2006年1月英语四级 – 阅读理解A

Just five one-hundredths of an inch thick, light golden in colour and with a perfect “saddle curl”, the Lay’s potato chip seems an unlikely weapon for global domination. But its maker, Frito-Lay, thinks otherwise. “Potato chips are a snack food for the world,” said Salman Amin, the company’s head of global marketing. Amin believes there is no corner of the world that can resist the charms of a Frito-Lay potato chip.
只有0.05英寸厚，浅金色，完美的“马鞍状卷曲”，菲多利的薯片似乎不太可能成为全球统治的武器，但制造商菲多利却不以为然。该公司全球营销主管萨尔曼·阿明表示：“薯片是全世界的休闲食品”。阿明相信，世界上没有一个角落能抗拒菲多利薯片的魅力。

Frito-Lay is the biggest snack maker in America owned by PepsiCo, and accounts for over half of the parent company’s $3 billion annual profits. But the U.S. snack food market is largely saturated, and to grow, the company has to look overseas.
菲多利是百事公司旗下美国最大的零食制造商，占母公司30亿美元年利润的一半以上。但美国休闲食品市场基本饱和，为了发展壮大，该公司必须将目光投向海外。

Its strategy rests on two beliefs: First, a global product offers economies of scale with which local brands cannot compete. And second, consumers in the 21st century are drawn to “global” as a concept. “Global” does not mean products that are consciously identified as American, but ones that consumers--- especially young people--- see as part of a modern, innovative world in which people are linked across cultures by shared beliefs and tastes. Potato chips are an American invention, but most Chinese, for instance, do not know that Frito-Lay is an American company. Instead, Riskey, the company’s research and development head, would hope they associate the brand with the new world of global communications and business.
其战略基于两个信念：首先，全球产品提供了本土品牌无法竞争的规模经济。其次，21世纪的消费者被“全球”这个概念所吸引。“全球化”并不意味着有意识地被认定为美国的产品，而是消费者——尤其是年轻人——将其视为现代化，创新世界的一部分，人们通过共同的信仰和品味在不同文化之间建立联系。薯片是美国人的发明，但大多数中国人不知道菲多利是美国公司。相反，该公司的研发负责人瑞斯基希望他们将该品牌与全球传播和商业的新世界联系起来。

With brand perception a crucial factor, Riskey ordered a redesign of the Frito-Lay logo. The logo, along with the company’s long-held marketing image of the “irresistibility” of its chips, would help facilitate the company’s global expansion.
由于品牌认知是一个关键因素，瑞斯基下令重新设计菲多利标志。该标志，加上该公司长期以来对薯片“不可抗拒”的营销形象，将有助于促进该公司的全球扩张。

The executives acknowledge that they try to swing national eating habits to a food created in America, but they deny that amounts to economic imperialism. Rather, they see Frito-Lay as spreading the benefits of free enterprise across the world. “We are making products in those countries, we’re adapting them to the taste of those countries, building businesses and employing people and changing lives,” said Steve Reinemund, PepsiCo’s chief executive.
高管们承认他们试图将国民的饮食习惯转变为美国创造的食物，但他们否认这是经济帝国主义。相反，他们认为菲多利在全世界传播自由企业的好处。百事公司首席执行官Steve Reinemund表示：“我们正在这些国家生产产品，使其适应这些国家的口味，建立企业，雇佣员工，改变生活”。