日韩色综合-日韩色中色-日韩色在线-日韩色哟哟-国产ts在线视频-国产suv精品一区二区69

手機APP下載

您現在的位置: 首頁 > 大學英語 > 大學英語 > 大學體驗英語綜合教程 > 體驗英語綜合教程第四冊 > 正文

大學體驗英語綜合教程第四冊Unit8:Passage A:Hallmark's Asian Valentine

編輯:alex ?  可可英語APP下載 |  可可官方微信:ikekenet
  下載MP3到電腦  [F8鍵暫停/播放]   批量下載MP3到手機

Hallmark's Asian Valentine

The tradition of card giving on Valentine's Day seemingly an American phenomenon is taking root in Asia, too. Yet, when Asian customers buy Valentine's Day cards, they often choose the original English versions even when they don't speak the language.  

 Hallmark's greeting cards are known throughout the world. The Kansas city-based company has developed into a $3.5 billion corporation, from its beginnings in 1910 when Joyce C. Hall started producing cards from samples he stored under his bed. Now, over 90 years later, Hallmark has developed into a global company with expansion into Asia a major part of its strategy. 
 In Asia alone, the Kansas city-based firm acquired a company in Japan in 1994 and founded creative organizations in Hong Kong and Singapore in 1998 and in Shanghai in 1999. Hallmark representatives like to point out that Asia has developed into an "area of emphasis." Hong Kong and Singapore are being turned from distribution centers into investment centers.

  In the United States alone, 67% of Valentine's Day activities consist of giving Valentine's Day cards as gifts to people. And in 2000, according to Hallmark, Americans spent more than $3.6 billion on Valentine's Day. But while the market in the United States is huge, the potential for Hallmark's 1,330 different Valentine's Day cards in Asia is even bigger. 

  Based on the sales of Hallmark cards, it appears that the number of consumer romantics in China, Japan and Korea is rising. This is not surprising, given that Hallmark greeting cards have proven to be a great way to overcome some of the emotional restrictions that still reign in a number of Asian societies.  

 Becoming Don Juan without losing face
The problem in Eastern societies is that cultural norms and romance often run into a dilemma: how do you tell a girl that you fancy her without putting yourself in a position in which you could "lose face"? In China, for example, because of cultural norms, men will perhaps never be mistaken for Shakespeare's Romeo. Romance, of the Western variety, is simply not a Chinese man's cup of tea. So, how do you overcome this dilemma? To sidestep possible pitfalls of cultural impropriety, the Chinese Don Juan goes and buys his sweetie a Hallmark card for Valentine's Day. Thus, he can express his emotions through a pre-made message on paper, rather than through uncomfortable sweet talk in person. 

  In Japan and Korea, the rules are somewhat different. Here men generally tend to be much less inhibited about their emotions and romantic interests. To assess just how emotional Japanese men can be in all walks of life, just recall the occasional news feature of a top Japanese or Korean CEO apologizing in tears for the weak performance or bankruptcy of his company in front of his nation's TV cameras.  

 In Japan and Korea, it is the women that are more emotionally inhibited than the men. So, in order for them to display some affection in a suitable manner, women will send out the Hallmark Valentine cards to the object of their affection. But, if you think Hallmark cards need to be translated into the different Asian languages to enable lovers to exchange tender words, think again.  

 Love talk is global, and no language skills are required.
Since most of the Hallmark cards bought in Asia are produced within country, it seemed only natural that Hallmark cards would be translated into the local vernacular. To accommodate customers throughout the world, Hallmark prints greeting cards in 30 different languages.

?Thus, cards are now actually being printed in Mandarin and Japanese with plans to extend the translations to various Indian languages, such as Hindi, Gujarati and Tamil. Customer surveys, however, revealed that this effort was not really necessary. 

?English is the hip thing
You see, if you really want to impress your Chinese girlfriend or your Japanese boyfriend, don't send them a Japanese or Mandarin language card. This is a turn-off. Contrary to Hallmark's expectations, it turns out that Asian lovers prefer to give their sweeties English-language cards even when they speak little or no English. It is just the hip thing to do. 

 And upon learning of this cultural preference, Hallmark reacted quickly. Even though Chinese and Japanese descendants of Romeo and Juliet are now able to buy greeting cards in their native language, Hallmark has made sure the supply of greeting cards in English is plentiful. Thus, their customers can achieve both a display of their hip cosmopolitan flair, while also sending their sweetie that all-important message of love at the same time.

重點單詞   查看全部解釋    
tend [tend]

想一想再看

v. 趨向,易于,照料,護理

 
suitable ['sju:təbl]

想一想再看

adj. 合適的,適宜的
adv. 合適

 
inhibited [in'hibitid]

想一想再看

adj. 羞怯的,內向的 動詞inhibit的過去式和過

 
strategy ['strætidʒi]

想一想再看

n. 戰略,策略

 
achieve [ə'tʃi:v]

想一想再看

v. 完成,達到,實現

 
performance [pə'fɔ:məns]

想一想再看

n. 表演,表現; 履行,實行
n. 性能,本

聯想記憶
variety [və'raiəti]

想一想再看

n. 多樣,種類,雜耍

 
exchange [iks'tʃeindʒ]

想一想再看

n. 交換,兌換,交易所
v. 交換,兌換,交

 
romantic [rə'mæntik]

想一想再看

adj. 浪漫的
n. 浪漫的人

聯想記憶
emphasis ['emfəsis]

想一想再看

n. 強調,重點

 
?
    閱讀本文的人還閱讀了:
發布評論我來說2句

    最新文章

    可可英語官方微信(微信號:ikekenet)

    每天向大家推送短小精悍的英語學習資料.

    添加方式1.掃描上方可可官方微信二維碼。
    添加方式2.搜索微信號ikekenet添加即可。
    主站蜘蛛池模板: bustybuffy| 宣萱影视| 林正英全部电影| 东星斑鱼图片| 宇宙巨人希曼| 利刃出鞘剧情介绍| 大悲咒朗诵正版念诵| 贝加尔湖畔指弹吉他谱| 《满意度》电影免费观看| 我妻子的一切 电影| 奥特曼名字大全加图片| 扩内需| 张开泰演过的电视剧| 红色电视剧| 变成黑皮辣妹然后和朋友做| 永刚| 今天cctv6节目表| 拨萝卜电视剧视频歌高清在线观看大牛 | 女子阴道| 皮囊之下| 女演员佟欣简介| 离歌吉他谱| 久久日韩精品嫩草影院| 张荣耀| 法医电视剧大全免费| 冠希哥| 女同性电影| 生死瞬间演员表| 蒋雯| 仲文你好vlog最新视频| 魏子翔| 日本电影芋虫| 最贵的香烟| 少年王演员表全部| 军官与男孩| 纳米核心第二季| 琉璃演员表全部演员介绍| 张筱雨粉嫩啪啪人体| 包法利夫人电影| 麻豆视频观看| 男同志gay免费视频|