第五篇 Sino-Japan Animosity Lessens
Chinese and Japanese people view each other slightly more positively than last year, according to a survey released on Wednesday at a press conference in Beijing.
The survey is jointly sponsored by China Daily and Genron NPO1, a Japanese think tank similar to the American Council on Foreign Relations. It also found overwhelming agreement in both countries that Sino-Japanese relations were important.
The survey is a part of the Beijing-Tokyo Forum, an annual gathering of senior government officials and representatives from Chinese and Japanese NGOs2 designed to improve communication and understanding between the two countries.
Conducted every year for five years now, the survey focused on two different groups of people: ordinary citizens, and intellectuals. In China, the intellectual group was comprised mainly of university students from well-known schools like Peking University. In Japan, the "intellectual" group was mainly made up of previous members of Genron NPO.
Among ordinary Chinese polled, 35.7 percent said they have "very good" or "relatively good" impressions of Japan, a 5.5-percentage-point increase compared with last year. 45.2 percent of Chinese students had a positive impression of Japan, two percentage points more than last year. Only 26.6 percent of Japanese have a positive impression of China, however.
Still, an overwhelming majority of the respondents from each country said Sino-Japanese relations were "important" and wanted their leaders to deepen talks and cooperation with each other.
But 51.9 percent of ordinary people and 42.4 percent of students in China said they saw no change in relations between the two countries over the last year. In Japan, 64.8 percent of those ordinary people and 53.4 percent of intellectuals surveyed shared the view that there was no improvement in bilateral ties this year.from www.yingyukaoshi.com
Historical issues and territorial disputes remain two major obstacles to improving bilateral relations, the survey found. What concerns the Chinese most are historical issues, visits by Japanese officials to Yasukuni Shrine3, and the Nanjing Massacre.
Perceptions on economic and trade relations have improved, though. About 47 percent of ordinary Japanese said China had been "helpful" this year in fighting the global economic crisis, compared with just 30 percent last year. The percent of Japanese intellectuals who said Chinese economic growth was good for Japan increased from 65.8 percent to 81.4 percent this year.
Cooperation in East Asian issues, trade and investment, energy, and the environment and climate change top the list of common concerns that people in China and Japan want their leaders to talk about in bilateral meetings, the survey found.
Civil exchanges were regarded by the most people from the both countries as an important way to improve relations. 90.7 percent of the students and 85.7 percent of the ordinary people in China and 95.8% of intellectuals and 74.8% of the ordinary people in Japan viewed civil exchanges as "important" or "relatively important".
Chinese and Japanese both learn about each other's countries mostly through television news and newspapers, the survey found.
词汇：
animosity n. 憎恶；敌意；仇恨
massacre n. 大屠杀
overwhelming adj. 压倒性的，势不可挡的
bilateral adj. 有两边的；（两党、两国等）双边的
注释：
1. NPO：是英文"non-profit organization"的缩写，直译为"非营利性的组织"。
2. NGO：是英文"non-government organization"的缩写，直译为"非政府组织"。
3. Yasukuni Shrine 靖国神社。
练习：
1. Which of the following statements about the survey is true?
A) The survey was conducted on Wednesday at a press conference in Beijing.
B) The survey is jointly sponsored by y China Daily, Genron NPO and the American Council on Foreign Relations.
C) The survey found that people in both China and Japan generally agree that the relationship between the two countries is important.
D) The survey mainly focused on two different groups of people: ordinary citizens, and the university students.
2. According to the passage, the Beijing-Tokyo Forum
A) is held every year in Beijing.
B) aims at promoting communication between the two countries.
C) mainly attracts representatives from the governments of the two countries
D) releases a survey on Sino-Japanese relation every five years.
3. In the last year, ________% of ordinary Chinese and ________% of Chinese students have a positive impression of Japan.
A) 35.7; 45.2
B) 51.9; 42.4
C) 5.5; 26.6
D) 30.2; 43.2
4. Which of the following is NOT mentioned as the major obstacles to improving bilateral ties?
A) territorial disputes
B) trade frictions
C) visits by Japanese officials to Yasukuni Shrine
D) the Nanjing Massacre
5. The survey found that
A) most Japanese had good or relatively good impressions of China.
B) the bilateral relationship was perceived as being improved over last year by the majority of respondents from the both countries.
C) an overwhelming majority of the respondents from each country believed that the Civil exchanges were an important way to improve relations.
D) The territorial issue ranked among the top list of common concerns that people in both countries want their leaders to talk about in bilateral meetings.
答案与题解：
1．C 从第二段最后一句话可知，中日两国民众普遍认为两国之间的关系很重要。
2．B 第三段明确表示，论坛的宗旨是为了增进两国之间的沟通和理解。
3．D 第五段中说本年度普通中国人和大学生中对日本印象较好的人所占比例分别为35.7％和45.2％，分别比上一年度增长5.5 个百分点和2 个百分点，因此可以计算出去年普通中国人和大学生对日本持积极态度的百分比分别为30.2％和43.2％。
4．B 第八段列出了阻碍中日关系正常发展的主要障碍，分别是领土争端和历史问题，后者包括南京大屠杀和日本领导人参拜靖国神社。贸易摩擦则没有提及。
5．C 从倒数第三段提供的数据可知，中日两国大多数人认为民间交往是促进两国关系发展的重要途径。