全屏显示专题章节

In w riting this kind of letters，you should，to begin w ith，tell the receiver(or the buyer) of your inability to meet his request and give reasonswhy you are unable to do as he w ishes. That's very important!What's more，it is not advisable to simply say‘No' because the person who w rites this lettermay be a prospective buyer of your products. Besides，it is not considered very polite and leaves no good impressions on the receiver of the letter. Most probably you w ill do everything necessary whenever possible. The last but not the least，you should try to push the sales of other similar products. So how a letter isworded sometimes representswhether you are a good salesman or not. Lesson 17 is a very good illustration of what is so-called an unfavourable reply. We shallmake a careful study in terms of the phrases and words.

II. Additional notes:

1. on the high side ph. prep.偏高(指价格)

When referring to price，this expression means“somewhat high”，“sounds a bit high”，“out of line”or“unworkable”.

similar expressions:

Your price is a bit high.你方价格有点高。

Your price is too high.你方价格太高。

Your price is rather stiff.你方价格相当昂贵。

Your price is excessive.你方价格过高。

Your price is prohibitive.你方价格令人望而却步。

out of line with themarket(与市场不一致)，unreasonable(不合理)，unworkable(不可行)，impracticable(行不通)，infeasible(行不通)，unrealistic(不现实)等可以指价格偏高，也可以指价格偏低(on the low side)，需视情况而定，一般来说，出自卖方之口，往往指偏低。

2. see one's way clear+ to do sth.或: to doing sth.manage to do sth.有可能(做某事)，设法

This is often used in business letters.

Note the follow ing points:

1) It is used for the purpose of being more polite and making the tone sound m ilder

We cannot see our way clear to grant your request.

Compare:We cannot grant your request.

2) Theword“clear”being an adjective functioning as an object complement，may be om itted.

We cannot see our way(clear) to grant your request.

3)The phrase“to see one'sway clear”is always followed by“to”whichmay either be taken as a sign of an infinitive or a preposition. In the latter case，it can be followed by a gerund.

We cannot see our way clear to grant/granting your request.

3. realistic a.符合实际的

When referring to price，itmeans that business can be done or has been done at the price quoted.

The fact thatwe have been receiving repeat orders from all directions proves that our prices are realistic.

4. to see any chance to do sth.—there is certain possibility of(your) doing sth.better.

If later on you can see any chane to do better(to pay higher prices)，please let us know.

将来如果你方有可能(有机会)出较高价格，请告知。

5. do better ph. v.指价格时出较高或更低的价格

The price is the lowest possible. We cannot do better.

此价已是最低限度，我们不能再让。

Note: do better不一定单指价格。例如，指装运期时，一般指较早的装运期。在指价格时，可以指较高价，也可以指较低价，视情况而定。

6. assure v.保证，使确信

主要用于以下四种结构:

1) assure sb. of sth.

We assure you of our prompt attention to all your enquiries.

We assure you that all your enquiriesw ill receive our prompt attention.

3) be/rest assured of sth

Please(or: You may) be/rest assured of our continued cooperation.

4) be/rest assured that

Please(or: You may) be/rest assured that we shall revert to your enquiry as soon as possible．

7. improve: v.改善，好转

Note thatwhen prices are referred to，“improve”means“raise”. So itmay only be used when the sellers are asking the buyers to raise the price.

If you can improve your price by 3%(to￡54)，we shall be prepared to sell you a large quantity.

如果你方能提高出价3%(到54镑)，我们准备卖给你方一笔大数量的货。

c. f. We hope you can reduce(lower，cut，shade)your price by 5%.

III. Chinese version of the letter:

从你方十月十日来函得知你方认为我方所报商品价格偏高。

虽然我方很愿意与你方在扩大销售方面进行合作，可是很抱歉，我方没有可能考虑你方还盘。因为我方所报价格是十分切实可行的。事实上，我方已从其他方面的买主收到许多按此价格成交的订单。

将来你方如果有可能出较高价格，请告知。目前由于供应有限，请抓紧。

同时，请随时告知你处的发展情况。我方可向你方保证，我们将对你方的所有询价予以迅速处理。

IV. Key to exercises:

1. Fill in the blacksw ith proper words or expressions:

1) declining，found(to be)，high

2) learn，in，market

3) see，our，way，indicated

4) do，near(or: close to)

5) may，rest/be，in，time

6) out，of，line，possible，end

8) in，position，offer，contact

10) pleasure，in，position

2. Com p lete the follow ing in English:

1) a. to accept(accepting) your counter-offer of March 15.

b. to accept(accepting) your proposal for shipment in May.

c. to accept(accepting) bulk orders before we are assured of supplies.

2) a. the supply position in ourmarket.

b. the quantities of your quarterly import.

c. the weekly market fluctuations of wood oil at your end.

3) a. that your orderw ill be dispatched punctually in accordance with the contacted stipulations.

b. that our supplies are reasonable in price and fine in quality.

c. thatwe will do everything possible to promote friendship aswell as trade.

4) a. thatwe willmake all necessary arrangements.

b. thatwe shall soon have the goods prepared.

c. thatwe shall soon have the goods shipped.

5) a. on the high side，

b. out of line w ith themarket price here.

c. 30% higher than that of Japanese goods.

3. Translate the following sentences into English:

1) As our price is quite reasonable，it has been accepted by other customers at your end.

2) We have concluded some businessw ith other buyers at your end at the prices quoted by us.

3) As the price quoted by us is quite realistic，we regret thatwe cannot accept your counteroffer.

4) You must reduce your price by about 2%; otherw ise there w ill be no possibility of business.

5) As regards men's leather shoes，we look forward to doing business w ith you at a figure close to our quoted price.

6) We have to stress that any delay in shipment w ill be detrimental to the future business between us.

7) As our manufacturers are heavily committed，we can only undertake to accept March shipment.

8) As a resultof crowded orders，we have sold outall the goods scheduled for shipmentw ithin this year.

4. Translate the following letter into English:

Thank you for your letter of March 15th enclosing your order for 500 tractors.

On receipt of your letter，we contacted our manufacturers at once. They accepted your order for delivery of 100 tractors each month beginning from January next year. We contacted you this morning accordingly asking whether you w ill agree to this arrangement.

Meanwhile，if you need any other agriculturalmachinery，please do not hesitate to send us your specific enquiry which w ill have our prompt attention.

V. Optional reading:

Thank you for your letter dated December 24 and for your continued confidence in us. We appreciate your cooperation in giving us the information about other supplies in yourmarket.

As you know，we are operating in a highly competitivemarket in which we have been forced to cut our profitmargins to theminimum. If itwere not for regular orders from you，we could not have quoted for our supplies even at the level you mentioned.

After consulting w ith ourmanufacturers，we feel it necessary to point out that owing to the recent energy shortage and increasing cost of raw materials，wemay not be able to maintain the current price level，let alone to lower our prices. For your information，we have received a crowd of enquiries from buyers in other directions and expect to close business at prices higher than the level quoted to you.

We feel confident that you can take advantage of the advancedmarket and resell our productsw ith a good markup if you can accept our offer immediately.

感谢你方12月24日来函以及对我方一贯的信任。同时感谢你方的合作，向我们提供了你地市场其他供货的信息。

正如你方所知，我们所处的市场竞争激烈，我方不得不将利润幅度降至最低。如果不是你方定期的订单，我方的货不可能按你方所说的价格水平报价的。

与厂商磋商后，我们感到有必要指出，由于近期的能源短缺和原材料成本上涨，我方可能无法保持现行的价格水平，更不可能降低价格。供你方参考，我方收到了大量来自于其他地区的订单，估计能以低于报给你方的价格成交。

我们有信心，如果立即接受我方的报盘，你方能利用不断上涨的市场行情，以理想的加价率售出我们的货物。