For more than six centuries before 1868, Japan was a feudal society (47) (for much of that period) from contact with foreign countries. Feudal influence as well as that of Buddhism(佛都) and Confucianism (儒教) gave women low (48) in the family and gave them almost no role in running society. The year 1868 (49) the end of the feudal era. Thereafter Japan entered a period of rapid modernization. But despite fundamental changes in many areas of Japanese life until the end of World War II, modernization did not dramatically (50) women’s status. Leadership was in the hands of a warrior class, not concerned with reforming the social order.
In the typical family in the modern period before 1945, a bride, especially when she married an eldest son who would become the family heir(继成人), went to live with her husband’s family and was expected to (51) to the "ways of the family". In the three-generation household, the new bride occupied the lowest status of all family members and was expected to be (52) to the authority of her mother-in-law. The moral code of the prewar period asked the wife to get up first in the morning, the last to go to bed, to take her bath only after her husband and all his family members had bathed.
Outside the family, women’s participation in the affairs of society was extremely (53) . Women could not vote, and for a long part of the period from 1868 to 1945, they were even (54) by law from attending gatherings where politics was discussed.
In 1945, following Japan’s (55) in World War I1, occupation forces under American leadership set out to democratize Japanese society. One specific goal of the reforms was to improve the status of women. Under the constitution of 1947, Japanese women (56) full political rights and a guarantee of their equality in all spheres of life. A revised civil law gave a woman the right to own property in her own name and to divorce on the same grounds as men.
A. adapt B. gained C. improve D. aggressive E. defeat
F. isolated G. victory H. lost I. status J. considerate
K. obedient L. marked M. apply N. limited O. forbidden