高３ 東京外国語大学Listening and Writing Practice
Here is a lesson for people what want to practice for Tokyo Gaidai. Write your answers in your book and show them to me later!
1. Listen to the passage and make notes following these points below
Title Japan’s Robot Revolution
1. Evidence of Japan’s Robot revolution
– Department stores
– Japan a world leader of factory robots
2. Robots are a solution to ageing society
– Ajinomoto food company uses robots because…
3. Western fear of Robots
– People losing jobs
4. People don’t like the idea of robots, because they want control
– Driverless cars
– Jobs
5. What is the future of a society with robots?
2. Summarize in no more than 200 words the passage. Use the notes you made
3. Referring to your notes about the passage, and any knowledge you have on the subject, what are the potential advantages and disadvantages of having more and more robots in society?
The script can be seen here. Use it to check your listening.
Robots are serving customers in Japanese department stores and banks, as well as building advanced machines for the nation’s manufacturers. Has the future already arrived in Japan? What does this mean for the Japanese jobs industry?
Japan’s robot revolution is evident at such places as Mitsukoshi department store in central Tokyo, where a kimono-clad greeter, “Aiko Chihira” made by Toshiba welcomes visitors. Also in Tokyo, Mitsubishi Tokyo recently unveiled a robot assistant to provide basic customer service.
But beyond the cute and fluffy, Japanese companies have long been world leaders in factory robots, led by such businesses as Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Yaskawa Electric. According to Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), the nation is the world’s top supplier of industrial robots, earning sales of 340 billion yen in 2012 and accounting for around half the market, as well as having a 90 percent market share in key robotics elements such as precision reduction gears and force sensors.
Japan sees robots as a potential solution to its rapidly aging society, with the number of citizens aged 65 and above hitting a record-high 32 million in October 2013. With Japan’s workforce now below 80 million and forecast to decline further, robots are seen as a potential solution. Unemployment is currently at an 18-year low of 3.3 percent, and with unfilled jobs at a two-decade high, manufacturers like food maker Ajinomoto are reportedly increasingly using robots in production due to their inability to find staff.
“Shortage of labor is a structural problem Japan faces in the long run, given the aging society,” said Kyuuichiro Sano, director of a METI division in charge of state-of-the-art technology, “Robots could be the answer,” he said.
Japan’s confidence in robots contrasts with alarmist reports in Western media about the potential threat to jobs. According to Australian research, nearly half of all current jobs could be done by robots by 2020, with even traditional white-collar jobs such as accountants, bank tellers and secretaries reportedly at risk of disappearing.
However, people are generally not threatened by robots, but by society and management decisions. For example, we already have the technology for driverless cars, which have had very few accidents, and when they have it’s been the fault of the human driver. But the biggest resistance is that people want control – we could have a totally automated transportation system tomorrow, if it wasn’t for people wanting to be more in control of their lives and their jobs.
“We don’t need to fear the technology – we need to fear our own ability to deal with a new kind of society. Many people feel that “if you’re not working hard, you’re not contributing to society.” But what if there’s nothing for you to do? What if, thanks to robots, the best you can do is spend your days drawing pictures making music, or playing sports? Is that worth supporting? These are critical issues which over the next 10 years will have a dramatic impact on society.
Comments are closed