[外贸英语函电.pptVIP

外贸英语函电 电子课件 Unit 1  Modern Business Letters Text A All business letters have two main functions: A) To ask for and give a reply to an enquiry, offer, order or complaint. B)??To keep a record of all the important facts for ready reference. The language of old-style business letters is often long and complicated. Such letters are liable to confuse the reader. A confused and over long letter may be put aside until someone explains its meaning, and this may mean delays. Nowadays, more and more people like to do business through a fax machine by sending faxes or even on the Web by sending e-mails. The former is the abbreviation of facsimile, which is actually an exact copy of a document, a picture or a piece of writing sent or received by an electronic system using telephone lines. The latter is correspondence sent or received on the Web. At the moment, the commerce involves offering, ordering, enquiring, payment and complaint etc. But all these are still based on the business letters. Here are two letters. One is an old-fashioned style of English, which is too long and complicates the message. The other is in a simple and clear style. Old-fashioned Style Dear Sir, I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 15th JUL. in connection with our not clearing our account which was outstanding as at the end of June. Please accept our profuse apologies. We were unable to settle this matter due to the sudden demise of Mr Nick, our accountant, and as a result were unaware of those accounts which were to be cleared. We now, however, have managed to trace all our commitments and take pleasure in enclosing our remittance for ￡620 which we trust will settle our indebtedness. We hope that this unforeseen incident did not in any way inconvenience you, nor lead you to believe that our not clearing our balance on the due date was an intention on our part to delay payment. We remain, yours … Simple and Clear Style Dear Sir, I am replying to your letter of 15th