According to the author, the philosophy of modern Chinese people is ______ .
A. collectivism
B. individualism
C. the creation of wealth and personal gain
D. family values
"Junk English is much more than loose and casual grammar. It is a signal of human weaknesses and cultural license: abandoning the language of the educated yet giving birth to its own self-glorifying words and phrases, favoring appearance over substance, broadness over precision, and loudness above all. it is sometimes innocent, sometimes lazy, sometimes well intended, but most often it is a trick we play on our-selves to make the unremarkable seem important. Its scope has been widened by politicians, business executives, and the PR and advertising industries in their employ, who use it to spread fog before facts they would rather keep hidden. The result is...a world of humbug in which the more we read and hear, the less we know."
Smith is, of course, saying something not true--it is difficult to imagine that Junk English will be noticed, much less read, by those who most could profit from it---but it is an instructive and entertaining instructions and explanation all the same. He tries his hands at all the right places--jargon, clichés, euphemisms, and exaggeration--but he doesn't swing blindly. "Although jargon often sounds ugly to outsiders, it speeds communication within the community that uses it"--and that "clichés, though popular objects of scorn, are useful when they most compactly express an idea; deliberate avoidance of an appropriate cliché sometimes produces even worse writing."
In other words, Smith may be passionate but he's also sensible. In a section about "free-for-all verbs," for example, he acknowledges that "There is no law against inventing one's own verbs" before citing a few funny instances of what happens when "Things get a little out of hand," i.e. "We're efforting to work this out" or "She tried to guilt him into returning the money." In the end, though, being sensible about language is in essence trying to insist that words mean what they properly mean and are used accordingly. Thus, for example, Smith insists that "dialogue" and "discussion" are not synonyms and should not be used interchangeably; that "complimentary" does not mean "free"; that "experience" does not mean "feel"; that "facilitate" does not mean "ease"; that "generate" does not mean "produce"; that "lifestyle" does not mean "life".
Smith obviously has spent a lot of time making notes about the ways in which we ruin and abuse our language, with results that are impressive in their thoroughness and depressing in their going to far. Occasionally he overlooks the obvious--among euphemisms he mentions "customer care representative" but not "courtesy call," and among the previously mentioned palsy-walsy language he inexplicably overlooks "Your call is important to us"--but then, as he says at the outset, he intended to write a short book and as a result had to leave out many misdeeds. The ones he includes more than do the job.
Which of the following best describes Junk English?
A. Overblown.
B. Complicated.
C. Vulgar.
D. Unfashionable.
It can be inferred from the passage that the Japanese Prime Minister's plan to relieve import restrictions would ______ .
A. offer no relief for all of the American products in the near future
B. probably fall far short of the US businessmen's expectation
C. allow American goods to enter the Japanese trade markets quickly
D. succeed considerably in breaking down the Japanese trade barriers
Nakasone gives every sign of being secure in his desire to reduce a Japanese surplus in trade with the US that hit 36.8 billion dollars in 1984 and could soon top billion. Yet to rely on any Japanese political leader, no matter how popular he is at home, to reverse trade policies is to underestimate the culture and traditions that weigh heavily against a breakthrough. Big business and dozens of anonymous bureaucrats have as much power as Japan's top elected leaders. "The whole concept that we can turn this around right now is obviously ridiculous," says an American trader who has lived and worked here since 1952. "The vested interests are being shaken and slowly moved, but at a pace too slow for the eye to follow." That view is echoed by a US diplomat closely involved in the efforts to open the Japanese market to American goods, Washington's main solution to the ballooning trade ambulance. "Japan is a relationship society rather than a transactional one," he says. "You cannot alter that kind of a system with a television speech or a few general proposals, no matter how well-intended they are."
Beyond specific tariffs or other official barriers to imports, experts here say that the US faces these obstacles. Nearly total domination of the Japanese market by a few dozen giant conglomerates that strongly oppose even token competition--be it from abroad or emerging domestic firms. An elite, thickly layered bureaucracy that historically has drafted laws and regulations as well as enforced them, and both of these powers would be threatened by trade reforms. A longtime relationship between business and government that critics say fosters collusion and hinders foreign entry into domestic markets.
Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
A. Trade War between Japan and the US.
B. It's time to Remove Japanese Trade Barrier.
C. The US Desires to Reduce a Japanese Surplus in Trade.
D. Why Japan Won't Submit to US Trade Demands?