A Specimen Letter

Dear sir：
Your letter of the 5th March came to hand yesterday.
Accordingly, we have lost no time in getting in touch with our factories and urged them to hasten their delivery. Owing to heavy commitments, they cannot advance delivery from June to April but they understand perfectly that July is the selling season for shirts in your market. They eventually agree to make delivery in mid-May.
We have booked the shipping space on S.S.. Peace, which is scheduled to sail on or about the 20th of May. We shall send you an email as soon as the loading is completed.
Yours faithfully
National Textiles I/E Corp.

贵方三月五日来函昨日收悉。
据此，我们立即与厂方联系，催促他们赶快交货。由于交货任务繁重，他们不能把交货日期从六月份提前到四月份。但是他们非常清楚七月份是贵方市场衬衣的销售季节，故最终他们同意五月中旬交货。
我们已订妥“和平轮”的舱位，预计五月二十日左右开航。一旦装货完毕，我们即发电子邮件告知贵方。
国家纺织品进出口公司

Substitution Drills

1
A: May I know when we could expect delivery?
B: We can deliver 50% promptly, that is, in August. And the balance in October.
We can deliver 50% right away. The remaining half in the next two months.
Our earliest time of delivery is October.

能告诉我你们什么时候可以交货吗？
我们可以在八月份交一半货，其余的十月份交货。
有一半货我们可以马上送货，剩下的一半后两个月交。
我们最早的交货日期是十月。

2
A: I’m afraid October is the best we can do.
October is the earliest possible date of delivery.
we can’t promise delivery earlier than October.
B: October then.
恐怕 十月是我们能够做到的最早的了。
十月是最早的交货日期了。
我们不能承诺早于十月交货。
那就十月吧。

3
A: Could you deliver 100 tons immediately?
Is it possible to effect shipment immediately?
Do you think you can ship the goods soon?
B: No problem. We can deliver that from stock to meet your requirement.
I’m afraid prompt shipment is impossible.
I’ll have to look into the stock position.

您能即刻运输100吨吗？
能立即安排装船吗？
你认为能很快装船吗？
没问题。我们可以交现货来满足你们的要求。
恐怕立即装船不太可能。
我得仔细检查一下存货的情况。

4
A: Please ship the goods in one lot in May.
B: I’m sorry that’s impossible. It would be very difficult for us to get the goods ready within such a short time.
I’m not sure if we are able to get the necessary shipping space.
We’ll have to contact the manufacturers. Maybe it’s possible. 请在五月份将货物分一批运过来。
对不起，那不可能。这么短的时间把货物准备好对我们来说很难。
我不敢肯定我们是否能订到必要的舱位。
我们将得联系生产商。也许可以。