Japanese people work very hard at studying English. They start studying English at the age of 12. Most young Japanese people spend a lot of time and work hard at studying English, but Japanese people are not good at English. Here are the reasons:
There are few people from English-speaking countries in Japan. They don’t have enough chances to speak with them.
Japan is an island(岛)country and they feel that other countries are far away. So they don’t use English very often. And the Japanese feel that it is strange(奇怪的) to talk to each other in English.
The Japanese education doesn’t always follow the educational trends(趋势) in the world. It puts a lot of importance on grammar and vocabulary, and less on speaking, listening and reading skills.
Many Japanese students’ English becomes worse(更糟糕的) after they go to university(大学).They have to learn English again if they work in English-speaking countries.
Sometimes the Japanese feel shy about speaking wrong or broken English.
【小题1】Most young Japanese people        English.

Japan is made up of a chain of islands that lie off the coast of Asia. People came to live in Japan from the nearby countries of China and Korea. From these older countries, the Japanese borrowed ideas, inventions and habits.
For many years, the Japanese built houses like those in China. They dressed themselves like a Chinese. From China came their way of writing and their habit of drinking tea.
In more recent times, the Japanese have borrowed things from our country, the United States. They have a government like ours. They do much work in science, as we do. Baseball is a favorite sport in Japan, just as it is here.
Things change when they come to Japan. The Japanese improve on almost everything they borrow. The art of garden making came from Korea and China, but the Japanese gardens are special. Each garden has a waterfall, a pond, and small bridges. There are few flowers in Japanese gardens. But the gardens are green during all the year round because they have many evergreens. Japanese gardens have a different kind of beauty.
【小题1】 The first paragraph of the passage tells us that ________ centuries ago.

Japan is made up of a chain of islands that lie off the coast of Asia. People came to live in Japan from the nearby countries of China and Korea. From these older countries, the Japanese borrowed ideas, inventions and habits.

For many years, the Japanese built houses like those in China. They dressed themselves like a Chinese. From China came their way of writing and their habit of drinking tea.

In more recent times, the Japanese have borrowed things from our country, the United States. They have a government like ours. They do much work in science, as we do. Baseball is a favorite sport in Japan, just as it is here.

Things change when they come to Japan. The Japanese improve on almost everything they borrow. The art of garden making came from Korea and China, but the Japanese gardens are special. Each garden has a waterfall, a pond, and small bridges. There are few flowers in Japanese gardens. But the gardens are green during all the year round because they have many evergreens. Japanese gardens have a different kind of beauty.

1. The first paragraph of the passage tells us that ________ centuries ago.

A．the Japanese borrowed ideas only from China and Korea

B．people came to live in Japan from neighbouring Asian countries

C．Japan is much older than Korea

D．many Japanese came from the United States

2. In the third paragraph of the passage the italic (斜体)words “just as it is here” mean”________”

A．just as it is in the United States

B．just as it is in China

C．just as it is in Japan

D．just as it is in Asia

3. Why did the Japanese change the things they had borrowed?

A．They wanted very much to be different from others.

B．They didn’t like them the way they were.

C．They wanted visitors to like the change.

D．They tried to make them better.

4. From the passage we can see that ________.

A．Japanese gardens are different from those in other countries but not very beautiful

B．Japanese gardens are full of life during all the seasons

C．Japanese gardens are not very big

D．There are many flowers in Japanese gardens

5. Choose a statement from the following sentences that is NOT true.

A．The government of Japan is like that of the United States.

B．People in the United States like playing baseball.

C．The Japanese invented the habit of drinking tea.

D．Japan is made up of many islands.

Japanese students work very hard but many are unhappy. They feel heavy pressures from their parents. Most students are always told by their parents to study harder and better so that they can have a wonderful life in the future. Though this may be a good idea for those very bright students, it can have terrible results for many students who are not gifted enough. Many of them have tried very hard at school but have failed in the exams and have their parents lose hope. Such students feel that they are hated by everyone else they meet and they don’t want to go to school any longer. They became dropouts.

It is surprising that though most Japanese parents are worried about their children, they do not help them in any way. Many parents feel that they are not able to help their children and that it is the teachers’ work to help their children. To make matters worse, a lot of parents send their children to those schools opening in the evenings and on weekends—they only help the students to pass the exams and never teach them any real sense of the world.

Many Japanese schools usually have rules about everything from the students’ hair to their clothes and things in the school bags. Child psychologists now think that such strict rules are harmful to the feelings of the students. Almost 40% of the students said that no one had taught them how to get on with others, how to tell right from wrong and how to show love and care for others, even for their parents.

1.Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?

2. “Dropouts” are those who ___.

3. Why do Japanese students work very hard at school and feel unhappy?

4. Failure in examinations cause students to ___.

5. According to the passage, it’s necessary to teach students ___.