【北星学園】

(英文の記録なし）

【青山学院・文】

大問１

   The American government began to hire female office workers in the 1860s, when much of the male labor force had gone into the army during the Civil War*. The U.S. politician Francis Elias Spinner led the way, overcoming opposition from the men in his office who preferred to keep the office to themselves. Spinner kept the new employees away from any sensitive work, assigning them light, thoughtless jobs instead as a kind of experiment. To his pleasant surprise, the women did an excellent job. In addition, you didn't have to pay them as much as the men. So he continued to hire women after the war had finished, while laws were passed to ensure they didn't cost too much: the maximum salary for women of $900 a year was established in 1866, while that for men was  $1,800, "Some of the women are doing more and better work for $900 a year than men who were paid double that amount," Spinner said with satisfaction in 1869.

   Once it became clear that women were perfectly good office workers, and often better than men, more  women began to enter the office world. The changes in proportion were enormous, accompanying the growth of the office workforce itself. In 1870, there were eighty thousand office workers in America; only 3 percent were women. Fifty years later, there were three million office workers, of whom women made up nearly 50 percent.

   The extraordinary growth in women's employment depended on their being limited to particular positions. Stenography* was one of these fields. Office stenographers mostly took handwritten dictation, which was especially important since handwritten notes and letters were still considered more respectful than typed ones. As a result stenographers were slightly higher in status and salary than typists but below private secretaries, who were close to executive power (though they could not achieve it  themselves). Regardless of status, however, there was no question about the quality or interest of the work  itself: whether handwritten dictation or typing, the work didn't  involve much imagination or initiative, since women were seen as being better able to handle dull work.

   With women filling most jobs in typing and stenography, these jobs became so associated with them that the workers themselves were often called "type-girls"; sometimes women were just called "typewriters," ignoring the difference between human and machine. Advertisements for the Remington typewriter the first widely used office typewriter  — featured mostly women. Christopher Sholes, the designer of the first commercially produced typewriter in 1867, called it "a blessing to mankind, and especially to womankind."

   The private secretary, too, gradually became viewed as exclusively female. Because secretarial work offered no opportunity for advancement, it was supposedly appropriate for women. "A woman is to be preferred for the secretarial position," wrote W. H. Leffingwell, "for she does not mind doing minor tasks, work involving small details, which would annoy ambitious young men, who usually feel that they should be doing work of importance." 

   By 1926, 88 percent of secretarial jobs were held by women. Women made up nearly 100 percent of typists, stenographers, and file clerks. The lowest positions in any office were likely to be occupied by women. Even the term "office boy," meaning the lowest-paid job in the workplace, came to refer to someone of either sex: one employment advertisement from the 1920s said, "Wanted — a boy, either sex." 

   Though it was obviously useful for companies  to have cheap labor, there was nothing new about unequal pay for women at the turn of the century that made them preferable. Nor did men begin to consider women suitable for dull and simple jobs overnight. The oversupply of women for the office was the result of changes in the economy. Before and immediately after the Civil War, family farms provided plenty of work for women. Fathers and mothers were less likely to let their daughters move to the city when they were needed at home.

   However, later, many of the goods formerly produced on farms began to be made in cities and placed in stores across the country. Factory-made clothing, canned goods, and bakery-made bread replaced the hand-woven, self-farmed, and home-cooked goods that women were supposed to provide in the home. Independent farmers themselves were being taken over by larger farms. With money for small businesses disappearing and less work for women to do in the home, the office was a great opportunity for women.

   The new supply of workers was a perfect match with the new needs of companies. Women provided a large supply of workers willing to do uninteresting work with no possibility of becoming managers. The structure of the workforce of the time depended on women being in the office. (781 words)

大問2

   College does not expect you simply to take in more knowledge of the same kind that you acquired in high school. You will learn new things, of course, but you will be expected to take a different approach to your learning. In high school, knowledge tends to be treated as a fact, as truth that reasonable people accept because the best authorities on the subject maintain that it is true. But in college, knowledge tends to be treated as current belief, as what reasonable people today believe because there are good reasons to believe it even though new reasons might well come along that would force us  to revise our views. As one writer put it, "What is treated in high school as eternal and unchangeable fact will be treated in college as belief that may perhaps be well supported at the present but that could turn out to be wrong."

   Why is this? The  simple answer goes back to the university's role, which is not only  to pass  along knowledge but also to  create it. Researchers at the college level are aware that if our  knowledge is to advance, we must constantly be willing to question the conventional wisdom. We must be willing to reexamine the evidence behind a claim rather than accepting it blindly. At the same time, knowledge can move forward only by extending what we already know. So scholars try to combine a respect for existing knowledge with some doubts about it. The history of learning is a history of revision  — of mastering knowledge in order to improve on it, (264 Wrods)

【上智・2月5日】

大問１

[1] When my mother was eighty-five she inherited. from my son, a pet Russian tortoise named Miss Dinnerman. It lived in her yard, in a large pen* enclosing both shrubs and lawn, delineated by chicken wire*. My mother's knees were starting to go, so she'd had to curtail her traditional two-hour walks around the neighborhood. She was looking for a new friend, one she could easily access, and the tortoise got the　job. She decorated the pen with rocks and pieces of wood and visited the animal every day, just like she used to visit the bank teller and the cashiers at Big Lots*. On occasion she even brought Miss Dinnerman flowers, which she thought made the pen look pretty, but which the tortoise treated like a delivery from the local Pizza Hut.

 [2] My mother didn't mind. when the tortoise ( 4 ) her bouquets. She thought it was cute. "Look how she enjoys it," she'd say. But despite the cushy* existence, the free room and board, and the freshly cut flowers, Miss Dinnerman's main goal in life seemed to be escape. Whenever she wasn't eating or sleeping, Miss Dinnerman would walk the perimeter, poking around for a hole in the chicken wire. She would even try to climb it, as awkward as a skateboarder Lyngrto scale a ApLalr staircase. My mother saw this behavior, too, in human terms. To her, it was a heroic effort, like POW* Steve McQueen plotting his breakout from a Nazi camp in The Great Escape*. "Every creature wants freedom," my mother told me. "Even if she has it good here, she doesn't like being confined." My mother believed that Miss Dinnerman recognized her voice and responded to it. She believed that Miss Dinnerman understood her. "You're reading too much into her behavior," I told my mother. "Tortoises are primitive creatures." I would even demonstrate my point, waving my hands and hollering* like a crazy person, then pointing out how the tortoise just ignored me. "So what?" she'd say. "Your kids ignore you. and you don't call them primitive creatures."

[3] It can be difficult to distinguish willed, conscious behavior from that which is habitual or automatic. Indeed, as humans, our tendency to believe in consciously motivated behavior is so powerful that we read consciousness into not only our own behaviors but those of the animal kingdom as well. We do this with our pets, of course. It's called anthropomorphizing. The tortoise is as brave as a POW, the cat peed* on the suitcase because it was mad at us for going away, the dog must hate the mailman for some good reason. Simpler organisms*, too, can appear to behave with humanlike thoughtfulness and intentionality. The lowly fruit fly*, for example, goes through an elaborate mating ritual*, which the male initiates by tapping the female with his foreleg and vibrating his wing in order to play her a courtship* song. If the female accepts the advance, she will do nothing, and the male will take over from there. If she is not sexually receptive, she will either strike him with her wings or legs, or run away. Though I have elicited frighteningly similar responses from human females, this fruit fly mating ritual is completely programmed. Fruit flies don't worry about issues such as where their relationship is headed; they simply exercise a routine that is hardwired* within them. In fact, their actions are so directly related to their biological constitution that scientists have discovered a chemical that, when applied to a male of the species, will, within hours, convert a heterosexual fruit fly into one that is gay.

 [ 4 ] Animals like fruit flies and tortoises are at the lower end on the brain- power scale, but the role of automatic processing is not limited to such primitive creatures. We humans also perform many automatic, unconscious behaviors. We tend to be unaware of them, however, because the interplay between our conscious and unconscious minds is so complex.

[5] We have an unconscious mind and, superimposed upon it, a conscious brain. How much of our feelings, judgments, and behavior is due to each can be very hard to say, as we are constantly shifting back and forth between them. For example; one morning we mean to stop at the post office on the way to work, but at the key intersection, we turn right, toward the office, because we are running on autopilot*--that is, acting unconsciously. Then, when trying to explain to the police officer the reason for our subsequent illegal U-turn, our conscious mind calculates the optimal* excuse, while our autopilot unconscious handles the proper use of gerunds, subjunctive verbs, and indefinite articles* so that our plea is expressed in fine grammatical form. If asked to step out of the car, we will consciously obey, then instinctively stand about four feet from the officer, although when talking to friends we automatically adjust that separation to about two and a half feet. (Most of us follow these unspoken rules of interpersonal distance without ever thinking about them and can't help feeling uncomfortable when they are violated.)

[6] Once attention is called to them, it is easy to accept many of our simple behaviors (like making that right turn) as being automatic. The real issue MI - is the extent to which more complex and substantive behaviors, with the potential to have a much greater impact on our lives, are also automatic — even though we may feel sure that they are carefully thought through and totally rational. How does our unconscious affect our attitude about questions like Which house should I buy? Which stock should I sell? Should I hire that person to take care of my child? Or: Are bright blue eyes into which I can't stop staring a sufficient basis for a long-term loving relationship? (973 words) 

大問２

[ 1 ] "Western culture," Yi Fu Tuan * has written, "encourages an intense awareness of self and, compared with other cultures, an exaggerated belief  in the power and value of the individual. ... This isolated, critical and self-  conscious individual is a cultural artifact. We may well wonder at its  history. Children, we know, do not feel or think thus, nor do nonliterate  and tradition-bound peoples, nor did Europeans in earlier times."

[ 2 ] Yi Fu Tuan noted that in the evolution of the European house "more  and more rooms were added that enabled the householder and his family  to withdraw from specialized activities and to be alone if they should so wish. The house itself stood apart from its neighbors." He mentioned the various ways in which the middle-class or academic householder withdrew from the public sphere: by a complete rejection of gainful employment in the home, by a sentimental cult of closeness to nature, and finally by a clear-cut, unmistakable separation of the residence (in the suburbs or in exurbia* or in the condominiumized* wilderness) from the office or factory or classroom. I find that the notices of houses for rent in the columns of the classifieds* in the New York Review of Books or in the Nation * give a wonderfully concise description of the ideal home of the professional or academic citizen: "Charming, secluded, environmentally friendly house: three bedrooms, three-car garage, swimming pool, solar energy, extensive library, breathtaking views of unspoiled rural landscape. Ideal for sabbatical hideaway* or nature contacts. No smokers need apply; no pets, no children."

[3] There is much comfort in the thought that this decadence is confined to  a very small class, and that now, as in the past, the vast majority of  Americans are committed to a very_ different definition of the home. As  one of the speakers at a 1990 conference entitled "Home: A Place in the  World" observed, "Most historians have tended to generalize for the whole  society on the basis of the middle-class experience. The process by which  working-class families eventually adopted the new domestic lifestyle  has not been documented... . For working-class families the home was not  merely a private refuge; it was a resource that could be used for  generating extra income."

[4] The academic and professional middle class want their house to be as  inconspicuous as possible, to avoid being ostentatious, and to blend with  the natural environment. But for most of the rest of us, the house is there  to be seen. It shows that we are permanent members of the community  —village, neighborhood, parish*, school district, subdivision*. In the words of a philosopher, "Property makes a man visible and accessible. I cannot see a man's mind or his character. But when I see what he has chosen and what he does with it, I know what he likes, and quite a good deal

[5] What the average contemporary American dwelling tells us about the  family is whether it is rich or poor and how much it values public opinion.  It tells us nothing about how it makes its money, and reticence * on that  score is one of the benefits of our emphasis on privacy. But until three or  four centuries ago in Europe, the size and exterior features of the house  told us the social status of the family and how it contributed to the  community; that was because in those times home and place of work were  one and the same. This was even true of the house or castle of the nobleman*: by law he was allowed to adorn it with castellations* and a  moat and a dungeon to indicate that he had juridical powers* and was  committed to defending the community. The number of bays* in the  house of the yeoman* indicated the number of acres he farmed and what  he paid in taxes; in the case of certain ancient homesteads*, a seven-foot  fence around them showed that the owner had the right to maintain the  "King's Peace" among his servants and in his family, without police  interference. The lowliest of houses was the one-bay "cottage" with less  than enough land to farm. The cotter (or occupant) supported himself  and his family by working for others and by what we now call cottage  industries: the producing of everyday items—tools, pots, harness*, even  food—which the other villagers could buy.

[6] Thus almost every house in a medieval village participated in the life of  the community—as a place of work or of certain services. No less universal was the emphasis on visibility and accessibility. The cottage  was open to the buying public and to the authorities; even the nobleman's  house had its hall for public assembly and its court for trials. It could be said that community flourished ( 29 ) privacy, not to preserve it. In towns where space was limited, the absence of privacy was notorious. A family and its hired help often lived and worked in one room, and much of their activity spilled over into the street, where they displayed their wares. If the location of a house inconvenienced the flow of traffic, or even if it was the scene of too much rowdiness and noise, it could be moved or destroyed. Noble families were not exempt: they were obliged to build houses which were appropriately large and ornate, with an imnosing facade on the street. (994 words)

John Brinckerhoff Jackson, A Sense of Place, A Sense of Time (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994), pp. 138-40. (—ea go

【南山・人文】

大問２      In 2013, Paul Salopek, a 54-year-old writer and journalist from California, left home for a most unusual reporting assignment. He was starting out on a seven-year walk along one of the routes taken by early humans who migrated out of  Africa. He would be going on a journey across continents that he calculates will eventually cover more than 30,000 kilometers. His journey began in Ethiopia, and so far it has taken him through the Middle East and parts of Asia. It will eventually take him over to Alaska and down the western United States. He will then go down through Central and South America. He hopes his journey will end in southern Chile sometime in 2020. 

   Salopek is calling his Ethiopia-to-Chile journey the Out  of Eden Walk, and the project is being sponsored by the Knight Foundation and National Geographic magazine. A two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, Salopek submits one major article a year about his travel experiences to the magazine,  but updates his magazine blog with stories approximately every 160 kilometers, usually every seven to ten days. Today, completing such a journey would be considered an extraordinary achievement, yet Salopek notes that our ancient ancestors walked approximately 4,000 kilometers every year to hunt and gather food, about the same distance he covers each year.  [A]  

   Salopek writes that walking has affected him in countless ways. ( 23 ) walking has made his legs and heart stronger, but he has learned that traveling on foot in some of the poorest regions on earth is not only more appealing but also more practical.  Some places have no roads and aren't accessible by car," he explains.  "In Ethiopia, few people own cars and everybody walks. However, in wealthy Saudi Arabia, walking, when you can drive everywhere, is considered especially crazy, which would explain why in 1,000 kilometers of walking only one person chose to walk with me." Salopek doesn't think car ownership is a bad thing, but he warns that it can take over our life and control not only where we go but also what we do. Salopek explains, "By driving, we lose connection with our environment. We are so dependent on cars that we fail to realize how much they limit our appreciation of the world around us."  [  B

   Salopek's planned walk may be among the longest in modern times, yet similar walks have been done before. Rory Stewart, a British politician, took 21 months to walk across Iran, Pakistan, Nepal, and Afghanistan. He did this because he was interested in getting to know the people of these countries. As he states, "We live in a world which tends  only to focus on tourist destinations, so we usually ignore 99 percent of the real country and its people." By walking rather than driving, Stewart was forced to stop after 30 or so kilometers every day and spend nights in village homes. This helped him meet local people and learn about their everyday hopes and fears. No matter how tired and hungry he was, Stewart enjoyed spending time with his  hosts. He recommends that Salopek follow his example.  [  C

   Salopek notes that many reporters prefer to fly to worldwide locations to report on dramatic international news stories which will appeal to readers who look for up-to-date information on their smartphones. Once reporters have their stories, they quickly leave to look for more sensational or thrilling news. Salopek instead intends that his brand of 'slow journalism' will focus on how the local communities he encounters on his travels are affected by global issues like climate change and technological innovation. Other journalists find his slow way of reporting to be unusual. He recalls one reporter saying to him, "Isn't it boring to walk? Getting anywhere takes so much  longer!" Such a viewpoint, Salopek suggests, says nothing about the world but everything about the questioner's lack of imagination.  ED

For Salopek, the trek will not be without its trials. There will be days filled with fatigue and loneliness, and there will be days filled with exploration and discovery. Either way, it is already shaping up to be the journey of a lifetime. (689 words)  

大問２

   Curry rice has become the most popular dish in Japan. This may surprise visitors from abroad because Japan is not ( 28 ) known for spicy food. ( 29 ), Japanese people generally prefer more subtle tastes and ( 30 ) very spicy tastes. So, how did curry rice become Japan's favorite food?

   The history of curry rice in Japan ( 31 ) thirty years after the Meiji Restoration, a period when Japan ( 32 ) sudden and rapid modernization. During that period, a major part of Japan's modernization effort was to ( 33 ) its military forces, especially its navy, primarily to prevent colonization. However, navy officers and crew were ( 34 ) to disease because of poor nutrition on the ships. Then, a British-trained doctor named Kanehiro Takaki was able to determine that a ( 35 ) of vitamin  B1 was the cause of disease, and therefore he emphasized that the sailors' diet should be improved. When British and Japanese officers started to ( 36 ) technological information, they also exchanged recipes and discussed how to prepare food. One of the foods high in vitamin  B1 served ( 37 ) British ships was a type of curry that the British had long ago ( 38 ) from India. It wasn't long ( 39 ) that a variation on the British recipe was served with rice to the Japanese sailors. The men soon developed a taste ( 40 ) curry rice. When the sailors returned home, they ( 41 ) their love for the dish. Curry rice soon spread ( 42 ) Japan.

   Today, there are many Indian and Thai restaurants in Japan and many of ( 43 ) serve a wide selection of spicy curries. But for now, Japanese curry rice is still firmly the nation's favorite and looks highly ( 44 ) to remain so for many years to come.

(313 words) 

大問７

   For thousands of years, many people around the world have enjoyed relaxing in saunas. Recently, scientific research has shown that (  58 ) making people feel good, saunas benefit people in many ways. First of all, when people sit in saunas and sweat heavily, unhealthy substances are removed ( 59 ) the body. Everyone ( 60 ) these substances from their environment, and the sweat produced by taking saunas is a great way to detox. In addition, saunas help fight illness. As the body is ( 61 ) to the heat of the sauna, it produces more white blood cells, which fight disease. ( 62 ), saunas help to improve the condition of the heart. Another important benefit of saunas is that they help people to sleep more ( 63  ). The heat from saunas also helps the body to ( 64 ) calories because the body uses up energy when it sweats. Taking a sauna also helps to ( 65 ) mental health as many people report that their stress level goes down after taking a  sauna. This  is because the heat from the sauna relaxes the  body's muscles and speeds up the blood ( 66  ). In addition, the body produces chemicals that make us feel good and which are normally released ( 67 ) physical exercise.(219 words)

【東京経済】

大問１　http://www.vanaqua.org/files/6914/5712/8939/water_March_4_2016.pdf

    Around the world, 663 million people do not have access to clean drinking water. That is about nine percent of the world's population. The reasons  for this range from lack of water facilities to how far away many people live from  (1) reliable water sources. Further, shifts in the weather have brought droughts to some areas and flooding to others. Natural disasters like this can damage the  (y12) water table. 

   However, the numbers are not as bad as they once were. In 2000, the United Nations (U.N.) set out to cut in half the number of people without access to "improved water," that is, water sources that are protected from pollution. The U.N. met this target in 2010. 

   But there is still more work to do. In Eastern Asia there has been a steady drop in the number of people without access to clean water since 1991, from about 1 in 3 to 1 in 25. But if you break down the data according to country, you can see that Eastern Asia's progress is mostly China's progress. Ninety-six percent of the 723 million Eastern Asians who have gained access to improved water over the last 25 years live in China. 

   Within many countries, access varies between urban and rural areas. In 1990 almost three-quarters of the world's population lived in rural areas.  By 2015 that had reversed, with the majority living in cities. As a result, while there are fewer rural people without access to clean drinking water, improvements in urban areas have been delayed. 

   The final divide comes between regions. Southern and Eastern Asia (led by India and China), Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Western Asia (the area we think of as the Middle East) all met the U.N. targets. Meanwhile,  Sub-    (E3) Saharan Africa, which had low access to water while facing dramatic population growth, failed to meet the targets in 2015.

   Looking on the bright side, 2.6 billion people have gained access to clean drinking water during the last 25 years. But unless the world can find better  (i14) ways to get clean water to a rapidly urbanizing population in Africa and Asia, the next 25 years might not be nearly as positive. (366 words)

大問２

https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/eating-breakfast-even-twice-truly-healthier-choice

   Breakfast is food for both the brain and the rest of your body, note  (al) experts in children's nutrition. Taking in those morning calories is important,  (E2) even for people concerned about their weight, a new study finds. Middle school students who ate breakfast were more likely to have healthy weights than were those who skipped breakfast. This was true even for students who ate two breakfasts: one at home and one at school.

 (a3)    "Eating breakfast sets you up not to overeat later in the day," concludes  Marlene Schwartz. This psychologist studies obesity and directs the Rudd Center for Obesity & Food Policy at the University of Connecticut in Hartford. She is also one of the authors of the new study.

   Breakfast is considered so important that many schools now serve it as well as lunch. But at least one study has found that a lot of the kids who take part can end up eating two breakfasts, Schwartz notes. People became concerned that kids who ate breakfast both at home and at school might become obese. In fact, however, Schwartz now notes, that's not what her data have revealed.

   Her group studied some 600 middle school students. Over a period of three years, students from 12 different schools in fifth, sixth, and seventh grades were asked about their breakfast habits. Throughout the study, about 34 to 44 percent of all students said they regularly ate breakfast at home. Up to 17 percent, or almost one in every six kids, regularly ate breakfast at school. Overall, about one in every ten kids reported eating breakfast both at home and at school.

   Eating habits changed somewhat as the kids got older. For instance, fifth graders were more likely to regularly eat breakfast at home. But by seventh grade, 22 percent of the kids skipped breakfast frequently.

   Surprisingly, at every age, kids who ate breakfast were less likely to be  overweight. This was true even for those who ate breakfast both at home and at school.

   Indeed, the study found no evidence of greater weight gain among students who ate double breakfasts. Rather, it found that the students who skipped breakfast most often were those most likely to be overweight or obese. (376 words)

大問８

http://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/willpower-do-you-think-you-can/3159018.html

     Willpower is a mysterious force that helps us control our actions and  achieve our goals. We also call willpower determination, drive, and self-control. For many years in the world of psychology, the widely accepted theory has been that our willpower is limited. If we are not careful, we can use up our willpower before a task is completed or before a goal is reached.  Psychologists who believe that willpower is a limited resource say using up our willpower is the main reason that some of us fail to achieve our goals.

   In recent years, however, other psychologists have challenged this theory. A new theory says that the amount of our available willpower is affected by our attitudes  about it. But first, let's go back to the "limited supply" theory.

  An  experiment conducted I in the  199Us is the basis for the popular theory in psychology that willpower is limited. The experiment is known as the Chocolate-and-Radish Experiment. Researchers put 67 study subjects in a room filled with the smell of fresh, just baked chocolate cookies. But instead of the warm , sweet chocolate cookies, the researchers asked one group of the subjects to eat cold, bitter radishes and told the other group to eat the chocolate cookies. Then they asked both groups to solve a difficult puzzle.

   The group that had eaten the radishes gave up on the puzzle after 9 minutes. The group that had eaten the chocolate cookies worked twice as  long on solving the puzzle. The researchers concluded that the group that had resisted eating the chocolate cookies had used up their willpower. This suggests that willpower is like a muscle that can lose strength and then tire.

   Other experiments that support this theory have found that willpower is like a hungry child in need of a "sugar fix." When we use our willpower, it  robs our brains of energy or glucose, so feeding the brain a little sugar when doing a difficult task helps fill up our reserves of willpower.

   However, a new theory contradicts the idea that willpower is limited and can be charged up with sugar. In 2013 Carol Dweck, a professor of psychology, and her group of researchers asked 87 college students to describe their beliefs about willpower. Some said they believed willpower was a limited resource. Others said that they believed people had plenty of willpower, and that the more it was used, the more it  increases. Dweck then asked the study subjects to complete a difficult mental task. This first task was followed by a second one that required the subjects to use their willpower in order to resist an impulse.

   Dweck described the results in an interview with a reporter for a science news website. She said those who believed their willpower was limited grew tired after the first task, and performed poorly on the second task. But if they received a sugar fix before the second task, they performed better. She also said those who believed willpower was limited always looked for signs that they had lost willpower, or needed the sugar fix.

   However, the study subjects who believed willpower was not limited did not tire during the second task, and they did not need a sugar fix. Dweck says that the results suggest that willpower is not limited  in supply. Instead, it is people's beliefs about their willpower that shape their behavior.  (585 words)

【静岡・前期】

大問１

   It's 9:30 p.m. on a Friday and I'm sitting at my work desk busily trying to finish a task which is only halfway down my list of things to do. I've been drinking coffee at an unhealthy rate since early morning and I need another cup, so I head to the kitchen and there's actually a line for the kettle! As it is every day, I'm not the only one that's working late. This is Japan, where overtime is a normal feature of work life. But can, or should, overtime be normal?

   Japan has a bad reputation for long working hours, recalling the "bubble" era when, we're told, employees at a firm were more like soldiers belonging to an army. This habit of staying late is said to have, in part, caused the country's remarkable economic growth during the '80s. Now, though, people are starting to realize that overtime can lead to depression and even work-related death. The indirect effect of work, work, work is bad, bad, bad.

   There's been a lot of talk about this issue. Recently, I read in the news that the government is outlining a policy to limit overtime hours. I have seen evidence of the (1)change in attitudes towards overtime work. For example, friends have told me they have to take a day off if they work too many hours. If this happens often then they must have a meeting with their manager about how to improve their time management.

   According to the latest available numbers, Japan worked an average of 1, 729 hours in 2014, well behind South Korea and just behind the United States. On the other hand, European countries like France and Germany worked significantly less. My dad works for a bank back home in London, which should mean that he works longer days than most. However, he usually finishes work around 5:30 p.m. and says that all of his colleagues are out of the office by 8 p.m. People only work after their regular hours if there's an approaching due date  — they view overtime as '2\an occasional, necessary evil, not an accepted part of the company culture.

   So why are long working hours expected in some countries whereas in others they aren't? Is it because of this well-known notion of Japanese group behavior? However, I would argue that hard-working America doesn't have this group mentality.

   I think perhaps it's to do with the way we measure success at work. We focus on the number of hours worked rather than getting the job done. Working late automatically means you're doing a better job, right?  ,,a.Maybe it's time to think carefully about our priorities. (441 words)

大問２

   I had driven through the gate of the farm and was about to get back into my car when I noticed  (1)something unusual. There was a frozen pond just off the path, and among the bushes that surrounded it a small object stood out, shiny and black.

   I went over and looked closer. It was a tiny kitten, probably about six weeks old, curled up and not moving, its eyes tightly closed. Bending down, I gently touched the little body. It must be dead; little thing like this couldn't possibly survive in such cold. But no, there was a sign of life because the mouth silently opened  for a second and then closed.

   Quickly I lifted the little creature and placed it inside my coat. As I drove closer to the barn I called to the farmer who was carrying two buckets out to the young cows. "I've got one of your kittens here, Mr. Butler. It must have wandered outside."

   Mr. Butler put down his buckets and gave me a strange look. "Kitten? We don't have any kittens right now."

I showed him what I had found and he looked more puzzled.

   (2)"Well that's a mystery, there's no black cats around here. We have all sorts of colors, but no black ones."

   "Well he must have come from somewhere else," I said. "Though I can't imagine anything so small traveling very far. It's rather strange."

I held the kitten out and he took it into his big, rough hands.

   "Poor little fellow, he's just barely alive. I'll take him into the house and see if my wife can do something for him."

In the farm kitchen Mrs. Butler was very concerned.

   "Oh, how sad!" She patted the dirty, wet hair with one finger. "And it has such a pretty face. I'll get some warm milk into him, but first of all we'll give him the old cure."

   She went over to the oven on the big black kitchen stove, opened the door and put him inside.

   I  smiled.  lit was the classical procedure when newly born sheep were suffering from too much cold; into the oven they went and the results were often dramatic. Mrs. Butler left the door open a little and I could just see the little black shape inside; he didn't seem to care what was happening to him. Later, when I came back into the kitchen, I kept looking over at the oven.

Mrs. Butler laughed. "Oh he's still with us. Come and have a look."

   It was difficult to see the kitten in the dark oven but when I saw him I put out my hand and touched him and he turned his head towards me.

"He's waking up," I said. "That hour in  (3)there has made a wonderful difference."

"Doesn't often fail." The farmer's wife lifted him out. "I think he's a tough one."

She began using a spoon to place warm milk into the tiny mouth.

"I suppose we'll have him drinking by himself in a day or two."

"You're going to keep him, then?"

"Yes, we are. I'm going to call him Moses."

"Moses?"

"Yes, you found him in the bushes, didn't you?"

I laughed. "That's right. It's a good name."

* * *

I was on the Butler's farm about three weeks later and I kept looking around for Moses.

   "Come over here with me if you have a minute," Mr. Butler said. "I have something to show you."

   I followed him through the door, across a small path, and into the pig house. He stopped in the middle and pointed to the left.

"Look here," he said.

   I leaned over and my face must have shown my surprise because the farmer suddenly began laughing.

"That's something new for you, isn't it?"

   Shocked, I looked down at a large pig stretched comfortably on her side, feeding a group of about twelve little pigs, and right in the middle of the long row of pink was Moses, smooth and black. He was drinking milk and it looked as if he was enjoying it just as much as his pink little friends on either side.

"What  the..  . ?" I said, and stopped.

   Mr. Butler was still laughing. "I thought you'd never seen anything like that before, I never have."

"But how did it happen?" I said, still staring.

   "It was my wife's idea," he replied. "When she had gotten the little kitten to drink milk she took him out to find a warm place for him in one of the barns. She chose this place because the pig, Bertha, had just given birth and I had a heater in here  — it was nice and cozy."

I smiled. "That sounds about right."

"Well, she put Moses and a bowl of milk in here," the farmer continued, "but the little

kitten didn't stay by the heater very long. The next time I looked,  4he was over here at the drink bar."

   I laughed. "They say you see something new every day as an animal doctor, but this is something I've never even heard of!" (851 words)

【横浜市立・前期】 

大問１

 When the Austrian housekeeper Maria Turnsek agreed to *smuggle a young Jewish boy out of Nazi-occupied Vienna, she had no idea of the price she would pay. Betrayed by a former friend, she was accused of kidnap and could not get back home to her own seven-year-old son, Helmut. It would be nine years before they met again.

   Now, almost 60 years after her death, Irma Maria Turnsek, who arrived in Britain in the 1930s and was known as Maria, is finally being recognised for her heroism. She will be *posthumously awarded the title of *Righteous Among the Nations at the Israeli Embassy in London this week.

   Administered by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust centre in Israel, the title is awarded to non-Jews such as the German industrialist Oskar Schindler and Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish architect, who risked their lives to save Jews during the Second World War.

  【】For more than 50 years, her son Helmut had shared little about his story with his wife and children, preferring not to burden them with the traumas of his past. But in the late stages of lung cancer, Mr Turnsek opened up to Anne Mossack, a visiting social worker from the North London Hospice. At his home in Finchley, north London, Mr Turnsek told her about his mother's heroism and his desire to see her recognised.

   In 1938 Maria, a Catholic, worked as a housekeeper in Vienna for Kathe Leichter, a Jewish sociologist. The women, both members of the banned Socialist party, had young sons who played together and were friends. As the situation worsened, Mrs Leichter, who as a Jew was banned from travel, begged her housekeeper to take her son, Franz, to join his father in Paris. After *agonising *deliberations, Maria agreed to smuggle the boy out of the country by passing him off as her own. Once Franz was with his father, she intended to return to Helmut, who was being cared for by his *childminders.

   The women were betrayed by an *informant. Mrs Leichter was arrested and sent to Ravensbriick *concentration camp, where she died in 1942. Wanted for kidnap, Maria was unable to return and so fled to England. Nine years passed before she saw her son again. In the *interim, Helmut's childminders died, and he was sent to a series of *orphanages. It was only through the Red Cross that mother and son were able to exchange 25 words twice a year.

   Soon after arriving in London, Maria was taken on as a housekeeper for Geoffrey Hutchinson, a prominent lawyer and Tory *MP who later became a life peer. Maria was helped by her employer to get her son, who was a *displaced person, out of Austria. Mother and son rebuilt their lives in London. Helmut married, qualified as a lawyer and went on to become deputy legal adviser to the Crown Estate.

   After his mother died in 1956, Mr Turnsek spoke little of his past. Decades later, he told the social worker that he had contacted Yad Vashem about his mother but that nothing had come of it. Mrs Mossack then decided to contact the centre herself. She said: "I had to see if I could try to get Maria the recognition she deserved."

   Yad Vashem tracked Franz Leichter down in New York, where he had lived since 1940. Like Mr Turnsek, he was a lawyer and later went on to serve as a state senator. The two men got in touch via email.

   "All this really borders on the miraculous!" wrote Mr Turnsek to his childhood friend.

    Mr Leichter replied: "I feel indebted to you, who suffered because of your mother's heroic                        and generous act in taking me out of Austria as her son."

   In April 2014 Mr Leichter flew to London for an emotional reunion but Mr Turnsek died a week later.

   His widow, Doreen, told The Times: "When Franz walked into the house after all those years he said to Helmut, `I owe you my life."' She added: "Maybe he was holding on to meet Franz, maybe he let go knowing his mother's story would be told."

   Now, 18 months after his death, Mr Turnsek's mother will be added to the Wall of Honour in the Garden of the Righteous at Yad Vashem. Mr Leichter and his family will return to London for the ceremony. "I wouldn't miss it," Mr Leichter said from New York. "Irma risked her life to save me. Crossing through Germany at that time was very dangerous. If anyone had questioned her papers she would have been arrested and, at the very least, sent to a concentration camp." 1-1

   Irena Stienfeldt, director of the Righteous Among the Nations department, said: "Despite the passing of time, Yad Vashem is deeply committed to commemorating the rescuers. In this case, Irma Turnsek and her son had lost touch with the rescued person, and we were able, more than 70 years after the events, to trace Franz Leichter in the United States and obtain his testimony."

(835 words)

大問２

   Each of us has memories that we wish we could erase, and memories that we cannot   off summon no matter how hard we try. At New York University and other institutions, scientists have begun to identify genes that appear to make proteins that *enhance memory, and genes that clearly interfere with it. Both kinds of discovery raise the *tantalizing, if preliminary, hope of a new generation of drugs, some of which could help people remember and some that might help them forget.

　　　Until　memories　are　fixed,　they　are　fragile　and　easily　destroyed.　　これまでに電話"番号や住所を覚えようとしている問に邪魔されたことのない人はいるだろうか。　That　memory　almost invariably slips away, because it never had time to form. (This also explains why accident victims often have trouble recalling events that occurred just before a car crash or other severe trauma.) It takes a few hours for new experiences to complete the *biochemical and electrical process that transforms them from short-term to long-term memories. Over time, they become stronger and less vulnerable to interference, and, as scientists have argued for nearly a century, they eventually become *imprinted onto the *circuitry of our brains. That process is referred to as *consolidation. Until recently, few researchers challenged the *paradigm; the only significant question about consolidation seemed to be how long it took for the cement to dry.

   For years, though, there have been indications that the process is less straightforward than it seems. In 1968, a team at Rutgers University, led by Donald J. Lewis, published the results of an experiment in which rats were conditioned to retrieve memories that had, presumably, been stored permanently. First, the scientists trained the rats to fear a sound. The next day, Lewis played the sound again and followed it immediately with a shock to the head. To his surprise, the rats seemed to have forgotten the negative association; they no longer feared the sound. That seemed odd; if the memory had truly been wired into the rat's brain, a mild shock shouldn't have been able to *dislodge it. The experiment wasn't easily repeated by others, though, and few *neuroscientists paid much attention to such a *singular and *contradictory finding.

   Not long afterward, in seemingly unrelated research, the psychologist Elizabeth Loftus embarked upon what has turned into a decades-long examination of the ways in which misleading information can *insinuate itself into one's memory. In her most famous study, she gave two dozen subjects a journal filled with details of three events from their childhoods. To make memories as accurate and compelling as possible, Loftus *enlisted family members to assemble the information. She then added a fourth, completely *fictitious experience that described how, at the age of five, each child had been lost in a mall and finally rescued by an elderly stranger. Loftus seeded the false memories with plausible information, such as the name of the mall each subject would have visited. When she interviewed the subjects later, a quarter of them recalled having been lost in the mall, and some did so in remarkable detail.

   "I was crying and I remember that day... I thought I'd never see my family again," one participant said, in a taped interview. "An older man approached me.... He had a flannel shirt on.... I remember my mom told me never to do that again." These assertions were delivered with a precision and a certainty that few people could have doubted, except that there was no man in a flannel shirt and no *admonition from the subject's mother. Memory "works a little bit more like a Wikipedia page," Loftus said in a recent speech. "You can go in there and change it, but so can other people."

   Loftus has been *vilified for demonstrating that even the most vivid and detailed *eyewitness accounts-a "recovered memory" of sexual abuse, for example-can be inaccurate or completely false. "She changed the world." Elizabeth Phelps told me recently, when we met in her office at New York University, where she is the Silver Professor of Psychology and Neural her Science. "The notion of the unreliability of memory has changed courtrooms in America, and it is completely owing to Elizabeth's *persistence in the face of a very harsh *backlash." (733 words)

大問３

   Charity--- humanity's most *benevolent impulse-is a timeless and borderless virtue, dating at least to the dawn of religious feac.lling. Philanthropy as we understand it today, however, is a                                                    f-'1 distinctly American phenomenon, inseparable from the nation that shaped it. From colonial leaders to modern *billionaires like Buffett, Gates and Zuckerberg, the tradition of giving is woven into our national DNA.

   Like so many of our social structures, the formal practice of giving money to aid society traces its origin to a Founding Father. Benjamin Franklin, an *icon of individual industry and *frugality even in his own day, understood that with the privilege of doing well came the price of                                    (-f doing good. When he died in 1790, Franklin thought of future generations, leaving in trust two gifts of 1,000 *lb. of *sterling silver-one to the city of Boston, the other to Philadelphia. *Per his instruction, a portion of the money and its *dividends could not be used for 200 years.

   While Franklin's gifts lay in wait, the tradition he established evolved alongside the young nation. After the Civil War, rapid industrialization concentrated *unfathomable wealth in the hands of a few, creating a period of unprecedented inequality. In response, the steel *magnate Andrew Carnegie pioneered scientific philanthropy, which sought to address the underlying causes of social ills, rather than their symptoms. In his lifetime, Carnegie gave away more than $350 million, the equivalent of some $9 billion today. His 1889 essay "Wealth"-now better known as Carnegie's "The Gospel of Wealth" -effectively launched modern philanthropy by creating a model that the wealthy continue to follow.

   Two decades later, John D. Rockefeller *endowed the Rockefeller Foundation, which soon became the largest such "benevolent trust" in the world. Prior to World War II, the Rockefeller Foundation provided more foreign aid than the entire federal government.

   America's philanthropic instinct is not limited to the rich. The nation's history is *rife with people like Oseola McCarty, a Mississippi washerwoman who gave away her life savings of $150,000 in 1995 to fund college scholarships for low-income students with promise.

   What accounts for this culture of generosity? The answer is not solely *altruistic. Incentives in the tax *code, for one, encourage the well-off to give. And philanthropy has long helped improve the public image of everyone from robber barons to the new tech elite.

   More troubling, however, are the foundational problems that make philanthropy so necessary. Just before his death, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, "Philanthropy is *commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary."

   Indeed, King illuminates a central contradiction: philanthropy is an *offspring of the market, conceived and sustained by returns on capital, yet its most important responsibility is to help address the market's imbalances and inadequacies.

   Only (  ) years ago, the last of Franklin's gifts were finally made available, having multiplied to $6.5 million. More than the sum, they represent a broader principle: We are * custodians of a public trust, even if our capital was derived from private enterprise, and our most important obligation is ensuring that the system works more equally and more justly for more people. This belief is core to our national character. America's greatest strength is not the fact of perfection, but rather the act of perfecting.　　(550 words)

【3月28日】

【東京理科・工】

大問１

   Glaciers are large, slow  moving- rivers of ice. They are often found in  mountains or in  the  colder polar regions.  Although glaciers are a well-known  17) natural  phenomenon recently scientists have come to believe that  some of the  glaciers in the Antarctic might  hold secrets about  whether life  exists on other planets. The focus of their interest is the phenomenon of  subglacial  lakes.

   As  the,  name suggests,  subglacial lakes are lakes that are located deep under glacial  ice.  The idea  of a lake  existing within a  ;'lacier  might  seem  odd, as one  might reasonably  assume that all the  water within a  glacier  would be frozen solid.  However,  because of  geothermal  heating  and heating  created by  the  tremendous  pressure caused by  the weight of the glacial ice  pushing  down,  it is possibk:  for large  amounts  of  water to  remain in a liquid  state.  This water  can then  come together and form a lake. A Russian scientist named  Peter  Kropotkin was  the first  t()  suggest that large fresh water lakes might exist under  glaciers. In the early  1.960s, a Russian  geographer named Audrey  Icapista suggested  that a glacial lake  might be present under Vostok  Station, the Russian research station in Antarctica. Subsequent research       A and the large subglacial lake under  the  research station was  named Lake  Vostok.

   Scientists have an immense interest in  subglacial  lakes, because they are isolated ecosystems that have been untouched  for tens of millions of years.  By researching subglacial lakes we can [  S  I  . We can learn about how life developed on Earth, and how life might exist on other planets.

  Scientists have found these lakes  using satellite  images and radio-echo  sounding,  the latter of which is a technology that  ]. Radio-echo sounding yields data that is  amazingly accurate. Using this  technique, several subglacial lakes have  now been [

   This  technique has also  helped researchers find  subglacial  lakes  on other planets in  our solar  system. There.  is  evidence that there are subglacial lakes  on  E.:tiropa,  one  of the many  moons that orbits Jupiter, and  also on  Enceladus, a moon that  orbits Saturn.  [ E  ] are intensely interested in subglacial lakes as the subglacial lakes in Antarctica could  very, well have many attributes  in  common with  places like  Europa and  Enceladus.

 Recently, scientists think that they might have discovered another huge  subglacial lake in  Antarctica that. is. 100  :kilometers  long  and 10 kilometers wide. Scientists  are excited  by the  po.ssibility that  pr  .historic  forms  of life  from 25  million years ago might still be  present in these: icy  waters. There  is still much to discover, but. scientists hope that they can soon learn about  life on  other planets from our very own Antarctica. (447 words)

大問2

 Music has long played an important role in human culture.  Every human  societz)  in  gall  corners of the world,  including the  smallest; isolated  tribes, has  music as a part of their  culture. Music is a fundamental  part of human  life.

   While  most  of us  enjoy  listening to  music, there is also a scientific reason  for  this. It has  lon: been known that  music  has an effect on the reward system within our brain. Just as a  delicious meal gives us a feeling  of  reward,       A  1  . Music  engages  the  emotion-processing- regions of our brain and gives us energy, or helps us to relax.

 Our brains  process  music  much differently than  we  process sounds from other  sources.  When  listening to music, dopamine is often  released into the  brain.  Dopamine is a  chemical  substance  in the brain that, [  B  I , makes us  feel good.  It is an integral part of the reward  mechanism that  makes us feel good. Although the release. of  doparnine is  often associated  with food or sex, it is also  associated with music. A study, published in the journal  Nature  Neuroscience, found that the brain releases  dopamine not only  during  our favorite parts of songs, but also during the build-up to the favorite parts. This  finding suggests that [  C  J  is a major part of the pleasure that. we get  from music.

   Scientists are also discovering  that music helps us to exercise  our  brains.  When  we listen to  music, the brain  is stimulated, and scientists  have found that music  also stimulates the parts of the brain associated with  movement,  motor planning  and  attention. [  D  I study  found that office workers who  were  allowed  to  listen to music  that they  themselves had  chosen were able to  complete their tasks more  quickly. [ study  found that children who had taken music  lessons  did better in subjects like  language,  reading, and  math than their  non-musical  class-mates.

During the 1990s, the positive  effects of music on the brain were popularized by  something known as the  Mozart  Effect, Which is  a  theory that  proposes that listening to  [  it  b).' 2  make 3 you 4 can 5 composed  6  Mozart 7  music]  smarter.  This theory  vas  based on a few studies that  found  that  research:  subjects  who  listened to  Mozart  improved  their  performance of certain  mental tasks.  Today, however, and with all due respect to  Mozart  lovers, the accepted theory is that while taking music lessons as a child can help to improve brain function, there is [ F uniquely beneficial about the music of  Mozart.

   Music is part of human  life. As noted  by musician and  neuroscientist Daniel  Levitin,  "Whenever  'humans  come  together for any reason,  music is  there."  We listen  to  musk at  weddings, at funerals, at  graduation  ceremonies, at  stadium  sport  events, when we go out on the  town,  and when  mothers sing their infants to sleep. Music is  part of our everyday life. And now we know there  is also a scientific reason for this.  (500 words)

【3月30日】

【大阪教育大・前期】

大問２

What are the five greatest Japanese inventions?

  A lot of people might start talking about Walkman or the VHS or even the "just-in-time" manufacturing system, whatever that may be. I think they are barking up the wrong tree.

  The truly great inventions are often not considered "inventions", but are ideas that seep into our culture and lives so thoroughly we don't notice them. The weekend, for example. Who decided that we should have two days off out of seven? There is nothing in our biology or even our theology that compels it. We made it up out of nowhere. People who have weekends off may take it for granted (unless it is threatened). People who don't have weekends off fantasize about it. The weekend is simply a brilliant idea.

　Japan, I think, is full of brilliant ideas both large and small.

  Perhaps the most obvious is hanami. Just as it becomes warm enough to sit outside, Japan has a nationwide sit-outside party. After a long winter, it is wonderfully therapeutic. And the blooming of the cherry trees is an act of scheduling genius. I sometimes wonder whether Japanese fixed their new intake of students and company employees to the hanami season so that everyone can start off with a session of "bonding through booze". It is also the perfect introduction to company life for new boys. To be told "sit there and keep a space for us until work finishes" must enable them to grasp in a single moment how hierarchy works — and how the talents of newcomers are deployed.

  Funnily enough, fond as I am of drinking, it isn't the drink that I like about hanami. My pet hates include drinking in the daytime, enforced drinking, drinking to deliberate excess and shouting loudly. Visit Ueno Park at hanami time and I think you will see my point.

  I think hanami has all got too far away from the actual  looking at the blossoms", which are genuinely spectacular. Perhaps I can suggest a new drinking game to restore the balance: before each new drink you must seek out a different kind of sakura tree. I think even an amateur can locate five or six varieties in a decent-sized park. And for the determined drinker, there are hundreds of different types in existence, I  hear.

(384 words)

大問３

  [Paragraph 1] Humans often wonder about whether or not there are other forms of life in the universe. Although some people claim that they have had contact with extraterrestrial life (Mack), as far as I know there is no definitive evidence that alien life exists on other planets. But researchers are looking for evidence. For example, Borucki and his colleagues have built a telescope that searches for intelligent life, and they actually found at least one planet that might possibly hold life (PBS NewsHour, "A possible second home for humanity found, but the commute's  brutal"). Sagan writes that it is possible that extraterrestrials are sending radio signals, and suggests that we should use radio telescopes to find them. The organization SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) has radio telescopes that are currently doing this (PBS  NewsHour, "A possible second home for humanity found, but the commute's  brutal"). I think that it is very important for humans to continue to search for extraterrestrial life because the search will help us learn about the universe, and if we find extraterrestrial life, this information will be very useful to scientists and humanity.

  [Paragraph 2] Searching for extraterrestrial life is beneficial because the search will help us learn about the universe. When scientists look for extraterrestrial life, they use scientific instruments (telescopes, etc.) to study particular parts of the universe. Therefore, even if we do not find clear evidence of extraterrestrial life, we learn more about other stars, planets, etc., and this information can help us learn more about the properties of the universe that we live in. This knowledge might eventually have applications for the development of space travel, methods for producing energy, and technologies that we maybe can't even imagine.

  [Paragraph 3] Knowledge about extraterrestrial life, if we actually find it, will be extremely useful to scientists. Even if the extraterrestrials are not intelligent, studying their biology would help us learn about what types of life, not found on earth, are possible in the universe. This knowledge might have applications for the development of medicines that are beneficial to humans, and could lead to advances that improve the health and longevity of humans.

  [Paragraph  4] Contact with intelligent extraterrestrials, if this happens, could lead to greater technological developments that are beneficial to humanity. If we are able to contact and communicate with extraterrestrials that have an advanced civilization, they might be able to share important knowledge with us that we can use to develop useful technologies. For example, extraterrestrials might be able to share information that improves human medicine (enabling people to live longer), leads to improved methods of space travel (enabling humans to travel to other  planets), leads to the development of non - polluting energy sources, and overall helps humans live together more peacefully.

  [Paragraph 5] In conclusion, I think that it is important for scientists to continue searching for extraterrestrial life because the search brings us knowledge about the universe that we live in, and if we actually find extraterrestrial life, we will obtain information that could lead to important advances in scientific areas of study such as biology and medicine. Information obtained from intelligent extraterrestrial life forms could also lead to extraordinary technological advances that improve our lives. Lastly, searching for extraterrestrial life may enable us to one day find out whether or not we are alone in the universe, and if we are not alone, there is much that we can learn.

    (574 words)

【4月10日】

【宇都宮大学・前期】

大問１

   The most traditional definition of a human community was "a group of people larger than a family that interact." A community may include people who have at least one common point of interest. In the past, community members lived relatively close to one another in one geographical location: in the same building, on the same street, in the same neighborhood or area, or in the same village, town, or city. Nowadays, however, the word community can mean a national, an international, or even an online group of interacting individuals. Therefore, a "new" definition of community might be "a group of people that recognize that they have something in common."

   A few kinds of communities share both physical location and other features. One example is a retirement community for people over a certain age. Another is an intentional community (a group with resources, responsibilities, or a common purpose, such as a social, economic, political, or spiritual goal). On college or university campuses, for instance, they may live in places like dormitories or shared apartments; in other areas of life, intentional communities can be business, school, church, or other groups that live, work, or at least meet in person. Many other interacting groups nowadays, however, are virtual communities. Their members seldom, if ever, get together physically. Instead, they connect from a distance over the Internet: on computers, smart phones, and other wireless devices. Research into these kinds of groups is relatively new. Even so, some of their features are similar to those of real-life communities; others are very different.

  Individuals might "get together" in forums, chat rooms, e-mail discussion groups, and community areas within big social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, LINE, Snapchat, and others. They may make use of blogs, wikis, or web applications. And what features do these virtual locations have in common? First, they are likely to include print, audio, visual, and/or moving content about topics of interest to members. Second, participants can probably communicate with "delayed timing," as through e-mail or newsgroups. And third, people may connect in "real time," like through chatting, texting, or other kinds of instant messaging; their interaction is like real-life networking.

   Just as in real-life social communities of the past and present, members of                                           tai virtual communities tend to participate in general steps. As an illustration, individuals might first observe from the outside. Second, they begin to take part as "newcomers." If they participate regularly, contribute to community purposes, if any, and perhaps take risks, they become committed "insiders." "Full members" may turn into "leaders," who take responsibility for others; their participation is likely to help keep the community going and growing. Finally, some "retirees" leave the network for various reasons: perhaps because of new relationships in different locations, changing interests, or problems in other areas of their lives. Or they may not have enough time, energy, or other resources to continue contributing.

  One general truth is that they tend to vary widely. For instance, there may be no, only a few, or a huge number of people involved in a site at any one time; they may participate for only a short time or forever. The level of responsibility of full members is likely to differ greatly, too. So is the amount of time and energy they contribute: some people are doing something online virtually all the time; others take part only occasionally. Also, people are likely to be involved in different ways: for example, some only read or hear content but don't add any or much information of their own. And finally, the element that connects people in a network can be almost anything-like any common identity, purpose, interest, problem, need, belief, experience, or another motivation.

  How do individuals decide to get or stay in -or keep far away from-them? According to researchers, the three most motivating elements are payback, obligation, and social acceptance. First, the advantages of membership must turn out to be worth the "cost" (like the amount of time, energy, money, or other resources contributed). Second, if people feel responsible for an interacting group, they may feel they must keep contributing. And third, people are more likely to stay in a socially acceptable group -- or a network in which they feel accepted and valued by others.

   A great advantage of online communities is that they build relationships among many different kinds of people; age, cultural identity, and lifestyle become unimportant. But what are potential challenges of virtual relating?  

  First, there may truly be risk involved, or people may feel unsafe in various ways, such as financially, physically, personally, or socially. Identity is another possible problem; individuals don't have to tell the truth about themselves online, so there can be deception involved. A third possibility is online harassment. And finally, if there is not enough privacy, members can get themselves - and others - into big trouble.

   In summary, virtual communities are similar to groups that exist in physical reality in several ways. Is continuing and growing interaction online likely to improve human relationships? Or will it change the definition of "community" into something completely different in today's physical and virtual world?  (854 words)

大問２ 

   A light drizzle was falling as my sister Jill and I ran out of the church, eager to get home and play with the presents Santa had left for us and our baby sister, Sharon. Across the street from the church was a gas station where the Greyhound bus stopped. It was closed for Christmas, but I noticed a family huddling outside the locked door, under the narrow roof in an attempt to keep dry. I wondered briefly why they were there but then forgot about them as I raced to keep up with Jill.

   Once we got home, there was barely time to enjoy our presents. We had to go off to our grandparents' house for our annual Christmas dinner. As we drove down the highway through town, I noticed that the family was still there, standing outside the closed gas station.

   My father was driving very slowly down the highway. The closer we got to my grandparents' house, the slower the car went. Suddenly, my father U-turned in the middle of the road and said, "I can't stand it!"

 "What?" asked my mother.

  "It's those people back there at the gas station, standing in the rain. They've got children. It's Christmas. It's not right."

   When my father pulled into the service station, I saw that there were five of them: the parents and three children -two girls and a small boy.

My father rolled down his window. "Merry Christmas," he said.

   "Howdy," the man replied. He was very tall and had to stoop slightly to peer into the car.

  Jill, Sharon, and I stared at the children, and they stared back at us.

  "You waiting for the bus?" my father asked.

   The man said that they were. They were going to Birmingham, where he had a brother and a chance for a job.

   "Well, that bus isn't going to come along for several hours, and you're getting wet standing here. Winborn's just a couple miles up the road. They've got covered benches there," my father said. "Why don't you get in the car, and I'll drive you up there."

   The man thought about it for a moment, and then he called to his family. They climbed into the car. They had no luggage, only the clothes they were wearing.

   Once they were settled in, my father looked back over his shoulder and   .A', asked the children if Santa had found them yet. Three sad faces silently gave him his answer.

   "Well, I didn't think so," my father said, winking at my mother, "because when I saw Santa this morning, he told me that he was having trouble finding you, and he asked me if he could leave your toys at my house. We'll just go get them before I take you to the bus stop."

   All at once, the three children's faces lit up. and they began to bounce around in the backseat, laughing and chattering.

   When we got out of the car at our house, the three children ran through the front door and straight to the toys that were spread out under our Christmas tree. One of the girls saw Jill's doll and immediately hugged it to her breast. I remember that the little boy grabbed Sharon's ball. And the other girl picked up something of mine. All this happened a long time ago, but the memory of it remains clear. That was the Christmas when my sisters and I learned the joy of making others happy.

   My father invited them to join us at our grandparents' for Christmas dinner, but the parents ( 6 ). Even when we all tried to talk them into coming, they were firm in their decision.

   Back in the car, on the way to Winborn, my father asked the man if he had money for bus fare.

  His brother had sent tickets, the man said.

   My father reached into his pocket and pulled out two dollars, which was all he had left until his next payday. He pressed the money into the man's hand. The man tried to give it back, but my father insisted. "It'll be late when you get to Birmingham, and these children will be hungry before then. Take it. I've had hard times before, and I know what it's like when you can't feed your family."

   We left them there at the bus stop in Winborn. As we drove away, I watched out the window as long as I could, looking back at the little girl hugging her new doll.(754 words)

【4月24日】

【愛媛・前期】

大問１

   Several years ago, I approached an employee at Facebook to manage an important new project. She seemed flattered at first but then became noticeably hesitant. She told me that she wasn't sure she should take on more responsibility. Obviously, something else was going on, so I quietly asked, "Are you worried about taking this on because you're considering having a child sometime soon?" A few years earlier, I would have been afraid to ask this question. Managers are not supposed to factor childbearing plans into account in hiring or management decisions. Raising this topic in the workplace would give most employment lawyers a heart attack. But after watching so many talented women pass on opportunities for unspoken reasons, I started addressing this issue directly. f)I always give eople the option of not answering, but so far, every woman I have asked has appeared grateful for a chance to discuss the subject. I also make it clear that I am only asking for one reason: to make sure they aren't limiting their options unnecessarily.

   In 2009, we were recruiting Priti Choksi Tto join _Facebook's business development team. -After we extended an offer, -she came in to ask some follow-up questions about the role: She did not mention lifestyle or hours, but she was the typical age when women have children. -So as we were wrapping up, I went for it. "If you think you might not take this job because you want to have a child soon, I am happy to talk about this." I figured if she didn't want to discuss it, she would just keep heading for the door. Instead, she turned around, sat back down, and said, "Let's talk." I explained that although it was counterintuitive, right before having a child can actually be a great time to take a new job. If she found her new role challenging and rewarding, she'd be more excited to return to it after giving birth. If she stayed put, she might decide that her job was not worth the sacrifice. Priti accepted our offer. By the time she started at Facebook, she was already expecting. Eight months  later, she had her baby, took four months off, and came -back to a job she  loved. She later told me that if I had not raised the topic, she would have turned us down. (391 words)

Sheryl Sandberg, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead                                         (Alfred,A. Knopf-, 2013)

大問２

   If you want to understand Japanese society, take a trip to a swimming pool. It won't teach you all the intricacies of Japanese life but as a thirty-minute primer you can't heat it. , Perhaps it's because there are an awful lot of people crammed into a pretty limited space, rather like Japan. Whenever I take a dip in Tokyo I find myself thinking how the pool is a microcosm of the country as a whole.

   The first thing that strikes you is how very ordered it all is. There are clearly defined areas for swimming, mucking about and water walking. It is a monument to the Japanese love of order and safety.

   Often, even the swimming lanes are graded, so that beginners and experienced swimmers are separated. But even where the lanes are open to all, people usually manage to self-regulate so that they find the right lane. The view from above reveals a mass of people swimming in neat lines at almost the maximum possible distance from each other. When the inevitable occasional bump occurs it is resolved with a mutual nod of apology. A vision of peace.

   Maybe I am going too far here, but it seems even the people in pools tend to conform to the roles expected of them in society. The kids play vigorously, just like they do outside the pool. The old people are amazingly healthy and cheerful, walking and talking. Working people swim. (And if you happen to spot a high school swimming club, they are sure to be training hard-to an alarming degree).

   This is all very different from the UK, where a bird's eye view of a pool reveals a scene of indecipherable chaos. Kids are jumping all over the place and screaming. They are supposed to stay out of the deep end, but venture in by pulling themselves along the side of the pool. Anyone attempting to swim is veering wildly from side to side in an effort to get past the next group of

teenagers who are standing in groups and tipping each other over. There most likely isn't anyone over 50. If you bump into someone, you probably glare at him glaring back at you.  (368 words)

Colin Joyce, How to Japan_ A Tokyo Correspondent's Take                                      (NHK Publishing, 2009)

大問３

    Americans consider education the most important factor in the struggle for individual success and collective growth. Public education, because it is open to all, regardless of social class or status, is the most basic expression of the ideal of equal opportunity. There is a general belief that the higher a person rises in the educational system, the greater that person's chances for attaining material wealth and personal satisfaction. That is why "climbing the educational ladder" is a dream and a goal, which, because of the public education system, has become a reality for many.

   In total, there are more than 3, 500 private and public universities in the United States. However, at the university level, private institutions are more common and are the choice of nearly 22% of American college students. Some of these institutions have links to religious groups, and others have upper-class roots, which go back to colonial tunes when they were founded to endure the children of the landed aristocracy.  The elitist profile of "Ivy League" schools such as Harvard and Yale, among the most prestigious of these schools, has changed during the second half of the 20th century. Enrollment at these schools now reflects more varied segments of the population.

   That leaves nearly 80% of the students at the university level currently working toward degrees at public or state institutions. These colleges are maintained primarily by taxes paid by state residents. All states have more than one such institution. Tuition, however, is, not free. All higher education has a price tag in the U.S., though students can compete for a limited number of scholarships based on academic, artistic or athletic achievements. Since major funding of state universities comes from taxes, students who go to a college in their home state pay tuition costs that are usually 1/4 to 1/3 of those paid by out-of-state students. Along with tuition, students must pay for housing, food, extra-curricular activities, health insurance and books. It all adds up, even for in-state students, to an amount that can be prohibitive for some. This is one of the reasons many parents start saving for their children's college education when their children are young. Students themselves often contribute to the cost of their education by working during high school and college.

     Still, for some, the price is too high. For these people, there are a number  of financial aid programs designed to make a college education possible.  Among these are low-interest government loans for education, which must be paid back in the first years following graduation. Also, universities set aside a number of administrative or non-skilled jobs on the campus to be awarded to students in work-study programs. These programs allow students to trade from fifteen to twenty-five hours of work per week for -,tuition credits. A number of other part-time jobs are also available in food services, local shops and businesses. (479 words)

Waldyr,Lima (Editor in Chief) America at the Dawn of a New Millennium (CCLS Publishing. House, 1998)

【5月11日】

【日本・2月1日】

問４

University students in the U.K. have developed a reputation for being rowdy and lazy, and are generally looked down upon by the working adult population.

   Their perception of us is that we spend all of our time sleeping, partying, occasionally rolling out of bed to go to a lecture or two, then repeating this disreputable cycle until we eventually graduate with an  *undeserved degree.

     Although I can't deny that this isn't far from the truth for some students, especially freshmen at the start of first year, I feel indignant that all students are regarded in this way.

   In fact my housemates and I lead fairly civilized lifestyles several times a week we all help cook  wholesome homemade meals, which we sit down and eat together as you would with your family.

   Many students not only work hard on their courses, they also spend their free time doing volunteer work, for example for Nightline — a telephone helpline for students, and Marrow — a charity which helps to recruit bone marrow donors for people suffering from leukemia.

   As a medical student, I strongly believe in the importance of balancing work and social life, the *mantra being "work hard, play hard," in order to stay enthusiastic throughout the term.

    After all, almost any adult will tell you that once you start working, you look back at university days as being the best time of your life, so we might as well make the most of it while we can!

出典 Anna Nakamura, "University students are so misunderstood in the public eye!" (258 words)

Asahi Weekly (June 14, 2015)

問５

[1] Man has gazed at the stars ever since he could stand erect, and man was dreaming about traveling among the stars long before he dared to dream of crossing oceans. His mind could  *  soar, and it soared into the heavens. There he saw the gods, Jupiter and Juno and Mars, and, in another age,  another religion, *Jehovah.

   [2] Man is a dreamer, and even in this age of cost accounting when there are those who insist on putting a price tag on every  dream, asking, "Yes, but does it have any practical value?" man insists on letting his mind soar. He  *devours science fiction.

   [3] Though possibility of realizing the dreams is new, science fiction is not an invention of the 20th century. Man has made his dreams into stories. The ancient Greeks in their mythology told each other the story of  *  Icarus. Daedalus, father of Icarus, fashioned a pair of wings for his son from birds' feathers held together by wax. Daedalus warned him not to fly too high and especially not to fly too near the sun, but curiosity overcame him. The sun melted the wax, and Icarus fell to his death.

   [4] Today science fiction writers tell of visits from other planets by demons with the power to destroy the minds and souls of men. It's an idea that is found as far back as  *  Plutarch. He believed that demons inhabiting the moon occasionally journeyed to earth to bring disasters. He suggested Socrates was such a demon.

 [5] The ancients, of course, had only a limited knowledge of science, so the science fiction of ancient times had only a little relation to reality. With the invention of the telescope in the 17th century, however, this began to change. Man continued to dream, but increasingly his dreams became founded on fact. They became  *  prophecies, many of which have since come true.

   [6] Many of the great science-fiction writers of modern times have been well grounded in science, some have actually been scientists. In fact the  first great  science-fiction writer of modern times was *Johannes Kepler, the astronomer. He wrote Somnium, a story of a voyage to the moon that anticipated many of the problems confronted by space scientists who came after him.

   [7] Even in 1634, 269 years before the Wright brothers and 323 years before Sputnik, Kepler realized that flying within the earth's atmosphere and traveling in outer space could not be alike, and he anticipated many of the special problems that the space voyager would face — the cold and the lack of air. Writing 31 years before Sir Isaac Newton developed his theory of gravity, Kepler recognized that both the earth and the moon exerted what we called "a magnificent influence." In  Somnium, Kepler's hero reaches a point in space where the magnetic influence of the moon exceeds that of the earth and pulls him to a landing. As a scientist who also wrote science fiction, Johannes Kepler was the forerunner of today's science-fiction writers. (504 words)

Super Reading (Learn, Inc.)

【5月29日】

日本・2月1日

問４

University students in the U.K. have developed a reputation for being rowdy and lazy, and are generally looked down upon by the working adult population.

   Their perception of us is that we spend all of our time sleeping, partying, occasionally rolling out of bed to go to a lecture or two, then repeating this disreputable cycle until we eventually graduate with an  *undeserved degree.

     Although I can't deny that this isn't far from the truth for some students, especially freshmen at the start of first year, I feel indignant that all students are regarded in this way.

   In fact my housemates and I lead fairly civilized lifestyles several times a week we all help cook  wholesome homemade meals, which we sit down and eat together as you would with your family.

   Many students not only work hard on their courses, they also spend their free time doing volunteer work, for example for Nightline — a telephone helpline for students, and Marrow — a charity which helps to recruit bone marrow donors for people suffering from leukemia.

   As a medical student, I strongly believe in the importance of balancing work and social life, the *mantra being "work hard, play hard," in order to stay enthusiastic throughout the term.

    After all, almost any adult will tell you that once you start working, you look back at university days as being the best time of your life, so we might as well make the most of it while we can!

出典 Anna Nakamura, "University students are so misunderstood in the public eye!" (258 words)

Asahi Weekly (June 14, 2015)

問５

[1] Man has gazed at the stars ever since he could stand erect, and man was dreaming about traveling among the stars long before he dared to dream of crossing oceans. His mind could  *  soar, and it soared into the heavens. There he saw the gods, Jupiter and Juno and Mars, and, in another age,  another religion, *Jehovah.

   [2] Man is a dreamer, and even in this age of cost accounting when there are those who insist on putting a price tag on every  dream, asking, "Yes, but does it have any practical value?" man insists on letting his mind soar. He  *devours science fiction.

   [3] Though possibility of realizing the dreams is new, science fiction is not an invention of the 20th century. Man has made his dreams into stories. The ancient Greeks in their mythology told each other the story of  *  Icarus. Daedalus, father of Icarus, fashioned a pair of wings for his son from birds' feathers held together by wax. Daedalus warned him not to fly too high and especially not to fly too near the sun, but curiosity overcame him. The sun melted the wax, and Icarus fell to his death.

   [4] Today science fiction writers tell of visits from other planets by demons with the power to destroy the minds and souls of men. It's an idea that is found as far back as  *  Plutarch. He believed that demons inhabiting the moon occasionally journeyed to earth to bring disasters. He suggested Socrates was such a demon.

 [5] The ancients, of course, had only a limited knowledge of science, so the science fiction of ancient times had only a little relation to reality. With the invention of the telescope in the 17th century, however, this began to change. Man continued to dream, but increasingly his dreams became founded on fact. They became  *  prophecies, many of which have since come true.

   [6] Many of the great science-fiction writers of modern times have been well grounded in science, some have actually been scientists. In fact the  first great  science-fiction writer of modern times was *Johannes Kepler, the astronomer. He wrote Somnium, a story of a voyage to the moon that anticipated many of the problems confronted by space scientists who came after him.

   [7] Even in 1634, 269 years before the Wright brothers and 323 years before Sputnik, Kepler realized that flying within the earth's atmosphere and traveling in outer space could not be alike, and he anticipated many of the special problems that the space voyager would face — the cold and the lack of air. Writing 31 years before Sir Isaac Newton developed his theory of gravity, Kepler recognized that both the earth and the moon exerted what we called "a magnificent influence." In  Somnium, Kepler's hero reaches a point in space where the magnetic influence of the moon exceeds that of the earth and pulls him to a landing. As a scientist who also wrote science fiction, Johannes Kepler was the forerunner of today's science-fiction writers. (504 words)

Super Reading (Learn, Inc.)

【5月29日】