Training to communicate across cultures has long been part of the preparation for executives moving overseas to work. But now, the training is increasingly important for employees who may never leave the country, yet will work closely with companies and people around the world. “Whether a multinational or a start-up business out of a garage,everybody is global these days,” said Dean Foster, president of DeanFoster Associates, an intercultural consultancy in New York. “Intoday’s economy, there is no room for failure. Companies have tounderstand the culture they are working in from Day 1.” Mr. Foster recounted how an American businessman recently gave four antique clocks wrapped in white paper to a prospective client inChina. What the man did not realize, he said, was that the sounds of the words in Mandarin for clock and the number four are similar tothe sounds of the word for death, and white is a funeral color in many Asian countries. “The symbolism was so powerful,” Mr. Foster said,“that the man lost the deal.” The military and foreign service have a tradition of preparingpersonnel and their families, but the corporations “are really the newcomers,” said Anne P. Copeland, executive director of the Interchange Institute, a research and consulting organization inBrookline, Massachusetts.
【題組】47. What is the best title for this reading?
(A) Four means Death in Asian Countries
(B) Do not Bring Clocks to your Asian Client
(C) Cross-Cultural Lessons Grow in Importance
(D) Communication is Essential in Consultancy
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