-
商务办公英文信函的书写规则五
Courtesy
Courtesy
（礼貌）
COURTESY
译成
礼貌
。但是根据西方国家函
电书籍作者普遍的看法，所谓
COURTESY
是
客气而又体谅人
的意思。<
/p>
有的作者还把
COURTESY
和
POLITENESS
这两个同义词做
了比较
，认为：
POLITENESS
的客气只是表现在文章的语句上
，而
COURTESY
则表现在
对对方
的
体谅
，例如
：
a) We have received with
many thanks your letter of Oct.7, and we take the
pleasure
of
sending
you
latest catalog. We wish to
draw
your attention
to a
special
offer
, which we have made in it.
[POLITE]
b) You will be particularly
interested in a special offer on page 5 of the
latest
catalog enclosed, which you
requested in your letter of Oct. 7. [COURTESY]
不要写
: You ought to …… Your
letter is not clear at all;I can't understand it;
Obviously,
if
you'd
read
our
policy
carefully,
You'd
be
able
to
answer
these
questions yourself.
建
议
写
:
Perhaps
you
could……;
If
I
understand
your
letter
correctly...;
Sometimes policy wording is a little
hard to understand. I'm glad to clear up
these questions for you.
怎样通过各种语言形式来表达
COURTESY
呢？
< br>这样的形式很多，现在提供一些常见的供
参考：
（一）
把命令变成请求的常用形式：
Please, Will you…….., Will you
please……..,
如：
a)
Will you give us more detailed information on your
requirement? b) Will you
please
(kindly) let us hear from you on these two points?
（二）
虚拟式（
Past Subjunctive
From
）如：
(a) Would
you compare our sample with the goods of other
firms?
(b) We would ask you to ship the
goods by the first available vessel.
(c) We wish you would let us have your
reply soon.
(d) This would seem to
confirm our opinion.
(e) We should be
grateful if you would help us with your
suggestion.
(f)
We think if advisable that you should
accept this offer at this price.
(g) We
should(would) like you to let us know the exact
amount.
(h) Perhaps you might like to
have a look at the actual goods.
(i)
We might be of some
service to you in a similar case.
以上的
b, f, g,
也可用
will, shall,
may,
但是用
Past Subjunctive
Form
则表示更客气
和婉转些。
（三）
缓
和用法（
Mitigation
）
为了缓和过分强调或刺激对方，常用
: We are
afraid, we would say, we may(or
, might)
say, we(would) think, it seems(or would
seem) to us, we(would) suggest, as
you
are (or: may be) aware, as we need hardly point
out
等等表达法来缓和语气，
如：