Английский для PR-специалистов. Ксения Симонова
«Scotland» and simply say «Yard»; so you may read: «Blonde dead in luxury flat, Yard moves». That might suggest to you that the corpse of a fair lady has somehow moved over a spare of three feet. But, of course, it really means that the police at Scotland Yard are investigating what may be an accident or crime. Sometimes the initials C.I.D. are used, or sometimes just this mysterious «Yard». I have seen a headline announcing «Yard moves against Weediest». This had nothing to dowith gardening or agriculture. It meant police action against persons illegally procuring and doping themselves with cigarettes made of marijuana. Notice, by the way, that in such a headline the world «moves» can be taken either as a verb, in the sense: «The Yard moves», that is, the Yard takes action; or as a noun, in the sense: «These ere the moves, the actions of the Yard».
In report of that kind people are not arrested: they are «held», thus saving four letters. Also, quite old-fashioned words may be employed because they are short. «Conference» is rather long; so sub-editors sometimes prefer «parley», which nobody would now use to describe a discussion in their ordinary conversation; but in the Press, Trade Unions are reduced to T.U. and a Trade Union Conference becomes a T.U. Parley.
The newsvendors' bills announcing the contents of papers use the same headline language, and this can be very baffling to strangers. One who saw the brief statement «England Collapse» might think that the nation was financially ruined. But it would probably mean that the English batsmen had been doing badly in a cricket match!
Here are some newspaper headlines with explanations: Yard will probe dog bets coup = Scotland Yard will investigate the fact that at a greyhound track a dog not expected to win a race was heavily betted on and won;
coin-in-slot TV gets go-ahead = a plan under which a television viewer will pay a certain sum of money into a meter attached to his television receiver to enable him to see a film, has been approved by the authorities;
carpets in state of upheaval = the carpet industry is in a state of disorganization;
hijack bandits = thieves stole a lorry and its contents; minister quizzed over oil deal = a Government minister was asked questions in Parliament about an agreement concerning petroleum;
rail wave causes road jam = the driver of a locomotive waved to a signalman. The signalman thought that driver was ill, and altered the signals for the train to stop. The result was that motor-cars were held up a considerable time at a level crossing;
big power order = a large order has been placed to build plants to generate electricity;
steamroller bid fails = someone made an unsuccessful offer to buy a firm making steamrollers;
road toll up on last year = more people were killed or injured on the roads of Britain this year than last year;
canal boy saved = a boy was rescued from drowning in canal;
drug tip for Yard = someone has given Scotland Yard some information about illicit traffic in drugs;
railways bit = something has happened which prevents the normal functioning of railways;
pledge on poison toys = a promise has been made that paint containing lead will not be used to decorate children's toys (a number of children have died of lead-poisoning through licking such toys);
PM took the side door = the Prime Minister left a building by the side door instead of by the main door;
alleged tax plot – 3 more held = three more people have been arrested in connection with a suspected conspiracy to evade paying taxes.
UNIT III
I. Read and learn new words:
impression – впечатление
science – наука field – поле, область, сфера деятельности
mother tongue – родной язык
to vary – отличаться, варьироваться
to access – достигать
e-business – дело, бизнес через Интернет
to predict – предсказывать
customer – потребитель
multilingual – многоязыковой
to face – сталкиваться
to exist – существовать
to avoid – избегать
to tend – намереваться, иметь тенденцию
to take into consideration – принимать во внимание
advantage – преимущество
to expand – расширять
II. Read the text:
As both Asian and European markets use more to conduct business, there will be an increasing need for language choices for the different markets.
1. English is so often used on the Internet that it might make you think everyone in the world speaks English, or at least give you the impression that it is the world's most widely-spoken language. If this were true, it would, of course, bring benefits for worldwide communication and understanding, though it could also possibly become a threat to cultural diversity. English certainly seems to be everywhere, from films to pop music and TV, and from business to science and other fields.
2. Information varies, but suggests that about 75 % of the pages on the Web are in English. Yet English is the mother tongue for only 5,4 % the world's population, while a further 7 % of the world's population is proficient speakers of English. This means that only around 12 % of the world's population can communicate well in English. This figure is nowhere near the total number of people speaking Chinese languages, which, at 20,7 %, is much higher.
3. More and more people are accessing the Internet nowadays, including many companies wanting to conduct e-business. As a consequence, the position of English is beginning to change. Both Europe and Asia are growth areas, with businesses increasing their use of the Internet and people would apparently rather buy things online if they can order in their own language.
4. It has been predicted that by 2003 only one third of Internet users will be speakers of English. As a result, companies wanting to reach world markets are beginning to realize that they will have to translate their websites for their various customers.
5. However, creating a multilingual website is not an easy task. Companies wishing to translate their sites for different markets basically face both technical and linguistic problems. They are unable to use automated translation systems, which already exist in the market, simply because the quality is not good enough for professional use. Businesses all over the world are now faced with this huge challenge.
6. Moreover, translating websites is only the beginning. Customers with questions or problems will need to discuss matters in their own language, for example, while prices will need to be in the local currency. Dates will also need to be in the right format to avoid confusion. Companies will need to adapt their advertising materials so as not to offend different cultures. They may also have to change their way of doing business to suit certain customers – in Japan, for example, as the Japanese do not tend