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 have 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 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 thing as foreign．

1.Compared with the American PR personnel, what is/are an advantage（s） of the non-Americans involved in PR?

         A． They tend to be more internationally minded

         B． They speak more and better foreign languages．

         C． They usually pay more attention to global financial situation．

         D． Both A and B．

2.What is the immediate cause of the downfall of America’s public relations?

         A． The number of US public relations agencies had greatly decreased by 1991．

         B． Other countries have increased their efforts in public relations．

         C． On the global scale, cultural differences have significantly shrunk．

         D． The British companies are becoming especially sophisticated and creative in public relations．

3.It could be inferred that the author of the passage is______．

         A． an American                                                            B． a Briton                                                     

         C． Ted Turner                                                                D． an Asian

4.The underlined word “provincial” in paragraph 3 could possibly mean “      ”．

         A． strict in thinking                B． like people from rural areas

         C． limited in outlook             D． interested in geographical knowledge

Decision-making under Stress
　　A new review based on a research shows that acute stress affects the way the brain considers the advantages and disadvantages, causing it to focus on pleasure and ignore the possible negative (负面的) consequences of a decision.
　　The research suggests that stress may change the way people make choices in predictable ways.
　　“Stress affects how people learn,” says Professor Mara Mather. “People learn better about positive than negative outcomes under stress.”
　　For example, two recent studies looked at how people learned to connect images(影像) with either rewards or punishments. In one experiment, some of the participants were first stressed by having to give a speech and do difficult math problems in front of an audience; in the other, some were stressed by having to keep their hands in ice water. In both cases, the stressed participants remembered the rewarded material more accurately and the punished material less accurately than those who hadn’t gone through the stress.
　　This phenomenon is likely not surprising to anyone who has tried to resist eating cookies or smoking a cigarette while under stress –at those moments, only the pleasure associated with such activities comes to mind. But the findings further suggest that stress may bring about a double effect. Not only are rewarding experiences remembered better, but negative consequences are also easily recalled.
　　The research also found that stress appears to affect decision-making differently in men and women. While both men and women tend to focus on rewards and less on consequences under stress, their responses to risk turn out to be different.
　　Men who had been stressed by the cold-water task tended to take more risks in the experiment while women responded in the opposite way. In stressful situations in which risk-taking can pay off big, men may tend to do better, when caution weighs more, however, women will win.
　　This tendency to slow down and become more cautious when decisions are risky might also help explain why women are less likely to become addicted than men: they may more often avoid making the risky choices that eventually harden into addiction.
【小题1】We can learn from the passage that people under pressure tend to ______.

Decision-making under Stress

A new review based on a research shows that acute stress affects the way the brain considers the advantages and disadvantages, causing it to focus on pleasure and ignore the possible negative (负面的) consequences of a decision.

The research suggests that stress may change the way people make choices in predictable ways. “Stress affects how people learn,” says Professor Mara Mather. “People learn better about positive than negative outcomes under stress.”

For example, two recent studies looked at how people learned to connect images(影像) with either rewards or punishments. In one experiment, some of the participants were first stressed by having to give a speech and do difficult math problems in front of an audience; in the other, some were stressed by having to keep their hands in ice water. In both cases, the stressed participants remembered the rewarded material more accurately and the punished material less accurately than those who hadn’t gone through the stress. This phenomenon is likely not surprising to anyone who has tried to resist eating cookies or smoking a cigarette while under stress –at those moments, only the pleasure associated with such activities comes to mind. But the findings further suggest that stress may bring about a double effect. Not only are rewarding experiences remembered better, but negative consequences are also easily recalled.

The research also found that stress appears to affect decision-making differently in men and women. While both men and women tend to focus on rewards and less on consequences under stress, their responses to risk turn out to be different. Men who had been stressed by the cold-water task tended to take more risks in the experiment while women responded in the opposite way. In stressful situations in which risk-taking can pay off big, men may tend to do better, when caution weighs more, however, women will win.

This tendency to slow down and become more cautious when decisions are risky might also help explain why women are less likely to become addicted than men: they may more often avoid making the risky choices that eventually harden into addiction.

1.We can learn from the passage that people under pressure tend to ______.

A. keep rewards better in their memory

B. recall consequences more effortlessly

C. make risky decisions more frequently

D. learn a subject more effectively

2. According to the research, stress affects people most probably in their ______.

A. ways of making choices          B. preference for pleasure

C. tolerance of punishments      D. responses to suggestions

3.The research has proved that in a stressful situation, ______.

A. women find it easier to fall into certain habits

B. men have a greater tendency to slow down

C. women focus more on outcomes

D. men are more likely to take risks

Trying to make a big decision while you’re also preparing for a scary presentation? You might want to hold off on that. Feeling stressed changes how people weigh risk and reward. However, an article published in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, suggests stressed people pay more attention to the positive sides of a possible outcome.

It’s a bit surprising that stress makes people focus on the way things could go right, says Mara Mather of the University of Southern California. She co-wrote the review paper with Nichole R.Lighthall. “This is sort of not what people would think, ” Mather says. “Stress is usually associated with negative experiences, so you’d think, maybe I’m going to be more focused on the negative outcomes.”

But researchers have found that when people are under stress, they start paying more attention to positive information and discounting negative information. “Stress seems to help people learn from positive feedback and impairs（削弱）their learning from negative feedback, ” Mather says.

When people under stress are making a difficult decision, they may pay more attention to the good sides of the alternatives they’re considering and less to the problems. So someone who’s deciding whether to take a new job and is feeling stressed by the decision might focus on the increase in salary more than the longer commute（上下班往返）.

The increased focus on the positives also helps explain why stress plays a role in addictions. People under stress have a harder time controlling their urges. “The compulsion to get that reward comes stronger and they’re less able to resist it,” Mather says. A person who’s under stress might think only about the good feelings they’ll get from a drug, while the downsides shrink into the distance.

Stress also increases the differences in how men and women think about risk. When men are under stress, they become even more willing to take risks; when women are stressed, they get more conservative(保守的). Previous research backs this up — men usually react to difficulties while trying to fight them or escape them; women try to find friends and improve their relationships.

1.By saying “You might want to hold off on that” in the first paragraph, the writer suggests that      .

A．you might want to delay making your big decision

B．you should save the presentation for later

C．you should avoid taking risks

D．you might benefit from the stress

2.From the article, we can conclude that stress       .

A．often leads people to take more risks

B．often leads people to make balanced decisions

C．makes people think more of negative results

D．makes people ignore the negative side of problems

3.Which of the following is TRUE according to the article?

A．Stress is helpful in getting rid of addictions.

B．People who are addicted to drugs are easily stressed.

C．When women are stressed, they do not tend to take risks.

D．When men are stressed, they are more likely to develop an addiction.

4.What is the central theme of the article?

A．Stress can affect decision-making.

B．Stress increases our desire to get rewards.

C．We should think more about the upside of problems.

D．There is a link between stress and negative experiences.

Decision-making under Stress
A new review based on a research shows that acute stress affects the way the brain considers the advantages and disadvantages, causing it to focus on pleasure and ignore the possible negative (负面的) consequences of a decision.
The research suggests that stress may change the way people make choices in predictable ways.
“Stress affects how people learn,” says Professor Mara Mather. “People learn better about positive than negative outcomes under stress.”
For example, two recent studies looked at how people learned to connect images(影像) with either rewards or punishments. In one experiment, some of the participants were first stressed by having to give a speech and do difficult math problems in front of an audience; in the other, some were stressed by having to keep their hands in ice water. In both cases, the stressed participants remembered the rewarded material more accurately and the punished material less accurately than those who hadn’t gone through the stress.
This phenomenon is likely not surprising to anyone who has tried to resist eating cookies or smoking a cigarette while under stress –at those moments, only the pleasure associated with such activities comes to mind. But the findings further suggest that stress may bring about a double effect. Not only are rewarding experiences remembered better, but negative consequences are also less easily recalled.
The research also found that stress appears to affect decision-making differently in men and women. While both men and women tend to focus on rewards and less on consequences under stress, their responses to risk turn out to be different.
Men who had been stressed by the cold-water task tended to take more risks in the experiment while women responded in the opposite way. In stressful situations in which risk-taking can pay off big, men may tend to do better, when caution weighs more, however, women will win.
This tendency to slow down and become more cautious when decisions are risky might also help explain why women are less likely to become addicted than men: they may more often avoid making the risky choices that eventually harden into addiction.
【小题1】We can learn from the passage that people under pressure tend to ______.