1999年6月英语四级 - 阅读理解B

The rise of multinational corporations, global marketing, new communications technologies, and shrinking cultural differences have led to an unparalleled increase in global public relations or PR.
跨国公司的崛起、全球营销、新的通信技术和日益缩小的文化差异导致了全球公关的空前增长。

Surprisingly, since modern PR was largely an American invention, the U.S. leadership in public relations is being threatened by PR efforts in other countries. Ten years ago, for example, the world’s top five public relations agencies were American-owned. In 1991, only one was. The British in particular are becoming more sophisticated and creative. A recent survey found that more than half of all British companies include PR as part of their corporate (公司的) planning activities, compared to about one-third of U.S. companies. It may not be long before London replaces New York as the capital of PR.
令人惊讶的是，由于现代公关在很大程度上是美国的发明，美国在公关方面的领导地位正受到其他国家公关努力的威胁。例如，十年前，世界前五大公关机构都是美国所有。1991年，只剩下了一家。英国人尤其变得更加老练和富有创造力。最近的一项调查发现，超过一半的英国公司将公关作为其公司规划活动的一部分，相比之下，美国公司约有三分之一。不久之后，伦敦将取代纽约成为公关之都。

Why is America lagging behind in the global PR race? First, Americans as a whole tend to be fairly provincial and take more of an interest in local affairs. Knowledge of world geography, for example, has never been strong in this country. Secondly, Americans lag behind their European and Asian counterparts in knowing a second language. Less than 5 percent of Burson - Marshall’s U.S. employees know two languages. Ogilvy and Mather has about the same percentage. Conversely, some European firms have half or more of their employees fluent in a second language. Finally, people involved in PR abroad tend to keep a closer eye on international affairs. In the financial PR area, for instance, most Americans read the Wall Street Journal. Overseas, their counterparts read the Journal as well as the Financial Times of London and The Economist, publications not often read in this country.
为什么美国在全球公关竞争中落后？首先，作为一个整体，美国人往往相当狭隘，对当地事务更感兴趣。例如，这个国家的世界地理知识一直都比较弱。其次，美国人在掌握第二语言方面落后于欧洲和亚洲同行。在Burson - Marshall的美国员工中，只有不到5%的人会两种语言，奥美和马瑟的比例大致相同。相反，一些欧洲公司有一半或更多的员工能流利地说第二语言。最后，在国外从事公关工作的人往往会密切关注国际事务。例如，在金融公关领域，大多数美国人阅读《华尔街日报》。在海外，他们的同行阅读了《华尔街日报》、《伦敦金融时报》和《经济学人》，这些出版物在美国很少阅读。

Perhaps the PR industry might take a lesson from Ted Turner of CNN (Cable News Network). Turner recently announced that the word “foreign” would no longer be used on CNN news broadcasts. According to Turner, global communications have made the nations of the world so interdependent that there is no longer any such things as foreign.
也许公关行业可以从CNN的泰德·特纳那里吸取教训。特纳最近宣布，“外国”一词将不再用于美国CNN的新闻广播。根据特纳的说法，全球通讯使世界各国相互依存，不再有属于外国的东西。