1. But it is a little upsetting to read in the explanatory notes that a certain line describes a fight between a Turkish and a Bulgarian officer on a bridge off which they both fall into the river--and then to find that the line consists of the noise of their falling and the weights of the officers, "Pluff! Pluff!" A hundred and eighty-five kilograms."

　　[参考译文]但当我们先是从注释中得知某诗行讲述了一个土耳其军官和一个保加利亚军官在桥上动手打架并双双掉进河里，而后却发现该行诗中不过只充斥着"扑通，扑通，185公斤重"这类对他们落水时的动静以及对军官们体重的描写时，我们不免感到困惑不安。

　　2. The coming of age of the postwar baby boom and an entry of women into the male- domiated job market have limited the opportunities of teen-agers who are already questioning the heavy personal sacrifices involved in climbing Janpan′s rigid social ladder to good schools and jobs.

　　[参考译文]战后婴儿潮一代的步入成年以及女性打入男性主导的劳动力市场使得青少年的发展机会变得极为有限，他们已经在不停地质疑为了爬上日本国内那通往优秀学校和体面工作的严酷的社会阶梯而做出的巨大的个人牺牲。

　　3. Last year Mitsuo Setoyama, who was then education minister, raised eyebrows when he argued that liberal reforms introduced by the American occupation authorities after World War II had weakened the "Japanese morality of respect for parents".

　　[参考译文]去年，当担任教育部长职务的濑户光夫争辩说二战后由美国占领当局引入的自由主义革新削弱了日本民族"尊敬父母的道德品质"的时候，舆论哗然。

　　4. With economic growth has come centralization: fully 76 percent of Japan′s 119 million citizens live in cities where community and the extended family have been abandoned in favor of isolated, tow-generation households.

　　[参考译文]随着经济的增长，出现了集中化：全国1.19亿公民，其中整整76%的人口定居城市：在这里，原来的社区和多代同堂的大家庭已被摒弃，取而代之的是与外界疏于往来的、只由两代人组成的核心家庭。

　　5. If the tradition of ambition is to have vitality, it must be widely shared; and it especially must be highly regarded by people who are themselves admired, the educated not least among them.

　　[参考译文]如果野心的传统具有生命力，那么这传统必会为许多人分享;尤其会受到自己也受人仰慕的人士的青睐，在这些人中受过良好教育的可不占少数。