商务写作指南.doc

商务写作指南：prevent，prohibit和ban的用法WRONG: TheLeasedoes not provide for a period of time during which theTenantisprevented to usethe Premises.错误用法：租约中并未指明房客不能使用所租房屋的时间界限。RIGHT: The Lease does not provide for a period of time during which the Tenant isprevented from usingthe Premises.正确用法：租约中并未指明房客不能使用所租房屋的时间界限。WRONG: Thecrewshould be provided with training on how toprevent fromsea contamination.错误用法：船员应该接受关于如何防止海洋污染的培训。RIGHT: The crew should be provided with training on how topreventseacontamination.正确用法：船员应该接受关于如何防止海洋污染的培训。Although the verb “prevent” takes thepreposition“from”, it can also be used with no preposition. The rules are as follows:尽管动词“prevent”可以带介词“from”，它也可以不用介词。规则如下：“prevent” + something“prevent”+某事The soldiers prevented theevacuation.例句：士兵们阻止撤离。“prevent” somebody from + -ing“prevent”某人做某事The soldiers prevented therefugeesfrom evacuating.例句：士兵们阻止难民们撤离。The word “prohibit” works in exactly the same way:单词“prohibit”的用法和“prevent”基本一致：“prohibit” + something“prohibit”+某事The school rules prohibit smoking.例句：学校规定禁止吸烟。“prohibit” somebody from + -ing“prohibit”某人做某事There are no specificprovisionsin the law that would prohibit an employer from summarilydismissingan employee due to his/hermisconduct.例句：法律中没有特定的条文禁止雇主在暑假期间因为员工的表现不佳而将其解雇。The verb “ban” also works in the same way:动词“ban”也是类似的用法：The governmentbanned advertisingoftobaccoproducts in 2002.例句：2002年，政府禁止烟草制品打广告。The courtbanned him from attendingfootball matches.法庭禁止他参加足球比赛。商务写作指南：词组的复数要怎么加？As you know, in English you generally make a wordpluralby adding an s at the end. There seems to be someconfusion, though, about how to make plurals of terms made up of more than one word. For example, do you say bicycles shops or bicycle shops? Do you say power of attorneys or powers of attorney?众所周知，在英语中要把一个名词变成复数，只要在这个词的后面加上“s”就行了。不过，当一个名词变成了由几个名词组成的词组时，就让人摸不着头脑了。举个例子，如果你要表示自行车商店的复数形式，你是用“bicycles shop”还是“bicycle shops”？在表示授权书的复数时，你是说“power of attorneys”还是“powers of attorney”？The answers are bicycle shops andpowers of attorney.正确的说法是“bicycle shops”和“powers of attorney”。The rule is that you pluralise the “head” of the term.名词词组复数变化的规则就是：变“重点词”。The term bicycle shop is typical of most noun groups. The “head” is the last word in the group. The previous word or words act as an adjective. So the last word in the group is pluralised. Here are some more examples:“自行车商店”这个名词词组是一个很典型的例子。在这个词组中，重点词是最后一个词，即商店（shop）；前面的词或者词组只是起到了一个形容词的修饰作用而已。因此，在这个词组中，最后一个词变成了复数形式。更多类似的例子：Bank account = Bankaccounts银行账户Company car = Companycars公司用车Price limit = Pricelimits价格限制Termination notice = Terminationnotices终止通知Service charge payment = Service chargepayments服务费收费Employee shareoptionscheme = Employee share optionschemes雇员股份认购权计划However, a term like power of attorney acts rather differently. Power is the “head” and of attorney is an adjectival phrase which describes the “head”. Here are some other examples of terms that behave in the same way:然而，像授权书这样的词组就又是另外一番解释了。在这个词组中，重点词是权利（power），律师（attorney）一词只是用来充当形容词的修饰成分。更多类似的例子：Article of association =Articlesof association公司章程Code of conduct =Codesof conduct行为守则Conflict of interest =Conflictsof interest利益冲突Course of action =Coursesof action行动步骤Notary public =Notariespublic公证人Statement of claim =Statementsof claim起诉书商务写作指南：attached和enclosed的区别WRONG错误用法Please find thetemplateagreementenclosed tothis email.协议模板已附在这封电子邮件的附件里。RIGHT正确用法Please find the template agreementattached tothis email.协议模板已附在这封电子邮件的附件里。Emails haveattachments an attachment isattachedto an email.电子邮件中有附件这一项，因此，在电邮中要使用attached表示附件的意思。Letters, or anything else sent by post orcourier, haveenclosures an enclosure is enclosedwith a letter.信函或者其他需要投递的事物也有附件，但在信函中要表示附件，则需要用enclosed一词。E.g. Please sign the POA enclosed with this letter and return it to us as soon as possible.例句：请在授权书（小编注：POA，即power of attorney的缩写）上签字，并附在回信中。另，请尽早回信。 商务写作指南：易混淆词汇辨析11.affect vs effect两个“影响”辨析Affectandeffectare two words that are commonlyconfused. Affect is usually a verb (action); effect is usually a noun (thing).Affect和effect这两个词语经常被混淆。Affect通常用作动词，表示某种行为，而effect常用作名词，表示某事。Hint: If its something youre going to do, use affect. If its something youve already done, use effect.提示：如果某事是你正打算要去做的，那么用affect；如果某事是你已经做完了的，那么就用effect。To affect something or someone.“影响”某事或某人Example 1: The noise outside affected myperformance.例1：外面的噪音影响了我的发挥。Example 2: Staying away so long from office will affectpromotion.例2：长期离职会影响晋级。The use of effect as a verb is what causes the most confusion between these two words.effect用作动词时，最容易和affect造成混淆。To have an effect on something or someone.对某事或某人有“影响”Note: effect is followed by theprepositionon andprecededby anarticle(an, the)注意：effect前面一般要有冠词a/the，effect后面通常要加介词on。Example 1: His smile had a strange effect on me.例1：他的笑容对我有一种奇怪的影响。Example 2: Parents worry about the effect of music on theiradolescents behavior.例2：家长们担心音乐对于其青少年子女行为的影响。2.some time / sometime vs sometimes一段时间、某时和有时的辨析Some timemeans a period of time.Some time表示一段时间。Example 1: The government still hassufficientinstrumentsand still some time to move on this question.例1：政府仍然有足够的工具和时间来应对这个问题。Example 2: I think Jenny and I need some time right now anyway.例2：反正我和珍妮需要一点时间。Sometimeindicates a time in the future or the past which is not known or not stated.Sometime表示未来或者过去的某个时间，而这个时间目前还未知或者没有表述清楚。Example 1: They hoped to meet up sometime.例1：他们希望能找个时间见个面。Example 2: The sales figures wont be released until sometime next month.例2：销售数据要到下个月的某个时候才会公布。Sometimesmeans on someoccasionsbut not always or often.Sometimes指的是有时，但并不经常，表示频率。Example 1: During the summer, my skin sometimes getsgreasy.例1：夏天我的皮肤有时会变得爱出油。Example 2: I differed with my partner sometimes,but we usually agree.例2：我有时与我的伙伴争论，但我们通常是一致的。3.e.g vs i.e“例如”和“也就是”的辨析e.g.stands for exempli gratia = for example.e.g.是拉丁语exempli gratia的简写，表示“例如”，用于举例说明。Example: I like fast cars,e.g.Ferrari and Porche.例句：我喜欢跑车，比如法拉利和保时捷。In the sentence above you are simply giving an example of the kinds of cars you like - Ferrarisand Porches.在上述例句中，e.g.后要加你喜欢的车子的类型，即法拉利和保时捷。i.e.stands for id est = that is (in explanation).i.e.是拉丁语id est的简写，表示“也就是、即”的意思，用于解释说明。Example: I like fast cars,i.e.any car that can go over 150mph.例句：我喜欢跑车，也就是时速超过150英里的车子。In this second sentence you are giving an explanation of what you consider to be fast.在第二句例句中，i.e.后是对跑车的说明，即你认为的跑车是多快的车子。商务写作指南：易混淆词汇辨析21.raisevsriseraise和rise的辨析When used as a verb they both have the same general meaning of to move upwards, the main difference is that rise is anintransitiveverb (it does not take an object), while raise is atransitiveverb (it requires an object):当raise和rise做动词用时，两者都有“抬高、提升”的意思，其区别在于rise是不及物动词（后面不加宾语），而raise是及物动词（后面要加宾语）。rise (v) Something rises by itselfrise（动词），自动升起Example 1: The sun rises in the east.例1：太阳从东方升起。Example 2: Luther rose slowly from the chair.例2：卢瑟慢慢从椅子上站起身来。Example 3: I will rise tomorrow morning at 6 a.m. to walk the dog.例3：我明天早上要6点起来去遛狗。Rise is anirregularverb: rise / rose / risenrise是一个不规则动词，其变化形式是rise/rose/risen。raise (v) Something else is needed to raise something.Raise（动词），把某物举起Example 1: Linda raised her hand.例1：琳达举起了手。Example 2: The government is going to raise taxes.例2：政府要加税。Example 3: He raised himself into a sitting position.例3：他起身坐了起来。Raise is a regular verb: raise / raised / raisedraise是规则动词，其变化形式是raise/raised/raised。2.Assume vs know vs thinkassume、know和think的辨析Toassumeis a regular verb that means to suppose something to be the true, but without proof.Assume是一个规则动词，意思是假设某事是真的，但并没有真凭实据。Example: I assume youre here to learn English.例句：我假设你来这里是来学英语的。To know is an irregular verb that means to beabsolutelycertain or sure about something, usually throughobservation,inquiry, or information.Know是一个不规则动词，意思是完全确信、肯定某事，通常是通过观察、询问或各种信息得出的结果。Example: I know I should practise English every day, but I never seem to have the time.例句：我知道我应该每天练习英语，但我似乎从来都找不到时间来这么做。To think is an irregular verb that means to have a particular opinion, belief, or idea about someone or something.Think是一个不规则动词，意思是对某人或某事有一种特别的观点、信念或想法。Example: I think English is a global language.例句：我认为英语是一种全球通用语。Note - If you need to remember which one to use,memorisethis sentence: Why do some people assume they know what other people think about something?提示：如果你想记住这三个词的区别的话，记住下面这个例句就行了：为什么有些人自认为他们知道别人在想些什么？3.overtakevstakeover(take over)overtake、takeover和take over的辨析Overtake is a verb. It can mean to go beyond something by being better, or if youre driving to come from behind another vehicle or a person and move in front of it.Overtake是一个动词，意思是通过变得更好从而超过某物，或者指开车时的超车，也可以指赶上某人，来到某人的前面。Example: You should always check yourrearview mirror before you overtake another car.例句：在你超车前，你应该要查看一下后视镜。Takeover as a noun is used when one organisation gains control of a company by buying most of its shares.Takover是一个名词，用来指某个机构通过购买另一个公司的大部分股份从而掌管了该公司。Example: In September 2006 Merck announced their takeover of Serono SA.例句：2006年9月，Merck公司宣布收购Serono SA。Take over as a phrasal verb means to get control of a company by buying most of its shares.Take over是一个动词词组，意思也是通过购买某一个公司的大部分股份从而掌管了该公司，即收购。Example: Merck finally took Serono over in 2007.例句：Merck公司于2007年最终收购了Serono公司。商务写作指南：能把人绕晕的accountThe word “account” can mean a variety of things, depending on thecontextin which it is used. It also has manyidiomaticuses. As a result, if not used with great care, the word can causeambiguityand make sentences difficult to understand.根据不同的语境，account这个词可以有很多不同的解释，也有很多约定俗成的固定用法。因此，如果在使用account这个词时未加注意，那么就有可能造成歧义和理解上的困难。Consider the following sentence (its anexaggeration, but I have often seen similar):来看一下下面这个例句（虽然这是个极端的情况，但我确实经常看到类似的句子）：On account ofapaymentmadeon account oftheservice chargeson the Lessors account, no further paymentson this accountare necessary.由于与服务相关的账目费用已经汇入Lessor的银行账户，因此没有必要再付任何费用了。The word “account” appears four times, and has three different meanings. This makes the sentencethoroughlyconfusingfor a reader, and so some seriouseditingis necessary.在这句话中，account这个词出现了四次，包含了三种不同的含义。这就让读者很难理解这句话想表达的意思，因此需要做出一些必要的修改。First of all lets look at each phrase in turn: (1) On account of a payment made (2) on account of the service charges (3) on the Lessors account, no further payments (4) on this account are necessary.首先让我们来看一下每个用到account的词组搭配：(1) On account of a payment made (2) on account of the service charges (3) on the Lessors account, no further payments (4) on this account are necessary.(1) The first phrase,on account ofmeans literally “by reason of”. The writer could also use “due to”, “as a result of”, or “because of”.（1）第一个词组“On account of”就是“由于、因为”的意思。作者也可以用“due to”，“as a result of”或者“because of”等来表示。(2) The second use ofon account ofisambiguousbecause it does not mean “by reason of”. Rather it means “on the service charge account”, i.e. the record ofcredits related to the service charges.（2）第二个词组中的“on account of”就有些歧义，在这里它并不表示“由于、因为”的意思，更倾向于表示“服务费账目”，即与服务费相关的信用记录。(3) The phraseon the Lessors accountcontains an error that I frequently see. It is a serious mistake because it changes the meaning of the sentence. What the writer means is “into the Lessors (bank) account”. However, the phrase “on someones account” is idiomatic and means “on someones behalf”. But this payment was not made on the Lessors behalf, rather it was made into his bank account!（3）第三个词组中的“on the Lessors account”出现了一个我经常看到的错误。这是一个严重的问题，因为它改变了整句话的意思。作者想要表达的意思应该是“汇入Lessor的银行账户”。但是“on someones account”是有固定用法的，相当于“on someones behalf”（代表某人）。但这个词组的意思并不是“代表Lessor的账户”，而是把钱汇入Lessor的账户！Remember that in English payments are made “intoortoa bank account” and NOT “on a bank account”.记住，在英语中，付款是“汇入（into或者to）某人的账户”，而不是“在（on）某人的账户上”。(4) The last phrase on this account has three possible meanings. It contains the same ambiguity as the second use of on account of: Does the writer mean “for this reason”, or is he referring to the record of credits related to the services charges? The third possible meaning is “into a bank account”. Although this phrase is very ambiguous, it does not actually cause a problem here because the sentenceultimatelymeans the same thing whichever way you understand this phrase.最后一个词组“on this account”有三种不同的含义。首先，和第二个词组on account of一样，on this account到底是表示“由于（for this reason）”的意思，还是表示“与服务费相关的账目”的意思？以上就包含了两个不同的意思。第三种意思是“汇入银行账户（into a bank account）”。虽然这个词组很有歧义，不过在前后文中它的意思还是很明确的，不管你怎么理解这个词组，它所表达的意思都是一样的。But I think youll agree that it is not verysatisfactoryto write something that can be interpretedin three different ways.但是，我想如果一个词组可以有三种解释，你也不会对这种用法感到满意吧。商务写作指南：介词of大揭秘（一）沪江小编：在英语写作中，尤其在商务写作中，我们总觉得用of比用s显得更正式。其实，如果不分情况滥用of的话，反而会使得文章累赘不堪，而且容易造成阅读困难。下面就来说说什么时候用of，什么时候用s。I find that non-native English speakers tend to use the word “of” much too often. “Of” is alsofrequentlyused incorrectly instead of otherprepositions.我发现非英语为母语的人经常用of这个词，但是这个词比起其他介词来，也更常被误用。Non-native English speakers tend to write, for example, theattorneyof theclaimantwhere native speakers would write the claimants attorney. Although bothstructuresare grammatically correct,phraseslike the attorney of the claimant increase the “wordiness” andcomplexityof a sentence and make your writing more difficult to read.非英语为母语的人喜欢这样表达“the attorney of the claimant”（原告的律师），而英语国家人士则习惯于这样表达“the claimants attorney”。虽然两种表达在语法上都是正确的，但是用of的词组表达则显得语句更为累赘，使句子更加难以理解。Here are some examples:看下面的这些例子：Bad StyleGood Stylethe decisionoftheregulatoryauthoritythe regulatory authoritysdecisiontheapprovalofthe Management Boardthe Management Boardsapprovalthe consent of the Meetingof Shareholderstheconsentof the ShareholdersMeetingthe representativeofthe Companythe Companysrepresentativethe totalremunerationofthe ContractortheContractorstotal remunerationNote that all these examples refer to a person or a group of people i.e. the claimant, the regulatory authority, the Management Board, the Shareholders Meeting, the Company and the Contractor.以上的例子所指代的对象都是某人或由某些人组成的组织，比如原告、管理机构、管理局、股东大会、公司和承包人，所以可以用s来代替of。Now look at other examples:再看下面这组例子：Bad StyleGood StyleGerman lawsperspectivethe perspectiveofGerman lawthe contractsterminationthe terminationofthe contractthe claimsrejectiontherejectionofthe claimthe contractsannextheannexto /ofthe contractthe judgmentsdatethe dateofthe judgmentthe plansrealisationthe realizationofthe plansThere are no people involved in any of these examples, so it is better to use of instead of s.这些例子里，都没有涉及到任何人，所以在这里较为恰当的用法还是使用of来代替s。I should add, however, that this is a general rule, and there areexceptionsto it. But if you follow this rule, it should most of the time make your writing easier to read.我要特别指出的是，这是一条通用法则，当然还有特殊情况。不过，如果你学会了这条法则的话，大多数时候，你的英语写作会更容易阅读。商务写作指南：介词of大揭秘（二）沪江小编：上次我们说明了在商务写作中什么时候用of，什么时候用s（回顾上期），但这说的是基本法则，还有一些例外情况，比如说这次要说的在与信函、通知、消息等信息交流形式相关的英语表达时，介词of这个词能不能用，要怎么用。A letter or email is always from thesenderand to thereceiver never of.在商务信函或电子邮件中，只能用介词from来表示发件人，用介词to表示收件人，从来都不会用介词of。WRONG错误用法We would like topresentourstandpointregarding the emailofthe Company dated 28 January 2011.针对2011年1月28日的这份公司电邮，我们想表达一下我们的立场（公司电邮的英语表达为the email of the Company）。RIGHT正确用法We would like to present our standpoint regarding the emailfromthe Company dated 28 January 2011.2011.针对2011年1月28日的这份公司电邮，我们想表达一下我们的立场（公司电邮的英语表达为the email from the Company）。WRONG错误用法In connection with receiving, on 11 March 2011, a letteroftheTenderCommittee announcing thecompletionof the second stage of the tenderproceedings, please be informed that 2011年3月11日收到的投标委员会的信函指出投标已完成了第二阶段的工作，请将此告诉（投标委员会的信函的英语表达为a letter of the Tender Committee）.RIGHT正确用法In connection with receiving, on 11 March 2011, a letterfromthe Tender Committee announcing the completion of the second stage of the tender proceedings, please be informed that 2011年3月11日收到的投标委员会的信函指出投标已完成了第二阶段的工作，请将此告诉（投标委员会的信函的英语表达为a letter from the Tender Committee）.Theconstruction“the letter of Anna” is un-English, but it would be understood to mean “Annas letter”. Without anycontext, this tells us nothing about whether Anna wrote the letter or received it.在英语中，“the letter of Anna”（安娜的信）的这种结构是不会用到的，但可以用“Annas letter”来代替。如果没有上下文的话，这种表达既可以被理解为是安娜写的信，也可以理解成是安娜收到的信。“The letter to Anna” means that Anna received it, while “the letter from Anna” means that Anna wrote it. Only use the construction “Annas letter” if it is clear from the context whether Anna wrote or received the letter.安娜收到的信的英语表达应该是“the letter to Anna”，而安娜写的信应该表述为“the letter from Anna”。如果只是用“Annas letter”来表达的话，在没有语境的情况下，则可以包含这两种意思。This rule also applies tonotifications, messages and other forms ofcommunication.这一条法则在通知、信息和其他的信息交流形式中也同样适用。商务写作指南：“few” “little”和 “a few” “a little”傻傻分不清楚沪江小编：我们大概在小学的时候就学过few和a few，little和a little的用法了。但是很惭愧，很多人学了十几年的英语，证书考了一堆，到现在还是对这些常用词分不清楚。看看，你到底能不能分清楚few，a few，little，a little的用法吧。Theres a big difference between “few” and “a few”. In fact they haveoppositemeanings.few和a few之间区别很大，事实上，它们的意思几乎完全相反。If you say, for example, “I have a few friends in the Ministry”, it soundsimpressive.比如你说“我在上头有些朋友”，那别人会对你刮目相看的。“few” = not many;“a few” = several.“Few” and “a few” are used withcountablenouns.few就是不多的意思，a few就是有一些的意思。Few和a few都是用来形容可数名词的。Ex: TheRegulatorhas presented thisstandpointon fewoccasions.例1：该官员在很少的一些场合发表过这一观点。Ex: The Regulator has presented thi