VIII. Summarise the text, using the words and phrases given below

to shrink; to put Japan back into recession; to overstate growth; to spur the economy;

to take some of the strain off fiscal policy; to press on with restructuring; to focus on return on capital; to spur price competition.

IX. Translate into English

1. Бесспорно, структурные проблемы японской экономики остаются чрезвычайно серьезными.

2. Страна обладает огромным потенциалом для повышения эффективности производства и производительности труда.

3. 60-процентное повышение цен на акции говорит о том, что инвесторы считают происходящие в стране изменения весьма значительными.

4. Похоже, что восстановление экономики возобновится в этом году.

5. В некотором смысле современная Япония похожа на Америку 90-х: в сфере бизнеса происходят болезненные перемены, реальные доходы работающего населения падают.

X. Supply details to prove the following

1. Contrary to what some claim, big changes in Japan's economy are under way.

2. Below the surface, however, there are reasons to believe that Japan's economy is on the mend.

XI. Comment on the following statements from the text

1. Eventually the changes will create new investment opportunities and boost growth.

2. Although Japan's economy is officially in recession again, it is stronger than it looks.

XII. Work as two groups. Discuss the following

Because of political problems, the government seems to be backtracking on some structural reforms.

Text 5 Switzerland and the Euro

Switzerland is a paradox. Here is a small country surrounded by members of the European Union. Its citizens speak three main languages, none of them (at least as written) specifically Swiss. Of its 7m people, one-filth come from outside. It lives off cross-border commerce, selling chemicals, machinery and precision instruments to the world, welcoming tourists and bank depositors from it. Swiss companies include such giant multinationals as Nestle, Ciba-Geigy and ABB, itself born of a big cross-border merger. Many international bodies are headquartered in Switzerland: the Red Cross, sports bodies, bits of the United Nations. Yet the Swiss, traditionally neutral in war, have kept out of even the main peaceable cross-frontier organizations as well. They belong to the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organisation, for instance, but not yet to the UN. But as for the far more restrictive bonds of the EU, no way: on Sunday, in a referendum calling for an immediate start to negotiations on EU membership, almost 77% of those who voted said no.

The call for a vote at all came only from dedicated Swiss Europhiles. The government and most politicians were against it, and so even were businessmen, essentially because they did not want a referendum which they knew would be lost. The government has been planning to start talks on membership at some (steadily receding) date from 2004, and wanted time to prepare Swiss institutions and practices - and, above all, public opinion. A premature vote could only hurt its plans, and has. Even the Europhiles did not really expect to win. But they did want to keep the issue on the front-burner. In the event, they were not just beaten but smashed, and the issue is off the stove itself.

Why? Why defy what looks like solid economic arguments for getting inside the EU? After all, Switzerland already enjoys trade with the EU that is more or less free. The Swiss voted only last year in favour of a package of deals with the EU on various quite weighty matters. Over 70% of their trade is with the EU countries, nearly all of them ones that will soon be using its new currency, the euro. Would it not be better to be on the inside of such a grouping, able to influence its decisions, rather than haggle with it, a small economic power with a huge one, from outside? And, equally, inside the euro-zone, and the European Central Bank? One could well think so.

One could, but the Swiss did not. There were short-term, immediate reasons, but the basic one is centuries old: the Swiss have forged and fought for their identity and independence since 1291, and they do not want to give up. Not for nothing is their national myth-figure William Tell, a man who preferred to risk his son's life rather than accept foreign rule.