Theriseofmultinationalcorporations(跨国公司),globalmarketing,newcommunicationstechnologies,andshrinkingculturaldifferenceshaveledtoanunparalleledincreaseinglobalpublicrelationsorPR.
Surprisingly,sincemodernPRwaslargelyanAmericaninvention,America'srelationsisbeingthreatenedbyPReffortsinothercountries.Tenyearsago,forexample,theworld’stopfivepublicrelationsagencieswereAmerican-owned.In1991,onlyonewas.TheBritishinparticulararebecomingmoresophisticatedandcreative.ArecentsurveyfoundthatmorethanhalfofallBritishcompaniesincludePRaspartoftheircorporate(公司的)planningactivities,comparedtoaboutone-thirdofU.S.companies.ItmaynotbelongbeforeLondonreplacesNewYorkasthecapitalofPR.
WhyisAmericalaggingbehindintheglobalPRrace?First,Americansasawholetendtobefairlyprovincialandtakemoreofaninterestinlocalaffairs.Knowledgeofworldgeography,forexample,hasneverbeenstronginthiscountry.Secondly,AmericanslagbehindtheirEuropeanandAsiancounterparts(相对应的人)inknowingasecondlanguage.Lessthan5percentofBurson—Marshall’sU.S.employeesknowtwolanguages.OgilvyandMatherhasaboutthesamepercentage.Conversely,someEuropeanfirmshavehalformoreoftheiremployeesfluentinasecondlanguage.Finally,peopleinvolvedinPRabroadtendtokeepaclosereyeoninternationalaffairs.InthefinancialPRarea,forinstance,mostAmericansreadtheWallStreetJournal.Overseas,theircounterpartsreadtheJournalaswellastheFinancialTimesofLondonandTheEconomist,publicationsnotoftenreadinthiscountry.
PerhapsthePRindustrymighttakealessonfromTedTurnerofCNN(CableNewsNetwork).Turnerrecentlyannouncedthattheword“foreign”wouldnolongerbeusedonCNNnewsbroadcasts.AccordingtoTurner,globalcommunicationshavemadethenationsoftheworldsointerdependentthatthereisnolongeranysuchthingsasforeign.
练习题：
Choosecorrectanswerstothequestion:
1.Accordingtothepassage,America'srelationsisbeingthreatenedbecauseof________.
A.anunparalleledincreaseinthenumberofpublicrelationscompanies
B.shrinkingculturaldifferencesandnewcommunicationstechnologies
C.thedecreasingnumberofmultinationalcorporationsintheU.S.
D.increasedeffortsofothercountriesinpublicrelations
2.LondoncouldsoonreplaceNewYorkasthecenterofPRbecause________.
A.BritishcompaniesaremoreambitiousthanU.S.companies
B.BritishcompaniesplacemoreimportanceonPRthanU.S.companies
C.Britishcompaniesareheavilyinvolvedinplanningactivities
D.fouroftheworld’stoppublicrelationsagenciesareBritish-owned
3.Theword“provincial”(Line2,Para.3)means“________”.
B.likepeoplefromtheprovinces
D.interestedinworldfinancialaffairs
4.WelearnfromthethirdparagraphthatemployeesintheAmericanPRindustry________.
A.speakatleastoneforeignlanguagefluently
B.areignorantaboutworldgeography
C.arenotassophisticatedastheirEuropeancounterparts
D.enjoyreadingagreatvarietyofEnglishbusinesspublications
5.WhatPRindustrytakefromTedTurnerofCNN?
A.AmericanPRcompaniesshouldbemoreinternationally-minded.
B.TheAmericanPRindustryshoulddevelopglobalcommunicationstechnologies.
C.PeopleworkinginPRshouldbemorefluentinforeignlanguages.
D.PeopleinvolvedinPRshouldavoidusingtheword“foreign”.
1.[D]事实细节题。由第2段第1句美国在公关方面威胁是来自其他国家在这方面的努力，故得知D为正确答案。
2.[B]事实细节题。第2段最后两句提到，最近的研究调查发现，英国有超过一半的公司将PR作为其公司的计划活动的一部分,而美国只有三分之一的公司这样做，不久伦敦将取代纽约成为PR的中心。因此B为正确答案。
3.[A]词义理解题。provincial是province“省;区域;范围”的派生词，可见它与“区域性的、一定范围的”的意思有关。文中提到美国人相当provincial，更关心的是本地的事情，因此provincial的意思与A最为接近。
4.[C]推理判断题。第3段提到了美国在全球公共竞赛中与其欧洲对手相比落后的三个主要原因：美国人视野较窄，只关心本地的事物，关于世界地理的知识了解不多(但并不是一无所知，因此B不正确);外语流利的人很少(可见A是不正确的);阅读面很窄，只读《华尔街日报》(可见D也不正确)。由此可推断出美国人与其欧洲对手相比，没有那么老练，因此C为正确答案。
5.[A]事实细节题。文章最后两句提到，特纳宣称在CNN的新闻广播中“foreign”一词将不再被使用，全球化的通讯已经使得世界各国相互依靠，从而不再需要“foreign”这类东西，也就是说所有人都应当具有国际观念，因此A为正确答案。
