新视野大学英语读写教程听力 第四册 课文 te-09c_new

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[00:00.00]喜欢hxen.net，就把hxen.net复制到QQ个人资料中！A Leisure Boom in Japan
[00:-1.00]My knees are shaking,
[00:-2.00]my heart is beating wildly and my head is enclosed in a crash helmet
[00:-3.00]that seems much too thin. Balanced at the edge of a narrow white platform,
[00:-4.00]I am about to jump head first into a hot new phase of Japan's leisure boom:
[00:-5.00]indoor sky diving, without a parachute.
[00:-6.00]I am deep into second thoughts, but there is no backing out now.
[00:-7.00]To get out, I would have to climb back down the narrow ladder from the tower
[00:-8.00]and walk past the long row of "salarymen"
[00:-9.00]and "office ladies" lined up behind me at an amusement park named Tokyo Roof.
[00:10.00]Tokyo Roof is one of hundreds of amusement parks, sports centers,
[00:11.00]and resorts opening all over Japan
[00:12.00]as this hard-working nation brings its characteristic efficiency
[00:13.00]and intensity to the newly serious business of play.
[00:14.00]There is a leisure boom in Japan,
[00:15.00]and like many national trends here it is largely a government-led phenomenon.
[00:16.00]Under pressure from the United States and other trading partners,
[00:17.00]who complain about the labor force working too much,
[00:18.00]Japan is working hard at the notion of working less hard.
[00:19.00]Japanese workers labor about 200 more hours per year
[00:20.00]than the average of their American counterparts,
[00:21.00]according to figures from Japan's Labor Ministry.
[00:22.00]With school in session every weekday plus Saturday morning 10 months of the year,
[00:23.00]Japanese students have almost 60 more class days
[00:24.00]annually than their American peers.
[00:25.00]But now government and big businesses
[00:26.00]are vigorously promoting the concept of "leisure".
[00:27.00]Some companies require employees to take longer vacations,
[00:28.00]and others are moving to eliminate the traditional Saturday workday
[00:29.00]so that people will get out and relax.
[00:30.00]But there is a problem for people with free time in a tightly packed country
[00:31.00]where land is dear: There aren't many places to play.
[00:32.00]Designing cities according to the traditional concept
[00:33.00]that hard work is a moral duty,
[00:34.00]those who rebuilt Japan after World War II left almost no room for recreation.
[00:35.00]Today, according to the Ministry of Construction,
[00:36.00]Tokyo has about 2.5 square meters of park for each resident.
[00:37.00]To make up for the lack of public parks,
[00:38.00]the private sector is devising all sorts of new entries in the leisure market.
[00:39.00]They include: indoor ski resorts,
[00:40.00]with mountains made of crushed ice inside huge buildings
[00:41.00]complete with chair lifts and ski schools; indoor mountain-climbing centers,
[00:42.00]with artificial peaks and cliffs; all-night golf courses,
[00:43.00]with brightly colored balls and blinking red lights atop the flag stick;
[00:44.00]golf driving ranges layered four stories high in the heart of the city,
[00:45.00]with towering green nets to keep the balls
[00:46.00]from smashing windows in neighboring office buildings.
[00:47.00]Scores of amusement parks have opened since Tokyo Disneyl and arrived in 1983,
[00:48.00]and 200 more are proposed or under construction.
[00:49.00]Targeted at not only children but also young working singles,
[00:50.00]many amusement parks are pushing thrills.
[00:51.00]One Tokyo attraction has six roller coasters ,
[00:52.00]which can spin 360 degrees, while whipping around the track.
[00:53.00]And then there is Tokyo Roof, where I went sky diving indoors.
[00:54.00]Set up on a downtown parking lot,
[00:55.00]its entrance marked by a massive sign that reads, in English,
[00:56.00]"Good Music from Your Body Heart on the World Line",
[00:57.00]Tokyo Roof is a test market for new amusement park ideas.
[00:58.00]It offers video-imitated golf courses,
[00:59.00]a racetrack where customers can drive scale racecars,
[-1:00.00]a movie theater where the seats roll
[-1:-1.00]and shake in accord with happenings on the screen.