Divorces in Japan have more than doubled, according to health ministry statistics. One in three Japanese marriages now ends in divorce.
Atsuko Okano was in one of those failed marriages. Three years ago, she found herself alone in her 30s, with children to raise and a future full of question marks and social shame. But she also saw an opening, and became an advisor helping people like herself.
“My husband was cheating on me,” she recalled. ‘I did everything to bring him back to me but it didn’t work, so I dumped him.” Such frankness is a major characteristic of Japan’s recently divorced.
Divorced people – particularly woman – have long been looked down upon in Japan, where self-sacrifice and family stability are regarded as ideals. In the past, bored housewives remained bored. The security of the family unit was the most important thing. Now, young Japanese are increasingly choosing satisfaction in life over the demands of tradition, and more woman are financially independent. As a result, Japanese divorce rates are flying. Experts attribute this to the erosion of a long-standing double standard that granted divorced men respectability, but branded(gave somebody a bad name) divorced women as damaged goods.
Over the past decade, growing numbers of highly educated and successful professional women have challenged that assumption(something taken for granted) by turning their backs on unhappy marriages and paying no attention to the taboo（禁忌）of divorce. The majority of divorce behavior now is started by women.
小题1:This passage mainly talks about the fact that nowadays Japanese women _________.
A．are granted respectability after they get divorced
B．are becoming brave enough to challenge the taboo of divorce
C．still consider the security of the family unit to be very important
D．are becoming more financially independent小题2:It can be inferred from Paragraph 2 that Atsuko Okano __________.
A．had some children to raise
B．was very confident with her future
C．was not greatly respected by Japanese society
D．might have found a job to help divorced people小题3:The underlined word “dumped” in paragraph 3 probably means _________.
A．looked down upon
B．had a quarrel with
C．hated
D．divorced小题4:Which of the following is NOT mentioned as the reason for rising rate of Japanese divorces?
A．Self-sacrifice and family stability are not much appreciated in Japan as before.
B．More women can support themselves financially.
C．Divorced men and women can quickly find their new partners
D．Young Japanese care more about satisfaction in life than their elders did.
