Ⅲ.課文篇

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.
對任何一家公司來說，機(jī)構(gòu)內(nèi)部信息的流入絕對是成功的關(guān)鍵。如果沒有平穩(wěn)流入的思想和信息，公司就可能坐失良機(jī)。

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.
在傳真機(jī)和電子郵件發(fā)明以前，郵寄是發(fā)送信息的唯一途徑。為了管理大量郵件的內(nèi)流，公司建立獨(dú)立的部門專門負(fù)責(zé)分揀往來郵件。

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.
郵件中心（收發(fā)室）的員工要分揀和記錄每一封來往的郵件。他們將往外發(fā)的郵件送到郵局，并將寄來的郵件準(zhǔn)確無誤地分發(fā)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.
由于郵件中心（收發(fā)室）的員工可以看到每一封郵件和其他重要的信息，他們通常比其他人更了解行情。這就給了他們一點(diǎn)權(quán)力，他們可以利用它去做比收發(fā)員更好的工作。

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.
從收發(fā)員做起，慢慢成為商業(yè)巨頭的著名商業(yè)管理人有雷明頓公司（那家剃刀公司，編者注：另有一家著名的武器公司也命名為雷明頓公司）的維克多·凱恩和福特汽車公司的首席執(zhí)行官杰克·納賽爾。

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.
電子郵件、傳真機(jī)乃至電話的發(fā)明共同加速了公司內(nèi)部郵件中心（收發(fā)室）的死亡。今天，大多數(shù)與郵件相關(guān)的工作由秘書來完成，郵件中心（收發(fā)室）已經(jīng)完全消失了。