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重庆市2017高考英语阅读理解选编（79）（附解析） （2017高考训练）阅读理解。 The Japanese like parties.From ancient times, a party becomes enlivened (活泼) when someone starts singing and others keep applauding.Having such a custom, the Japanese can easily sing in front of others without feeling embarrassed.This seems to be one of the reasons that karaoke has been largely accepted in Japanese society. It is now widely recognized that the use of karaoke started at a snack bar in Kobe City, one of the three biggest cities in Japan.It is said that when a guitarist could not come to perform at the bar due to illness, the owner of the bar prepared tapes of accompaniment recordings, and people enjoyed singing to the tapes. It was at that time that karaoke appeared.Holding a microphone and singing a song to the accompaniment of an “orchestra (管弦乐队)”， you can feel like a professional singer.For soldiers living in a stressful society, there is no other entertainment activity that can make them feel so refreshed. It is a typical way to relax for Japanese businessmen.They use it to take away their stress after work.However, there is an obstacle to this: since most Japanese houses are still made of wood, it would be very annoying to the neighbors to sing into a microphone at night.Seizing upon the opportunity, businessmen created the karaoke box, a roadside facility containing karaoke equipment.Karaoke boxes are soundproofed rooms, closed with a door, placed on roadsides where people can sing.The first “Karaoke box” was placed in a rice camp in the countryside in 1984.It was built from a converted freight car (改装的货运车).Now, the karaoke boom has even spread abroad and it has also been attracting the attention of the countries trying to improve their literacy rate (识字率) as a good educational tool. | 
