Задание XII. Прочитайте и переведите текст.

Mitsubishi

Mitsubishi Group is a Japanese group of industrial companies that includes some of the largest companies in the world. The Mitsubishi Group is a keiretsu, a group of affiliated companies that are legally independent, but have extensive cross-holdings and exclusive business relationships. Mitsubishi means “three diamonds” in Japanese.

The largest Mitsubishi companies include Mitsubishi Corporation, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., Mitsubishi Motors Corporation, and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation. Mitsubishi Corporation operates in a wide variety of industries, including telecommunications, aerospace, fuels, metals, machinery, chemicals, textiles, and clothing. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries manufactures a large variety of industrial products and machinery, including ships, steel products, power plants, transportation systems, printing presses, aircrafts, guided missiles, torpedoes, and air-conditioning and refrigeration systems. Mitsubishi Motors, one of Japan’s largest automobile manufacturers, produces passenger cars, trucks, buses, and other vehicles. Mitsubishi Electric makes an enormous range of electronic products, including computers and computer peripherals, televisions, videocassette recorders, kitchen appliances, large-screen display systems, and semiconductor devices. Mitsubishi Electric also makes artificial satellites, radar and guidance systems, power generators, electric trains, and industrial robots. Other notable companies in the Mitsubishi Group are Mitsubishi Bank, one of Japan’s largest banks; Nikon Corporation, a manufacturer of cameras and optical instruments; and Kirin Brewery Company, Ltd., Japan’s largest brewery.

Mitsubishi traces its roots to 1870, when Yataro Iwasaki leased three steamships to form a shipping company called Tsukomo Shokai. In 1875 the company changed its name to Mitsubishi Mail Steamship Company. In the 1880s Iwasaki diversified the company by purchasing a coal mine and leasing a shipyard to build ships. In the 1920s and 1930s the company, by then known as Mitsubishi Company, expanded into a number of other industries, including petroleum and power generation. By the early 1940s it was one of Japan’s largest conglomerates.

During World War II (1939-1945) Mitsubishi manufactured airplanes, ships, and explosives for the Japanese military. However, after the war the United States Army occupied Japan and ordered the dismantling of Mitsubishi and other Japanese conglomerates, banning the Mitsubishi name from corporate use. As U.S. troops withdrew, the Japanese government encouraged the conglomerates to reunite. In 1964 three of the largest Mitsubishi companies reintegrated as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. In 1970 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries transformed its car-manufacturing division into a subsidiary company called Mitsubishi Motors. A year later the Chrysler Corporation bought 15 percent of Mitsubishi Motors, a move that began a long relationship between the two companies. In the 1970s, for example, Chrysler marketed the Dodge Colt and Plymouth Arrow, both made by Mitsubishi, in the United States.

Ответьте на вопросы к тексту письменно.

1. What does the word ‘mitsubishi’ mean?

2. Does Mitsubishi Corporation produce cars?

3. Which of the following is not provided or made by the Mitsubishi Group companies: banking services, medicine, or beer?

4. What was Mitsubishi involved in during World War II?

5. What American car manufacturer became a long-time partner of Mitsubishi?