2013年12月大学英语四级考试阅读训练18

　　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,the U.S.leader ship 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.

　　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 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.

　　Perhaps the PR industry might take a lesson from Ted Turner of CNN(Cable News Network). Turner recently announced that the work "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 thing as foreign.

　　这是一篇议论文，论述了美国公共关系行业(PR industry)落后于欧洲、亚洲一些国家的原因。

　　26.According to the passage, U.S. leadership in public relations is being threatened

　　because_______.

　　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

　　[答案与分析]：[D]回答依据为文章第2段第1句话。介绍by可表示方式、原因，意为“以……方式，由于”。

　　27.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

　　[答案与分析]：[B]根据文章第2段最后两句话可知B为答案。

　　28.The word "provincial" (Line 2, Para. 3) most probably means "_______".

　　A) limited in outlook

　　B) like people from the provinces

　　C) rigid in thinking

　　D) interested in world financial affairs

　　[答案与分析]：[A]选择依据第二：①我们这过province这一句词，知道它意为“省;领域，范围，本份”，根据构词法及provincial在句中担当的成份，可provincial是一形容词，意思大概是“范围有限的”之类;②分析句子结构可知：and是一个表示并列关系的连词，所以be provincial的意思和take more of an interest in local affairs(主要关注本国、本地事物)相近;③根据第3段第2句话(即有provincial的那句)与第3句话的关系也可推断出答案为B，因为第3句话是举例说明第2句话的。

　　29.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

　　[答案与分析]：[B]A项显然与文章中所指出的第2个理由(Secondly,…)恰相反。B项与第1个理由相吻合。故答案为B。

　　30.What lesson might the 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".

　　[答案与分析]：[A]Ted Turner of Cnn说“that the word‘foreign'would no longer be used”,其实际含义是：由于现代通讯使得全球各国紧密地连接在一起，相互之间的关系极其密切，所以我们应该将视野放宽，具有强烈的国际观念，而不要将注意力仅仅放在国内。故而A项正确。B项显然错误。C项本身的陈述并没错，但它与题干所问的Ted Turner of CNN没关系。D项则是肤浅地理解字面意思了。