Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. division B. submits C. range D. Naturally E. suppliers F. unopposed G. commercial H. potential I. dominated J. Therefore   K. head

When Yoshino akira, a Japanese chemist, worked on rechargeable batteries in the 1980s, it was with a view to powering portable devices. His Nobel prize-winning research led to the first 【小题1】 lithiumion (Lion) battery. These now power everything from smartphones to electric vehicles (EVS). But the Japanese firms that, building on Mr Yoshino's work, 【小题2】 the Lion business early on have lost their edge. CATL, China's battery giant, and the energy arm of LG, a South Korean group, have surpassed Japan's Panasonic as the world's largest 【小题3】 of EV batteries. Others are catching up in the production of materials and components.

Japanese battery-makers want to regain their rightful place at the 【小题4】 of the pack. To do so they are betting on solid-sate batteries. These still shuttle lithiunions between the anode (阳极) and the cathode (阴极) to charge and discharge, but the electrolyze (电解液) where this shutting happens is solid not liquid. That makes the batteries more stable and potentially more powerful. It also avoids the need for bulky cooling systems, required for fast-charging Lion systems. Cars equipped with solid-state batteries could be lighter, which increases 【小题5】.

Japan 【小题6】 more battery-tech patents a year than any other country; second ranked South Korea files half as many. Japanese firms and inventors accounted for more than one in two solid-state-related patents between 2014 and 2018. More are coming. Industrial and chemicals firms, of which Japan has plenty, are preparing for the materials needed to bring the technology to market.

Murata, a big manufacturer which bought Sony's battery 【小题7】 in 2017, plans to begin mass-producing smaller solid-state batteries this autumn. Nakajima Norio, Murata's boss, sees "lots of 【小题8】 in wearables", since the batteries do not bum or get hot (which is hwy they are already used in things like pacemakers). Honda and Nissan, two other carmakers, are also eyeing the technology.

【小题9】, if making solid-state batteries were easy, manufacturers would be mass-producing them. It isn't. Water stains the materials, so factories must be kept ultra-day. Mitsui Kinzoku, an engineering firm, has been testing mass production of solid electrolytes and found that it is "indeed a very difficult process", in the words of Takahashi Tsukass, who is involved in the project.

Even if they can get the technology right, Japanese firms are not running 【小题10】, as they had seen in Liion's early days. Most big carmakers, including Ford, Hyundai and Volkswagen, have solid-state cars in the works. They may want to make the batteries themselves. That's some solid competition.