四级阅读理解精炼习题及参考答案

　　The promise of a hot dip in Japan 's golden age is an idea whose time has come. There 's even aterm, iyashi-sangyo, or"healing business", that refers to services designed to ease the anxietyof Japan 's seemingly endless recession. They include aromatherapy, massage and work trips infarm country, but none rivals the popularity of hot springs, long venerated for their reputedhealing powers. A volcanic archipelago4 , Japan has 30 , 000 natural hot springs and 3 , 000hot-spring resorts, most located in small country inns.

　　What Nakamura is building has no precedent for scale or extravagance: a vast bathhouseand theme park with a rural feeling in downtown Tokyo. Yet already, there are two other hot-spring spa complexes in the works, one almost three times more costly than Nakamura 46million project. Tadanori Matsuda, a professor who studies hot-spring culture at an university,says that the sudden appearance of these huge facilities in the urban nerve center of Japansuggests that angst5 over the economy" has hit the critical point", and spa builders arecapitalizing on it.

　　The new Tokyo spas could not be more different from the city's traditional bathhouses. At abathhouse, visitors pay about 4 to scrub in regular water, and have to be out by closing time ataround mid-night. All the new Tokyo spas will tap real hot mineral springs at depths of up to1, 700 meters. They offer more -luxurious services, longer hours of day rates starting at 20. Ifthere is a risk in this building boom, it is that Japan already looks saturated with soakingopportunities: the existing spas attract 300 million day-visits each year.

　　Yet the worse the economy gets, the more popular a nice soak becomes. Already dozens ofbooks and TV programs offer to steer travelers through the hot-spring circuit. In a 2001 surveyby the nation's largest travel agency, hot springs ranked as the favorite destination ofJapanese tourists, and the second favorite ( behind theme parks) among those in their 20s and30 s. In the agency, a staff of 32 years old says her peers seeing their fathers losing jobs fearfor their own careers and marriage prospects, and can find" no certainty in the future ". Withall that hanging over one's head, 20 is a cheap price for relaxation.It's worth remembering,though , that Edo society grew stagnant and ended in turmoil.

　　Enjoy the waters, while you can.

　　练习题：

　　Ⅰ. True or False:

　　1. Great Edo Hot Spring is the reproduction of Edo period.

　　2. Isao Nakamura constructed the Great Edo Hot Spring because he bemoaned the America'sinfluence on Tokyo.

　　3. Hot spring is the best way to ease anxiety.

　　4. Great Edo Hot Spring will be the largest hot-spring complex.

　　Ⅱ. Questions:

　　Are new spas totally the same with the traditional ones? In what way are they different fromthe traditional ones?

　　参考答案：

　　Ⅰ. 1. T 2. T 3. T 4. F

　　Ⅱ. Not totally, they offer more luxurious services,longer hours.

　　译文：

　　在临东京湾的时髦地区出现了奇特的仿古式场景。它是一个温泉疗养中心, 里面逼真地模拟了日本江户末年街道、小餐馆、商店的情景, 那些年日本尚未因外来力量的冲击而发生改变。这个名为“ 江户温泉神话”的浴场是董事长中村勇夫多年的梦想。中村勇夫惋惜战后日本文化的美国化及其对东京的影响。“ 过去我们告诉国外游客到京都去体味和享受古朴的日本, ”中村说:“ 如今他们可以来这里。”

　　在日本的黄金时代温泉浴行业有前景的想法已经得到映证。现在人们甚至用一个专门的词——— iyashi-sangyo , 即治疗产业, 来表示这一行业。该行业通过提供各种服务来缓解日本似乎无止尽的经济衰退引起的焦虑。其中包括: 熏香、按摩和短期的田间劳作, 但这些都不及温泉受欢迎, 温泉的治疗效果已是久负盛名。日本是火山群岛, 有三万多处然温泉和三千多处大多分布在乡间小旅馆里的温泉胜地。

　　中村建设中的这家浴场规模和排场都是史无前例的, 是一座位于东京市中心的具有乡 村风情的庞大的浴室和主题公园。另外还有两家温泉疗养中心正在建设中, 其中一家造价比中村浴场的四千六百万美元几乎高出三倍。在一所大学研究温泉文化的教授松田忠德说, 在市中心快速矗立起的这些庞大的设施, 暗示人们对经济的焦虑“ 已经一触即发”, 而投资者们想从中渔利。

　　东京新的浴场和传统的澡堂大同小异。在一般的澡堂, 客人花4 美元用普通的水洗刷一下, 午夜打烊时, 他们就得离开。东京所有新建的浴场都要用抽自地下1 700 米深处的真正的矿物温泉水。他们提供每次最低消费为20 美元的时间更长、更舒适的服务。尽管这股建设热潮中存在风险, 但是在日本温泉浴行业似乎充满了商机: 现有的温泉浴场每年接待3 亿白天来访的客人。

　　经济越不景气, 人们越喜欢舒服地泡澡。各种书和电视节目都向游客介绍温泉。2001年日本最大的旅行社进行的调查表明, 温泉是访日的游客最喜欢的去处, 在二、三十岁的人中, 它的受欢迎度程度也仅次于主题公园。该旅行社一位32 岁职员说, 她的同伴们目睹父辈纷纷失业, 就担心起自己的前途和婚姻, 感到“ 未来捉摸不定”。这些烦恼挥之不去, 花20 多美元放松一下身心很便宜。但是, 值得铭记的是: 江户时代停滞不前, 动乱而终。尽情享受水吧, 趁你还有机会。