听力原文：W: Welcome to our program, Business World, Mr. Northfield.M: It's my pleasure to

听力原文：W: Welcome to our program, Business World, Mr. Northfield.

M: It's my pleasure to be invited to share my experiences with you here, Mrs. Breece.

W: I think you won't mind if we start with the sensitive problem your company is faced with recently.

M: Sensitive problem？ Interesting？ I'm listening.

W: Yeah… Is it true, Mr. Northfield, that Flasxco intends to close down even more of its European plants？

M: I'm not sure what you are getting at. Who has mentioned any closures of more plants in the first place？

W: Well, then I'll put it another way, are European operations going to be reduced along the lines of recent years？ I mean, it is true that Flaxco has taken over several companies abroad, particularly in the USA and has even expanded its workforce there.

M: Yes. But that doesn't mean closing down more plants in Europe. It's not part of our plan yet.

W: A large number of jobs have been lost, though, at your European plants？

M: Look, let me try and put things into perspective for you. I'll give you some facts. First of all, our production resources have been concentrated steadily over the past few years. But it's inevitable for a national brand or even a local brand to go international these days, you know. So, now we have focused our manufacturing fadlities in Europe, but not only here.

W: After closing down two plants in Antwerp and Leeds and 3,000 workers lost their jobs？

M: Sorry, I haven't finished yet. Let me continue. We have limited our production in Europe to certain medicines which are prescribed in large quantities. But that ~ s not the sole reason we have closed down two plants. This appears to be something you've neglected to mention: we have been expanding our business activities abroad, which is an inevitable trend in the new millennium.

W: Since your business is expanding, have you any plans to increase the workforce here in Europe, Mr. Northfield？ With the unemployment rate here as high as 9 percent this year, I'm sure many people would be keen to hear what you have to say on the subject.

M: I really must insist once more that it's impossible to view the performance of the company solely from the point of view of Europe and it's also unrealistic to rely on one corporation to alleviate the problem of unemployment. I'd like to stress the very successful performance of the group over the past few years: we made a net profit of 1 billion euros during this time and of course contributed a lot to the government. Indeed it would be stupid and impossible to do so, I mean, to increase the workforce here in Europe alone because we have nearly two thirds of our workforee in subsidiaries and associated companies overseas.

W: Is it true that it wasn't always like that？

M: As I was saying, we have 60% of our employees involved outside of Europe, which may give you an indication of how international our company has become. It's just like our U.S. competitors setting up branches here in Europe. You know, it's the globalization that makes things different now.

W: Could I ask you another question concerning the R&D expenditure of the group？ Is this going to be made in Europe or around the world？.

M: I want to repeat what I've been saying: we are an international corporation and we have a research facility in Italy, which as you know, is very important. Furthermore, we have just started a new research unit in the USA, which is inevitable, given the large size of our operations in that country and the expansion of our market share there in the past 6 or 7 years.

Questions:

11.Which is NOT true about the closing down of European plants according to the talk？

12.Which seems to be the woman's attitude towards Flaxco？

13.Which of the following statements is true according to the talk？

14.Where do most of Flaxco's employees work？

15.Why has a new research unit been started in the USA by Flaxco？

(31)

A．Two plants have already been closed down.

B．Mr. Northfield has no plan to close down more European plants yet.

C．The closing down of the two plants is partly a result of Flaxco~s going international.

D．The expansion of business will lead to more cut in the workforce and thus result in the closing down of more European plants.