無料TOEICレッスン　Lesson27 : Japanese Steve Jobs

Lesson 27: Japanese Steve Jobs / VIDEO Script

Al:
John, why wasn’t the iPad invented in Japan?

John:
I don’t know. Why not Al? Is it because Steve Jobs wasn’t t born in Japan?

Al:
Wow John! How’d you guess that was the answer? Actually that’s how the article in the Japan Times started out and then it went on to introduce Tadashi Yanai as Japan’s nearest thing to the hard-driving perfectionist Steve Jobs. He heads up Fast Marketing the parent company of Uniqlo, a company with far-reaching international ambitions.

John:
Yeah, I’ve heard of him. What’s he up to now?

Al:
Well, he’s expanding the company quickly overseas and he’s got a plan to make it a global company by 2012 by hiring foreigners to fill three fourths of the company’s new jobs. And he plans to switch the company’s primary language to English by 2012.

John:
That’s not a surprise, Al. Nissan did it 10 years ago when Carlos Ghosn became the CEO and I heard that Rakuten, the online retailer, is heading that way too as they have realized that the best potential for growth is in the international market where speaking English is essential. We may only be seeing the beginning of a huge change for Japanese companies. The ability to speak English well might become an absolute requirement for many Japanese companies in the future.

Al:
Yeah! But I think it would be much better if Uniqlo were able to hire mostly Japanese university graduates who were well prepared for the challenge of international business. I think we’ve got our work cut out for us John!

John:
I hope so, I’ve been waiting a long time for all those young Japanese to wake up to the fact that the ability to speak English well will give them a big advantage when they look for a job these days.

Al:
Me too!

Questions:

1. What did Al ask John?
   
   1. He asked if Steve Jobs was Japanese.
   2. He asked if the iPad was invented in Japan.
   3. He asked why the iPad wasn’t invented in Japan.
   4. He asked if Apple was a Japanese company.
2. What did Al say about Tadashi Yanai?
   
   1. He said he was a hard-driving perfectionist like Steve Jobs.
   2. He said Mr. Yanai was the new Apple president.
   3. He said Mr. Yanai’s new plan was to design a product to beat the iPad.
   4. He said his company Fast Marketing was thinking to pull out of the international market and concentrate on the Japanese market.
3. What did Al tell John Fast Marketing was planning to do by 2012?
   
   1. That they planned to hire only English speaking Japanese university graduates.
   2. That they were planning to make English the company’s official language by next year.
   3. That Fast Marketing would hire foreigners to fill three fourths of new jobs in 2012.
   4. That they would stop hiring all Japanese university graduates by 2012.
4. What did John say he’d been waiting a long time for?
   
   1. For Japanese companies to clamp down on hiring of foreigners.
   2. For young Japanese to wake up to the fact that the ability to speak English well gives them a huge advantage when they look for jobs.
   3. For the Ministry of Education and Science to require English speaking tests for university entrance.
   4. For his young Japanese friend to wake up to the fact that John would never be able to speak Japanese as well as he could speak English.
      
      
      

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