Lesson 1 Self-Introduction

I. About the letter:

The China National Textiles Import＆Export Corporation obtained the name and address of the Swedish firm as prospective buyers of textiles. So a letter is sent with a view to establishing business relations w ith the firm and explaining in brief，China's foreign trade policy.

II. Additional notes:

1. owe v.把……归功于……(后面常接to)

We owe your name and address to the Commercial Counselor's Office of our Embassy in your country informing us that you are one of the leading importers of canned foodstuffs.

承蒙我国驻贵国大使馆商务参赞处告知你公司名称和地址并告知我们你方是罐头食品主要进口商之一。

类似的表达方式有:

We are indebted to... for your name and address...

We come to know the name and address of your firm through...

Through the courtesy of...we come to know your name and address...

We have obtained your name and address from...

2. inform v.通知

1) inform/advise sb. of sth.

Please inform us of the name of steamer.

请告知船名。

2) inform/advise sb.+ that/what/which...

Please inform uswhat quantity you can sell a year.

请告知每年可销售的数量。

Please inform uswhich model you are interested in.

请告知你们对什么型号有兴趣。

3) Please be informed/advised that...

Please be informed that the L/C has been opened.

兹通知你方信用证已经开出。

在下列句子结构中，inform不可与advise换用:

1)当间接宾语省略时:

Please advise the name of steamer.

请告知船名。

We w ish to advise that business has been done at our price.

兹通知你方交易已经按照我们的价格达成。

Please advise what quantity you can sell a year.

请通知你方一年销售多少数量。

2)用作不及物动词时:

If interested，please advise.

如果有兴趣，请告知。

3)当指的是和对方关系较大的事情时:

We w ish to advise that business has been done at$ 1，000 per ton.

兹通知你方交易是按每吨1 000美元达成的。

如和对方关系不大，只是让对方知道或了解一下时，则用inform较好:

We w ish to inform you thatwe havemoved to the follow ing address:

兹通知你方我们已经搬到了以下的地址:

3. in themarket for想要购买

One important local dealer is in themarket for your small-sized oil-saving automobiles.

当地一个大商人想要购买你方小型节油汽车。

in themarket买或卖

We have been in the Textilesmarket for the past15 years and believe thatwith our reputation and connectionswe can serve you well.

我们从事纺织品买卖15年了，凭借我们的声誉和业务往来，我们可以给你们提供良好的服务。

4. approach v.

1)联系;与……接洽(和contact同义，但用被动语态时比contact普遍)

You may approach our agents for your requirements.

关于你们的需求，可同我们的代理商接洽。

We have approached the shipping company for booking the space.

我们已同船公司联系订舱事宜。

2)接近;临近

The selling season is approaching.

销售季节已经临近。

5. for the establishment of...= to establish...

6. handle v.经营(某种或某类商品)，表示“经营”的说法很多，最常见的还有

deal in，trade in，be in the line等.

We understand your corporation handles foodstuffs for export.

我们了解你公司经营食品出口业务。

7. acquaint v.使熟悉，使了解，使认识

常用于下列结构:

1) acquaint sb. w ith sth.

We want to acquaint ourselveswith the supply position of steel products.

我们想熟悉一下钢材的供应情况。

2) be/get acquainted with sth.

We are not acquainted with these articles.

我们对这些商品不熟悉。

8. enclose v.封入;随附to put sth. inside an envelope with a letter

表示附在某封信内，用介词w ith或in.

We are enclosing in/w ith our letter our sales contract in two copies.

兹随函附去我方销售合同两份。

句型1

We enclose(you) sth.

句型2复合宾语结构

You will find our latest pricelist enclosed in our letter of May 5.

请参见我们5月5日信中附上的价目表。

句型3各种倒装句型

Enclosed is one copy of...

Enclosed please find one copy of...

Please find enclosed one copy of...

Enclosed you will find one copy of...

You will find enclosed one copy of...

随函附上……

Enclosed is a copy of our catalog show ing the new ly developed models of our cars.

随函附上我们最新开发款式汽车的目录。

Please find enclosed a catalog covering our recently launched range of furniture.

随函附上我们最近上市的家具系列。

9. requirement n.

1)需要(常用单数，后接介词of)

2)需要之物(表示货物或需要量时，常用复数，后接介词for/of)

Good quality is themajor requirement.

质量好是主要的要求。

Buyers have placed their requirements elsewhere.

买主已向别处订购所需之货。

Please let us know your annual requirements for/of Walnuts.

请告知你方对核桃的年需求量。

10. quotation n.报价

作“报价”讲时quotation常与make，give，send，fax，e-mail等词连用，后接商品称时用介

词for，间或用on，买方提到卖方的报价时后接介词of.

Pleasemake us a quotation for Iron Nails.

请给我们一个铁钉的报价。

Your quotation of Iron Nails is too high to be workable.

你方铁钉的报价太高，不可行。

11. trade n.贸易;行业v.从事贸易;做生意;经营

同某人做贸易to trade with sb.

经营某项商品to trade in sth.

Our foreign trade is conducted on the basis of equality and mutual benefit.

我们的对外贸易是在平等互利基础上进行的。

They trade in textiles.

他们经营纺织品。

trade relations= trading relations

12. merchant n.商人

businessman/ businesswoman商人

dealer商人

wholesale dealer/wholesaler批发商

retailers零售商

distributor经销商

13. by joint efforts共同努力

Similar expressions:

through/ by ourmutual efforts

through/ by collective efforts

with ourmutual endeavor

14. enquiry n.询价，询盘;询问(多用inquiry

We are pleased to have your enquiry for our raincoat.

兹收到你方关于我们雨衣的询盘。

We have received a number of enquiries from our trade connections here for your new products.

我们已经收到我们在本地的客户的对你们新产品的一些询盘。

Our offerw ill bemade on receipt of your specific enquiry.

一俟收到你们具体询盘，我们就报盘。

In reply to your enquiry of April23，we are sending you herew ith a copy of our latest pricelist for your reference.

为答复你们4月23日询盘，我们现随函附去我们最新价目表一份供你方参考。

We thank you for your enquiry of/ for Carpets.

感谢你方关于地毯的询盘。

We w illmake inquiries of the shipping company regarding the reason for the delay of the vessel.

我们将询问船公司船只延误的原因。

enquire(inquire) v.询购;询问

We thank you for your letter of the 6th enquiring forWalnuts.

感谢贵方6日询购核桃的来函。

We are w riting you to inquire(about) the current price for Carpet.

兹写信给贵方询问地毯的现行价格。

III. Chinese version of the letter:

卖方的自我介绍

敬启者:

承蒙瑞典驻北京大使馆的商务参赞处告知你公司名称与地址，并得知你公司打算购买纺织品。

我们愿借此机会与你方联系以期建立业务关系。

我们是一家国营公司，经营纺织品进出口业务。为使你方大致了解我们经营的商品，现随函附去我公司目前可以供应的出口商品清单一份。

如果你们对其中任何商品感兴趣，请告知。一俟得知你方详细需求，我们将乐于立即向你方报最低价。

在同各国商人的贸易中，我们一贯坚持平等互利的原则。我们希望通过共同努力，能促进对彼此互利的业务和友谊。

期望早日收到你方询价。

谨启

IV. Key to exercises:

1. Com p lete the follow ing sentences in English:

1) you are a state-operated corporation handling chemicals.

2) in the hope of establishing mutually beneficial business relationsw ith you.

3) various kinds of our Men's leather shoes are suppliable at present.

4) We have established trade relationsw ith firms of over a hundred countries in the world

5) a large number of overseasmerchants are anxious to trade w ith us.

6) Please inform us of all the necessary information

7) we have，by joint efforts，greatly promoted both business and friendship.

8) whether you are interested in our Men's leather shoes.

2. Translate the following into English:

1) We owe your name and address to the Commercial Counselor's Office of the Australian Embassy in Beijing.

2) We approach you today for the export of chem ical products.

3) We hope you w illmake your best efforts to promote friendship aswell as business.

4) Please find enclosed the latest price list and three sample books so as to acquaint you w ith our goods exportable at present.

5) One of our clients is in themarket for Chinese black tea.

6) Please let us know what articles you are interested in.

7) It needs joint efforts to promote business.

8) We w ish to avail ourselves of this opportunity to introduce to you our new ly-established brand.

9) We are enclosing you the price list and catalogue of our chemicals.

10) Our clients show no interest in your chemicals for the time being，

3. Fill in the appropriate word or words from the box and then translate the sentences into Chinese:

1) buy

您能在这周日买一只自来水笔吗?

2) inform，handle

兹通知你方我们许多客户经营中国核桃仁。

3) advise

请通知我方你们客户以什么价格给我方下订单。

4) appreciate it

如蒙贵方航寄给我们一份目录，我们将不胜感激。

5) establish

我们深盼建立平等互利的贸易关系。

6) meet，requirements

我们将竭尽全力满足你方需求。

7) trade w ith，basis

我们的外贸政策是在平等互利基础上与外国进行贸易。

8) handles

我公司独家经营轻工业品的进出口贸易。

9) cover

我们另封邮寄给你方我们化工品的两份目录和一份价目表。

10) appreciate

如蒙贵方寄核桃仁的特殊报盘，我们将不胜感激。

V. Optional reading:

Dear Sirs，

We owe your name and address to the Commercial Counselor's Office of our Embassy in Korea，through whom we have learnt you are importers of Chinese Textiles.

We avail ourselves of this opportunity to w rite to you and see if you would like to establish business relationsw ith you.

Established in 1950，we are a state-owned corporation specializing in the import and export of Textileswith a registered capital of RMB￥30 million. W ith years of efforts，we have expanded our business scope impressively and now we deal in nearly 100 kinds ofmerchandise. In order to acquaint you w ith our business lines，we are airmailing you under separate cover a copy of our latest catalogue for your reference.

Should any of the items be of interest to you，please let us know as soon as possible. We shall be glad to send you quotations and samples upon receipt of your concrete enquiries.

Yours faithfully，

参考译文:

敬启者:

承蒙我国驻韩国大使馆商务参赞处告知贵方名址，并得知你方是中国纺织品的进口商。我们借此机会写信给你方目的是想与你方建立业务关系。

我公司是成立于1950年的一家国有公司，注册资金为3 000万元人民币，专营纺织品的进出口。通过几年的努力，我们大幅度扩展了经营范围，现在我们经营的商品近100种。为了帮助贵方了解我们经营的商品，我们另封航邮给你方一份最新商品目录以供参考。

如果贵方对任何商品感兴趣，请尽快告知我方。我们一收到你方的具体询盘，将寄给你方报价单和样品。

谨启