Passage 1

The International Monetary Fund recently forecast that East Asia is set to continue its economic boom for the next few years. Yet Sony announced that it will no longer export television sets from Japan because it cannot price them competitively.Listen to Sony. Even in a growing market such as Asia, costs count. And for many businesses, Asia is beginning to cost too much.East Asia’s economic miracle is best summed up as the biggest price undercut in history. The region grew because it was the cheapest source for the low-technology consumer goods that the West craved. Hong Kong and South Korea did not invent new or more efficient manufacturing techniques; they simply bought market share with low wages.But the same market force that led buyers from America and Europe to Taiwan and Japan 30 years ago is now working against Asian nations as they try to upgrade their industries. Years ago, an Asian factory turning out shirts was competing against huge, unionized factories in North Carolina and Manchester. Today, a shirt-maker in south China has to compete with 100 other guys in his own country, 20 factories in India, 5 in the Philippines and reinvigorated and highly efficient new plants in the U.S and Europe.Sony, Hewlett-Packard and Ford need a competitive business environment that is based on more than cheap pairs of hands. In much of East Asia, inadequate roads, seaports and airports, telecommunications and other infrastructure, high rents, shortage of managers and skilled technicians, corruption and, above all, government interference are now the deciding factors when multinational corporations choose to keep production in North America or Europe rather than switch it to Asia.Every day, I see costs placing Asian nations at a disadvantage compared with their “cheaper” Western competitors. In shipping, for instance, terminal expenses in Japan and Hong Kong are two or three times higher than those of the U.S.A.’s busiest West coast ports. To truck a container 100 miles down from southern China to Hong Kong costs more than to ship the same container from the United States or Europe to Hong Kong.

The author suggests that businesses should pay more attention to Sony’s decision for the simple reason that Sony’s idea actually represents that of the Japanese manufacturers.

Talbot’s buying of J. Jill has helped it to overcome the financial difficulties.

Japan’s Aeon Co. Ltd is a mother company of Aeon (U.S.A.) Inc.

Consumer prices posted their smallest increase in more than 50 years in 2008. A government report today (Friday) said the sagging economy is keeping inflation in check, and slashing demand for energy. Serious U.S. economic problems are at the top of President-elect Barack Obama’s agenda as he tries to rally public support for a plan to stimulate the economy with government spending and tax cuts. Mr. Obama has said he hopes to create half a million jobs with investments in clean energy projects.

Talbot’s major consumers are those women who are younger than 35.

The retail sales dropped for six consecutive months.

From this passage, we can get that the author implies the Asian countries are not so efficient in manufacturing.

When the author argued that to do business in Asia is too expensive, he was only making comparison between doing business in Asia in the past and today.

Passage 2

It’s a brutal time in retail-sales dropped 2. 7% in December, the sixth straight month of declines, and 0. 1% for 2008, the first annual dip on government records dating back to 1992. It was the worst holiday shopping season in 40 years. Name outlets like Circuit City and Linens’ n Things have gone bankrupt. Who’s next? Predicting which companies will go under is a notoriously tricky business, and we won’t try that. But here are five struggling retailers whose futures are definitely cloudy, with a look at how they hope to survive.Talbots, the specialty clothing retailer, which targets women over 35, has run out of steam over the past year. Talbots’ same-store sales were down 13.9% in the third quarter of 2008, and the chain lost $14.8 million during that time. The company’s ill-fated $400 million purchase of women’s apparel shop J. Jill in 2006 burdened its debt load. “What’s hurting them more than anything is that they’ve got lots of debt on their balance sheet,” says Betty Chen, a retail analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities. Talbots has shuttered its men’s, kids and U.K. businesses, and is shopping for a buyer for J. Jill. Good luck finding one in today’s market. Earlier this month, investors received some encouragement when the company secured a $150 million credit line from three Japanese banks. In 2008 Talbots also secured a $50 million credit facility from Aeon (U.S.A.) Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Japan’s Aeon Co. Ltd. and the majority shareholder of Talbots.

The Circuit City and Linens’n Things are very famous chain stores in America before they went bankrupt.

Some manufacturers of the advanced western countries were hesitant about moving to Asia only for there was a shortage of competent managers.

Asian economic growth was primarily based on their cheap exports rather than high-tech innovations.