Practice test for ARCO I students of English - cloze test and word formation exercise (number 3)
“A new book translates 43 different Japanese words into English, introducing ideas that can help people in the West live differently. We’ve picked out seven of the most poignant” by Fiona Macdonald, BBC Culture, 25 January 2019
“When I was two, our family moved to a rural town in the Kansai area 1) a) being b) to have been c) to be d) having been with my father’s aging parents,” writes Mari Fujimoto in the introduction to the new book Ikigai and Other Japanese Words to Live by (published by Modern Books), 2) a) who b) what c) how d) which translates 43 of the most poignant phrases in the language. “I 3) a) fond b) fondly c) fondness d) fondest remember spending Obon, the festival that honours one’s ancestors, at the house of my grandparents (both of whom 4) a) were b) had c) got d) were being over 100 years old).” More than just a childhood memory, her experience reflects an outlook – one of many that appear in the book, 5) a) questions b) questioned c) questioning d) has questioned dominant Western values.
Fujimoto – director of Japanese Studies at the City University of New York – is a linguist 6) a) of b) to b) from d) by training, and believes that by discovering words and phrases unique to other cultures, we can gain a wider 7) a) understood b) understand c) understanding d) understandable of our own lives. “It’s important to give another perspective, see that other life,” she 8) a) speaks b) says c) tells d) talks BBC Culture. “In the West we tend to seek perfection, and we always feel like we have to be perfect, we have to do as 9) a) little b) much c) many d) few as we can, and meet other people’s expectations. Thinking about the way my grandparents were, and the traditional way of Japanese life, I thought we could stop and look around and accept the things that we don’t normally appreciate, like 10) a) get b) got c) getting d) having got older.”
Calmness seeps through many of the phrases, whether it’s derived from accepting elements 11) a) behind b) beneath c) beyond d) above our control or being respectful in all our encounters. South African artist David Buchler – who has written short essays for the book – has lived in Japan 12) a) since b) for c) from d) by seven years. “When I speak to people in Japanese, I’m very aware of 13) a) what b) who c) how d) which I’m saying and my gestures and being polite, thinking about how my words would affect 14) a) they,” b) that,” c) them,” d) those,” he tells BBC Culture. “It’s a very different approach to 15) a) talk.” b) talking.” c) speak.” d) saying.”
ANSWER KEY
1 c
2 d
3 b
4 a
5 c
6 d
7 c
8 c
9 b
10 c
11 c
12 b
13 a
14 c
15 b
WORD FORMATION
The book covers vast topics including ‘harmony’, ‘gratitude’ and ‘time’ – but it isn’t an abstract dictionary. Instead, Fujimoto offers a way into a culture that can often seem remote to 1) FOREIGN. So, for Shibui, which “recalls the beauty revealed by the passage of time”, she writes: “Inhering in an aesthetic of calm – colours subdued and brightness muted – this word reminds us to appreciate the things that improve with age. There is a grace in 2) MATURE, and the experiences of life mark their objects with a pleasant 3) RICH. You might experience Shibui in the colour of 4) LEAF in early winter, or an old teacup on a table.”
It’s a philosophy finding a 5) RECEPTION audience: by teaching us to find joy in the objects we own, Japanese tidying guru Marie Kondo has become a Netflix hit and a lifestyle brand, having a knock-on effect on charity shops; while the 21st-Century mindfulness 6) MOVE offers bite-sized 7) MEDITATE to practise when we’re on our way to work, cooking our dinner, or wandering around a supermarket.
“Learning the language calmed me a lot – the way I approach things is more 8) BENEFIT to myself,” says Buchler. He picks out the phrase ‘mono-no aware’, or ‘the ephemeral nature of beauty’. “It’s 9) BASIC about being both saddened and appreciative of transience – and also about the relationship between life and 10) DIE. In Japan, there are four very distinct seasons, and you really become aware of life and 11) MORTAL and transience. You become aware of how significant those moments are.”
The book reinforces how much a country’s climate can affect its vocabulary. “Japan is a small country, the actual habitable area on the island is very limited, and it’s 12) SURROUND by the ocean,” says Fujimoto. “The condition of living in pre-modern Japan was harsh… people had to learn how to live with that – you can’t always be bitter about what nature might bring. Rather than being upset or trying to resist, they figured out the wise way to appreciate and deal with the things that they have.”
“I recall typhoons destroying the crops and a massive earthquake stole thousands of lives in my prefecture,” writes Fujimoto in her 13) INTRODUCE. “That is how the Japanese developed their way of life: living in harmony with nature, a philosophy that sits at the heart of Shinto, the ancient indigenous spirituality of the Japanese people… This belief system developed into a uniquely Japanese way of appreciating beauty today.”
Fujimoto acknowledges that there are certain “essential elements of beauty, such as symmetry, composition, youth and liveliness” – but, she argues, “We tend to be attracted to those ‘positive’ qualities, whereas opposing qualities, such as 14) UGLY, imperfection, age and death, are considered distasteful in the Western world. The traditional Japanese aesthetic is, conversely, founded on the undeniable 15) TRUE of nature; everything in nature is transient; nothing lasts, and nothing is perfect. There is a beauty in all the varied spectra of life, from 16) BORN to death, imperfection to perfection, ugliness to elegance.”
The book reinforces the benefit that 17) UNDERSTAND words particular to different languages can bring: we can see the world in two different ways, holding both viewpoints 18) SIMULTANEOUS. “If you just switch a gear you can see more beauty in the world,” says Fujimoto. “Just a little change of mind or perspective: we have so many great things around that we don’t notice or appreciate.”
ANSWER KEY
1) FOREIGNERS
2) MATURITY
3) RICHNESS
4) LEAVES
5) RECEPTIVE
6) MOVEMENT
7) MEDITATION
8) BENEFICIAL
9) BASICALLY
10) DEATH
11) MORTALITY
12) SURROUNDED
13) INTRODUCTION
14) UGLINESS
15) TRUTH
16) BIRTH
17) UNDERSTANDING
18) SIMULTANEOUSLY
- “Mugon-no gyō: the rewards of silence.
Mugon-no gyō: a specifically silent meditative practice that asks you to take a moment to reflect before doing – act, don’t react”
- “Fukinsei: poignancy in imbalance.
Fukinsei, or beauty in asymmetry: symmetry represents perfection, and is alien to human experience. An art form must bring a sense of alternative possibilities, admitting change”
- “Teinei: courtesy expressed through attentiveness.
Teinei: a courteous attitude, where each gesture is performed with dedication and precision; behaving with the utmost care in order to show excellence in your conduct”
- “Mono-no aware: the ephemeral nature of beauty.
Mono-no aware: the ephemeral nature of beauty – the quietly elated, bittersweet feeling of having been witness to the dazzling circus of life – knowing that none of it can last”
- “Shōganai: acceptance of events you cannot change.
Meaning literally ‘there is no means or method’, shōganai is a reminder that sometimes we have to accept things as they are, allowing us to let go of negative feelings”
- “Kodawari: being fastidious.
Kodawari: a mind-set of determined and scrupulous attention to detail, motivated by a sincere passion and self-discipline; knowing that some of these efforts will go unrecognised”
- Prizing what’s mysterious and profound, yūgen is a kind of beauty that derives from understatement: deeply tied to kanso, a reminder to perceive beyond what one sees
