism and other phenomena that contradict the scientific worldview. A survey of news stories in 1996 reveals that the anti-science tag has been attached to many other groups as well, from authorities who advocated the elimination of the last remaining stocks of smallpox virus to Republicans who advocated decreased funding for basic research. Few would dispute that the term applies to the unabomber, whose manifesto, published in 1995, scorns science and longs for return to a pre-technological utopia. But surely that does not mean environmentalists concerned about uncontrolled industrial growth are anti-science, as an essay in US News ＆ World Report last May seemed to suggest. The environmentalists, inevitably, respond to such critics. The true enemies of science, argues Paul Ehrlich of Stanford University, a pioneer of environmental studies, are those who question the evidence supporting global warming, the depletion of the zone layer and other consequences of industrial growth. Indeed, some observers fear that the anti-science epithet is in danger of becoming meaningless. "The term ’anti-science’ can lump together too many, quite different things," notes Harvard University philosopher Gerald Holton in his 1993 work Science and Anti-science. "They have in common only one thing that the tend to annoy or threaten those who regard themselves as more enlightened." Paragraphs 2 and 3 ale written to ______.
In common with many countries, Britain has serious environmental problems. In 1952, more than 4,000 people died in London because of the smog. The government (26) new laws to stop smog from coal fires and factories and the (27) improved a lot. Today, London is much cleaner (28) there is a new problem: smog from cars. In December 1991, there was very (29) wind in London and pollution (30) a lot, which led to 160 deaths in just four days. (31) of the problem is the new "out of town" shopping centers. In the past, people often (32) to shops near their home or went by bus. Today, many people drive to the new shopping centers. (33) , the small shops have (34) and more people have to go a long way to (35) their shopping. Critics say that Britain needs better and cheaper public (36) . Many people are trying to (37) the use of cars in Britain. Some cities now have special bicycle (38) and many people ride to work. Some people also (39) to work together in one car to reduce the pollution and the (40) . Sometimes people take "direct (41) ." In 1995, for example, many people wanted to (42) a new road near Newbury. They built houses (43) trees and lived there for many months. It (44) a long time to force the people out of the trees (45) work on the road could continue.
What do we learn from the woman’s reply
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