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发表于 2014-2-12 16:39:03
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英文版也出来了,贴上:
VOX POPULI: Difficult questions on 'Genji' result in record low scores on entrance exams
February 12, 2014
Once again, the opening topic for this column is “ume” Japanese apricot trees, which I also wrote about on Feb. 11. In Japan, ume is associated with Sugawara no Michizane (845-903), a scholar, poet and politician of the Heian Period (794-1185). Revered as the god of learning, Michizane is worshiped as Tenjin-sama.
Around this time each year, wooden votive tablets offered by students praying for success in university entrance exams fill Tenjin shrines dedicated to Michizane across the nation. “Cherry blossoms bloom” reads the text of telegrams traditionally sent to students to let them know they have passed the entrance exams. Even though students hoping to pass exams offer prayers to ume, it doesn’t seem right that cherry blossoms get all the credit when they do. But perhaps students taking the exams are too busy to care about such matters.
This year, the Japanese language test in the National Center Test for University Admissions, the standardized preliminary exams for university applicants, stirred controversy for its difficulty. Last year, the average score of the Japanese language test hit a record low. This year, it dipped even lower to 98.67 out of 200, falling below the 50-percent mark for the first time. Many people say the questions on “The Tale of Genji” were particularly difficult.
The questions concerning the chapter “Yugiri” were allotted 50 points. I also tried to solve them. But I’d rather not reveal my scores. I always heave a sigh of relief that I was not actually taking the test every time I leafed through the exam questions that were printed in newspapers.
In last year’s test, a piece of difficult writing by literary critic Hideo Kobayashi (1902-1983) was blamed for the low marks. At the time, it was pointed out that author and literary critic Saiichi Maruya (1925-2012) had once commented that writings by Kobayashi should not be used for university entrance exams on grounds there are many jumps in logic and the meanings of his words are often ambiguous.
Maruya, who was also known for his theories on the Japanese language, had written in The Asahi Shimbun that taking questions from “The Tale of Genji” is also thoughtless. Both in terms of wording and subject, the story is too difficult for high school students. They cannot be expected to understand such a complicated love story, he said.
Maruya must be rolling over in his grave that such materials were used for university entrance exams two years in a row. Although he advised against using Kobayashi’s writings and “Genji,” he did acknowledge their greatness. Students should be encouraged to read classics as much as possible, but only ones that are not too difficult, Maruya had said.
--The Asahi Shimbun, Feb. 12 |
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