The rise of multinational corporations (跨国公司), global marketing, new communications technologies, and shrinking cultural differences have led to an unparalleled increase in global public relations or PR.
Surprisingly, since modern PR was largely an American invention, America's 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.
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 (相对应的人) 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 closereye 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.
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.
练习题：
Choose correct answers to the question:
1. According to the passage, America's relations is being threatened because of ________.
A. an unparalleled increase in the number of public relations companies
B. shrinking cultural differences and new communications technologies
C. the decreasing number of multinational corporations in the U.S.
D. increased efforts of other countries in public relations
2. London could soon replace New York as the center of PR because ________.
A. British companies are more ambitious than U.S. companies
B. British companies place more importance on PR than U.S. companies
C. British companies are heavily involved in planning activities
D. four of the world’s top public relations agencies are British-owned
3. The word “provincial” (Line 2, Para. 3) means “________”.
A. limited in outlook
B. like people from the provinces
C. rigid in thinking
D. interested in world financial affairs
4. We learn from the third paragraph that employees in the American PR industry ________.
A. speak at least one foreign language fluently
B. are ignorant about world geography
C. are not as sophisticated as their European counterparts
D. enjoy reading a great variety of English business publications
5. What PR industry take from Ted Turner of CNN?
A. American PR companies should be more internationally-minded.
B. The American PR industry should develop global communications technologies.
C. People working in PR should be more fluent in foreign languages.
D. People involved in PR should avoid using the word “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。
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