January 8, 1992

The 11-year-olds in Richard Nokes's history class are not having an easy time. They are trying to figure out how ancient Roman roads were built, and their only sources are translations of descriptions by writers of the time. It is a sophisticated lesson in how to read primary documents, a skill expected of every child now that Britain has a required national curriculum.

The Ford Motor Company, in a move intended to increase the appeal of its vehicles to the Japanese, said today that it would begin building right-hand-drive Ford Probe sporty coupes for export to Japan and Britain. This will be Ford's first model adapted specifically for sale in Japan. It will take the company 20 months to re-engineer the car, which will be produced at the Mazda Motor Corporation's Flat Rock, Mich. plant, said Alex J. Trotman, executive vice president in charge of North American operations. Ford owns 25 percent of Mazda.

Last year was a strong one for bond funds, particularly for those invested in high-yield junk bonds. In the fourth quarter, however, the best-performing funds were those that invested in the Deutsche mark and in long-term domestic securities. Figures compiled by Lipper Analytical Services showed that the year's top-performing bond funds had annual returns exceeding 60 percent. The best-performing fund was the Dean Witter High Yield Fund, with a 67.21 percent return, followed by the Liberty High Income Bond Fund, which returned 60.5 percent.

The Hartmarx Corporation announced yesterday that it would merge the operations of two of its retail divisions in yet another effort to curb costs as the recession continues to chip away at its sales. The manufacturer and retailer, based in Chicago, said it would combine its Hartmarx Specialty Stores Inc., the troubled parent of Wallach's, Baskin, Field Brothers and 26 others, with its Kuppenheimer Men's Clothiers, a discount chain.

WHEN Fresh Fields opened its first "healthy food supermarket" in a Washington suburb last summer, the tight-knit natural foods industry was aghast. What interlopers dared enter a business that had, until that moment, been peopled exclusively by a health-food counterculture? Who were these mainstream entrepreneurs -- Leo Kahn, the former owner of a chain of conventional supermarkets, Mark Ordan, an investment banker, and Jack Murphy, who had worked in the supermarket industry -- with the chutzpah to treat the selling of organic food, natural sugars, whole grains, pure water, and the concepts of saving the dolphins, saving the whales, saving the planet as a pure business opportunity? The industry is still abuzz as the company plans to open stores No. 3 and No. 4 this year.