__________ is Japan’S biggest plastics group． 查看材

reflect the crisis facing a sector plagued by sluggish domestic demand, over capacity, plunging prices and the appreciation of the yen. News of the sectors cire trading position follow this weeks decision by Showa Denko to sell its polystyrene business.

The company, a marginal manufacturer, sold its 30, 000 tonnes a year Kawasaki plant to Asahi Chemical, Japans largest polystyrene manufacturer with capacity of about 333, 000 tonnes a year, equivalent to about 25 percent of the market. The move was the latest in a series of alliances and mergers as the troubled industry restructures.

Mitsubishi Petrochemical, the country's biggest plastics group, reported a loss of 8,39bn (＄ 80m) compared with pre-tax profits last year of 8.25bn. The group made an operating loss of 13.8bn, the first since 1982. The poor result came despite cost-cutting measures, lower raw material prices, and 4bn worth of profits from equity sales.

Turnover fell 12.2 percent from 372bn to 326bn, as prices and volumes declined. Earnings per share, which reached 52. 5 in 1991, fell to a loss per share of 9.44. The group, which is scheduled to merge with Mitsubishi Kasei on October 1st, cut its dividend from 8 per share to 4.

Mitsubishi Kaseis pre-tax profits fell 76.8 percent from 9.3bn last year to 2.2bn. The group reported its first operating loss in 40 years at 467m, and only managed to post positive pre-tax results by selling 15.7bn worth of equities. Turnover fell 1.8 percent, the fourth yearly decline, to 696bn. The dividend was halved to 3 per share.

Mr. Morihisa Takano, managing director, said the newly merged group would generate pre-tax profits of 10bn on sales of 855 bn during the year to March 1995. He predicted petrochemicals prices would bottom out during the summer. No decision had been made about the dividend, but the new company could pass it during the current year. The pre-tax profits at Mitsui Petrochemical Industries, Japans biggest polyethylene maker, plunged 75 percent from 9bn to 2.26bn on sales down 9.3 percent at 272bn. The company blamed poor demand for the slump which offset the benefits of cost-cutting measures. The dividend is unchanged at 6 per share. The group forecast pre-tax profits for the current-year marginally up at 3bn on turnover of 276bn. Shin-Etsu, one of Japans biggest makers of polyvinyl chloride, reported profits down 26.1 percent from 17. 6bn to 13bn. Sales increased 0.2 percent from 275bn to 276bn. Net profits fell 26.6 percent to 7.08bn, or 421.85 per share. The group maintained the final dividend at 3.75, making the full-year pay out 7.5 per share. Shin-Etsu forecast pre-tax profits for the current year of 15.5bn on sales of 277bn.

The outlook for the petrochemicals industry remains blank. The imbalance between supply and demand for ethylene, the basic building block of petrochemicals, is about 2.8m tonnes of ethylene and is set to deteriorate further this year.

A massive 700,000-tonne-a-year ethylene complex owned by Maruzen, Mitsoi Petrochemical and Sumitomo Chemical comes on stream later this year and Mitsubishi Petrochemical is also commissioning a new 300, 000-torme-a-year plant this year.

？You will hear a report presented by a journalist from Tokyo.

？For each question 23--30, mark one letter (A, B or C) for the correct answer.

？You will hear the recording twice.

The crisis met by Japanese chemical groups is caused by, one of the reasons ______.

A．over capacity

B．high prices

C．high cost

What is the Japans unemployment rate in January？

A．3.8%.

B．3.9%.

C．4.0%.

D．4.8%.

"Asian invasion" associated【B20】______Japans export success in America

A.for

B.to

C.with

D.at

The tone of the author about Japans economy is______.

A．cautiously optimistic

B．quite undecided

C．rigorously neutral

D．slightly pessimistic

fronts EXCLUDE______.

A．deflation

B．the aging labor force

C．massive debts

D．fiscal deficit

The spokesman of Japans "Enlightenment" thinks that

A．the traditional culture should be replaced by western civilization.

B．Japanese ought to forsake the Confucian civilization of the East.

C．the Confucian civilization in Japan should be revived.

D．Japan should introduce western civilization.

on Pearl Harbor in December

A．1940.

B．1941.

C．1942

D．1943

While many nations have aging populations, Japans demographic crisis is truly dire, with forecasts showing that 40 percent of the population will have been 65 and over in 2055.【M1】______ Some of the consequences have been long foreseen, like deflation: as more Japanese retire and live off their savings, they spend more, further depressing Japans anemic levels of domestic【M2】______ consumption. So a less anticipated outcome has been the【M3】______ appearance of generational inequalities. These disparities manifest itself in many ways. There are【M4】______ corporations that hire all too many young people for low-paying jobs—in effect, forcing them to shoulder the costs of preserving cushier jobs to older employees. Others point to【M5】______ an underfinanced pension system so skewed in the favor of【M6】______ older Japanese that many younger workers simply refuse to pay; a "silver democracy" that spends far more on the elderly than education and child care—an issue that is familiar to【M7】______ Americans; and outdated hiring practices that have created a new "lost generation" of disenfranchised youths. Nagisa Inoue, a senior at Tokyos Meiji University, said she was considering paying for a fifth year at her university rather than graduate without a job, an outcome that in Japans rigid【M8】______ job market might permanently taint her chances of ever getting a higher-paying corporate job. That is why Japanese【M9】______ companies, even when they do offer stable, regular jobs, prefer to give them only to new graduates, which are seen as the【M10】______ more malleable candidates for molding into Japans corporate culture.

【M1】

t Japanese longevity cant【C2】______for its extremely-low fertility rate—just 1.4 children per woman. One in four dont have children. Some European countries also have low fertility rates, but top up【C3】______migrants. Japan does not. The conventional view is that this is bad news: shrinking numbers【C4】______economic growth and the aging population is a major【C5】______burden. But there is another【C6】______The proportion of Japans population has almost twice as many over-65s as children.【C7】______Japan spends less on education. And because the Japanese are the worlds healthiest, care【C8】______are also lower than in other nations. Japans economy has been growing slowly for two decades now. But【C9】______the falling population, individual income has been【C10】______strongly-outperforming most US citizens. With 127 million people, Japan is【C11】______empty. But fewer people in future will mean it has more living space, more agricultural land per head, and a higher quality of life. Its【C12】______on the planet for food and other【C13】______will also lessen. Japan isnt alone in population【C14】______: Russia, Romania and Hungary all【C15】______the trend. For many more, it is being【C16】______by immigration. But the global population is increasing slowly. The world recently reached "peak child" —the point【C17】______the number of children aged 0 to 14 around the globe【C18】______off. Global fertility rates have halved in 40 years—they are now below 2.5 children per woman—and global population may peak soon. Some believe that peak population is a【C19】______first step to reducing our【C20】______on the planets life-support systems. In that case, following Japans example may be just the ticket.

【C1】

A．population

B．economy

C．history

D．politics

forecasts showing that 40 percent of the population will have been 65 and over in 2055.【M1】______ Some of the consequences have been long foreseen, like deflation: as more Japanese retire and live off their savings, they spend more, further depressing Japans anemic levels of domestic【M2】______ consumption. So a less anticipated outcome has been the【M3】______ appearance of generational inequalities. These disparities manifest itself in many ways. There are【M4】______ corporations that hire all too many young people for low-paying jobs—in effect, forcing them to shoulder the costs of preserving cushier jobs to older employees. Others point to【M5】______ an underfinanced pension system so skewed in the favor of【M6】______ older Japanese that many younger workers simply refuse to pay; a "silver democracy" that spends far more on the elderly than education and child care—an issue that is familiar to【M7】______ Americans; and outdated hiring practices that have created a new "lost generation" of disenfranchised youths. Nagisa Inoue, a senior at Tokyos Meiji University, said she was considering paying for a fifth year at her university rather than graduate without a job, an outcome that in Japans rigid【M8】______ job market might permanently taint her chances of ever getting a higher-paying corporate job. That is why Japanese【M9】______ companies, even when they do offer stable, regular jobs, prefer to give them only to new graduates, which are seen as the【M10】______ more malleable candidates for molding into Japans corporate culture.

【M1】

n endure.With economic growth has come centralization; fully 76 percent of Japans 119 million citizens live in cities where community and the extended family have been abandoned in favor of isolated,two generation households.Urban Japanese have long endured lengthy commutes (travels to and from work) and crowded living conditions, but as the old group and family values weaken, the discomfort is beginning to tell.In the past decade, the Japanese divorce rate, while still well below that of the United States, has increased by more than 50 percent, and suicides have increased by nearly one-quarter.