Japan's once enviable jobless rate will soar to double-digit levels if—and the warning is a big one—firms opt for drastic Western-style layoffs to boost profits. While Japan's life-time employment system is visibly unravelling, many economists still doubt whether a scenario of soaring joblessness will occur, given that economic incentives to slash payrolls clash with social and political pressures to save jobs. A kinder, gentler approach to restructuring would soften the social instability many fear would result from doubling the jobless rate, already at a record high.

　　Critics believe it would also cap gains in profit margins and stifle economic vitality, especially in the absence of bold steps to open the door to new growth, industries. Some economists believe different methods of counting mean Japan's jobless rate is already close to 7 per cent by United States standards, not that far from the 7.8 per cent peak hit in the US in 1992 when it began to emerge from a two-year slump.

　　中译英6

　　黄浦江纵横南北，把上海分为两部分。浦东因位于黄浦江以东而得名。本世纪20—30年代，随着以外滩为核心的金融、商贸区的建立，外商和我国民族资本事开始把经济活动伸向浦东地区。但黄浦江的阻隔，极大地影响了浦东的经济发展。浦江两岸形成了一边，是万商云集的十里洋场，一边是以自然农作物为主的大片农田的鲜明对照。

　　自1990年中央宣布开放浦东以来，浦东新区的建设日新月异，突飞猛进。高楼大厦如雨后春笋，拔地而起，田园风光和现代建筑交相辉映，浦东正以崭新的面貌跨人新世纪。