Notes:
・affluent（形）:　裕福な、富裕な;
・tragedy（名）:　悲劇、悲しい事件、惨事;
・predict（動）:　…を予言する、予測する;
・emerge（動）:　〈人が〉〔貧困・苦境から〕身を起こす、抜け出す;
・aim（動）:　…することを目指す、努力する;
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Japan has always been regarded as one of the great innovators of the world – think autos, steel, but especially electronics. Some have argued that in the last 10 years Japan has seen a trend away from innovating as people become more affluent and comfortable. But with the tragedy of the earthquake some are predicting that Japan may emerge even stronger, just as after the war. Perhaps an early demonstration of this is Sony’s prediction that it is aiming to become the second largest player in the popular tablet PC market segment behind Apple within one year.  (by Prof. Simon Smith)
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Notes:
make a prediction 予測する
E-Reader　 電子書籍端末（電子リーダー）
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The New Year has already started and it is a good time to make predictions about how things will change this year. Last year the world saw a huge growth in the number of Facebook users. This number will no doubt continue to rise. Last year also saw the arrival of the long awaited iPad and many new E-Readers. This year I predict that as all of these technical devices become cheaper and cheaper we will start to see more and more of them on the trains and buses. (by Prof. Simon Smith)
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