外貿(mào)中關(guān)于索賠的談話

倫敦一家進(jìn)口行的代表約琴夫-帕麥先生正在訪問(wèn)中國(guó)，自幾天前他抵達(dá)廣州，他就一直參加廣州交易會(huì)。他受倫敦總公司的指示，要和中國(guó)外貿(mào)公司廣州分公司的唐同志聯(lián)系，商談索賠案件。唐是代表上海分公司處理這一案件的。

Palmer: Hello, Mr Tang, how are you? It is nice to meet you again.
帕：唐先生，你好。又見(jiàn)到你感到愉快。

Tang: How are you, Mr Palmer. It's really a pleasure to see you here again. I do hope you have had a very enjoyable trip from London.
唐：帕麥先生，你好。在這兒又見(jiàn)到你，實(shí)在榮幸。你從倫敦回來(lái)，希望你這次旅途快樂(lè)。

Palmer: I must confess that the air trip is really a long one. But, you see, the air-lines are very comforable so that one does not feel tired at all the end of the journey.
帕：我該承認(rèn)這次乘飛機(jī)航程夠長(zhǎng)的了。但是你知道，客機(jī)非常舒適，到終點(diǎn)時(shí)一點(diǎn)不感到勞累。

Tang: Glad you have had a pleasant trip. I have to doubt you are comfortably settled and find things at the hotel satisfactory.
唐：你旅途愉快我也高興。想必你已安頓下來(lái)，旅館設(shè)備都還滿意。

Palmer: Everything is perfect, thank you. Well, now, Mr Tang, if you don't mind. I'll talk shop with you directly.
帕：謝謝你，一切都美滿。噢，唐先生，要是你不介意的話，現(xiàn)在咱們直截了當(dāng)談?wù)剺I(yè)務(wù)吧。

Tang: Perfectly all right with me. In fact, we'd better talk over our business first and then have a chat afterwards. You wish to take up the subject of the Arbutus, don't you?
唐：那很好，說(shuō)實(shí)話，我們最好先談業(yè)務(wù)，然后再聊聊。你想提出楊梅的事，是不是？

Palmer: That's right. You see, Mr Tang, you have probably been advised of the serious damage done to the last consignment of 60 cases of Arbutus. Upon its arrival in London on board S. S. Corna, it was found, much to our regret, that about 50% of the cases were leaking. Closer inspection by the Health Officers showed that the contents were considered unfit for human consumption.
帕：是，唐先生，也許你早已接到通知，最后一批60箱楊梅損壞嚴(yán)重。“柯娜”輪到達(dá)倫敦時(shí)，我們發(fā)現(xiàn)其中有百分之五十左右是漏的，對(duì)此我們感到十分遺憾。經(jīng)衛(wèi)生檢疫所官員仔細(xì)檢查，認(rèn)為內(nèi)裝的食品不再可以供人們食用。

Tang: Just a minute, if you please, Mr Palmer. Have your people in London discovered what were the exact causes of the leakage? It was rather a singular case, for thounsands of tons of this product have been exported and this seems to be the only case of having been damaged en route.
唐：帕麥先生，稍等一等。我請(qǐng)問(wèn)，在倫敦你們有人發(fā)現(xiàn)漏的確切原因是什么？這樣的事還只有這么一次。我們已經(jīng)出口了幾千噸，在中途損壞的看來(lái)僅此頭一回。

Palmer: I am sorry I have to say it was not en route. It was definitely damaged prior to loading onto the S. S Corna. You may think it a singular case, yet the fact remains that this has made it necessary for us to file a claim on you. Here, Mr. Tang, I have brought along with me the certificate issued by the London Health Officer. It speaks for itself. As to the causes, closer inspection and examination by our cargohandling people revealed that the leakage of juice was brought about by damaged tins. They were evidently broken through careless handling while being loaded into the ship's hold in Shanghai dock.
帕：很抱歉，我得說(shuō)明，損壞不是發(fā)生在運(yùn)輸途中，是在裝上“柯娜”輪之前，你可能認(rèn)為這是獨(dú)一無(wú)二罕見(jiàn)的事。可是簡(jiǎn)單的事實(shí)就是如此，我們有必要向你提出索賠。唐先生，這兒有倫敦衛(wèi)生檢疫所官員發(fā)的證書(shū)，書(shū)上寫得的一清二楚。我們經(jīng)辦裝卸的人仔細(xì)檢察過(guò)，看出果汁漏出的原因是罐頭損壞池。很明顯，當(dāng)貨在上海碼頭搬運(yùn)裝船時(shí)，因操作不慎造成損壞貨物。

Tang: As I have said before, the whole business is most unfortunate. We have never come across such a case of damage during loading.
唐：我剛才講過(guò)，這件事實(shí)在是很不幸。我們從沒(méi)有遇到罐頭正在裝船時(shí)發(fā)生損壞的事。

Palmer: I have to remind you that our terms are C.I.F London port. While we have full confidence in your Commodities Inspection Bureau in its capacity of quality inspection, this is a case which occured after their sampling and analysis at the works. And the broken tins through careless handling and deterioration of contents en route necessarily about this state of affairs. Now, Mr Tang, you are well aware that our business has just started this branch of activites and the losses thus sustained will be a blow to this department. I am sure you will think it fair on our part when we suggest that the total value of the parcel should be reduced by 50% and that you should give us an allowance by way of credit for the amount to be set against our future purchases of canned fruits from you.
帕：我得提醒你，我們成交的條款是倫敦到岸價(jià)。雖然我們對(duì)你商品檢驗(yàn)局檢驗(yàn)品質(zhì)的能力是信任的，可是損壞是在工廠中抽樣化驗(yàn)之后發(fā)生的，操作不慎，罐頭損壞，中途貨物變質(zhì)，必然會(huì)造成這個(gè)情景。唐先生，你很清楚我們才開(kāi)始經(jīng)營(yíng)這項(xiàng)業(yè)務(wù)，蒙受的損失將對(duì)業(yè)務(wù)部門是一個(gè)打擊。我建議這批貨從總價(jià)中削減百分之五十，我肯定說(shuō)，是公平的。請(qǐng)你給予補(bǔ)貼，這款就用于將來(lái)向你們訂購(gòu)罐頭水果時(shí)沖銷。

Tang: To be fair to your company, I am directed by my Shanghai Branch to settle this issue with you amicably on condition that you give us a certificate issued by your Health Department. Now that this is a available, I think everything will be in order.
唐：上海分公司給我提示，對(duì)于你公司辦事要公平，要和你友好解決問(wèn)題，可是有一個(gè)條件，衛(wèi)生檢疫所官員發(fā)的證書(shū)要給我們?，F(xiàn)在證書(shū)已經(jīng)有了，我想萬(wàn)事俱備。

Palmer: I am so glad to hear of your ready agreement. Your fairness in business dealings is really unsurpassed. shall we send you a letter confirming this?
帕：聽(tīng)到你這么痛快地同意，我很高興。辦理業(yè)務(wù)這么公平，真的誰(shuí)也比不上你。我們將寄信給你證實(shí)這個(gè)協(xié)議，好嗎？

Tang: As soons as you send us a letter confirmning this conversation, we'll send you a reply immediately.
唐：你們寄出證實(shí)這次談話的信之后，我們立刻答復(fù)。

Palmer: Thanks ever so much for your co-operation, Mr Tang. Good-bye.
帕：萬(wàn)分感謝你的合作。唐先生，再會(huì)。

Tang: Good-bye Mr Palmer. Come over here when you are through with your business and we'll have a friendly chat.
唐：你辦完業(yè)務(wù)后就到這兒來(lái)，我們可以敘敘友情。帕麥先生，再見(jiàn)。

重點(diǎn)詞匯：
1. talk shop: 三句不離本行（談買賣）
2. by way of: 通過(guò)……方法
3. set against: 使平衡