Ⅲ.课文篇

The flow of information within an organization is absolutely vital to the success of any company. Without a smooth flow of ideas and information, a company can miss opportunities for profit.

对任何一家公司来说，机构内部信息的流入绝对是成功的关键。如果没有平稳流入的思想和信息，公司就可能坐失良机。

Before the invent of fax machines and email, mail was the only way to send information. To manage the inflow of large amounts of mail, companies established separate divisions just to sort incoming and outgoing mail.

在传真机和电子邮件发明以前，邮寄是发送信息的唯一途径。为了管理大量邮件的内流，公司建立独立的部门专门负责分拣往来邮件。

Mail-room staff would sort and record every piece of mail coming or leaving. They would take the outgoing mail to the post office for mailing and distribute incoming mail to the right person.

邮件中心（收发室）的员工要分拣和记录每一封来往的邮件。他们将往外发的邮件送到邮局，并将寄来的邮件准确无误地分发到收件人的手中。

Because mailroom staff saw every piece of mail and other important information they often knew what was happening better than anyone else. This gave them a small amount of power that could be used to work their way out of the mailroom into a better job.

由于邮件中心（收发室）的员工可以看到每一封邮件和其他重要的信息，他们通常比其他人更了解行情。这就给了他们一点权力，他们可以利用它去做比收发员更好的工作。

Famous business managers who have started in the mailroom and slowly become business leaders include Victor Kiam of Remington (the razor company) and Jac Nasser the Chief Executive Officer of Ford Motor Company.

从收发员做起，慢慢成为商业巨头的著名商业管理人有雷明顿公司（那家剃刀公司，编者注：另有一家著名的武器公司也命名为雷明顿公司）的维克多·凯恩和福特汽车公司的首席执行官杰克·纳赛尔。

The invention of email, fax machines and even the telephone have all accelerated the death of mail rooms within companies. Today, most mail-related jobs are done by secretaries and mail rooms have completely closed.

电子邮件、传真机乃至电话的发明共同加速了公司内部邮件中心（收发室）的死亡。今天，大多数与邮件相关的工作由秘书来完成，邮件中心（收发室）已经完全消失了。