科迪斯工艺品有限公司吴先生（英文名为Tony）和助手于莉（英文名为Emily）在展位上正忙着向一位老客户报玻璃圣诞产品的价格，其间他的助手于莉告诉他展位上来了位新客人。
Emily：Hello，welcome to our booth. Come in and take a look，please.
于莉：你好！欢迎来到我们的展位，请进来看看。
Allan：OK!
艾伦：好的。
Tony：I am working with my old customer now. Emily，my assistant，will help you if you find any interested items. You can put those interested into the sample basket and I will give you quotations very soon.
吴先生：我现在正和一位老客户在谈。如你有喜欢的产品，我的助手于莉会为你效劳。你可以将喜欢的产品放到样品篮子内，我很快会给你报价。
Allan：That’s all right.You can go on the discussion with your customer.Oh! Your samples are so cute，I have to take a bit longer time to see them carefully.
艾伦：没问题。你和客户继续谈。啊！你们的样品太精致了，我可要花点时间仔细看看。
Tony：Thank you!
吴先生：谢谢！
Allan：（To Emily）What’s the price of this s/4 gold plated angel？
艾伦：（对于莉）这盒套四镀金天使的价格是多少？
Emily：USD2.35 per box FOB Shanghai.
于莉：FOB上海每盒2.35美元。
Allan：This black crow with a red fruit in its beak is so lovely，how much for each piece？
艾伦：这只嘴里含颗红果子的黑乌鸦太可爱了，多少钱一只？
Emily：USD1.98 pe r pi e c e FOB Shanghai.
于莉：FOB上海每只1.98美元。
Allan：So expensive! I can hardly believe my ears.
艾伦：这么贵！我几乎不敢相信我的耳朵。
Emily：It’s difficult to make.The raw material of this bird is a mixture of glass and porcelain，so the semi-finished products are easy to burst during the annealing procedure.
于莉：这只鸟很难做，由于原料是瓷料玻璃，半成品在退火过程中容易冷爆。
Allan：I see.Emily，I am interested in that green painted ball with pearls hung above.I’d like to have a clear look.
艾伦：我明白了。于莉，我对挂在我们上方的那只贴有珍珠的绿色彩绘球感兴趣。我想看清楚一点。
Emily：I will get it for you.
于莉：我帮你拿。
于莉搬来椅子，放在绿球的下方，然后站在椅子上拿球。
Allan：Be careful.
艾伦：小心点。
Emily：Don’t worry about me.I often do this job.Here you are.
于莉：别为我担心，我经常干这活。给你。
Allan：Thank you.
艾伦：谢谢！
吴先生继续给他的老客户报价，艾伦开始在吴先生的展位选样品。十分钟后，吴先生和老客户的洽谈结束了，他开始与这位新客户聊起来。
Tony：Thanks for your patience.
吴先生：让你久等了，谢谢。
Allan：It does not matter.In fact, I have already been around your booth for many times.But，your booth is always crowded，I have to wait，wait，wait…
艾伦：没关系。实际上，我在你的展位周围已经逛了好多次了。但是里面一直有好多人，我只好等啊，等啊，等啊。
Tony：Yeah! We developed many new designs before this fair and it seems we achieve great success now.So，many customers choose samples at my booth.
吴先生：是的，我们这次交易会前开发了很多新的款式，看样子现在很成功。所以引来了很多客户到我们的展位上选样品。
Allan：It sounds good.
艾伦：不错。
Tony：Here is my card.May I have your card?
吴先生：这是我的名片。请问你能赐张名片吗？
Allan：Emily has already given me your card.This is my card.
艾伦：于莉已经给了我你的名片。这是我的名片。
Tony：Thank you.Ah，you are from America.
吴先生：谢谢！哦，你的公司在美国。
Allan：Yes.Are you a factor y or a trading company?
艾伦：是的。你们是工厂还是贸易公司？
Tony：To be honest，we are a trading company. Many customers ask me the question at the fair.Although many salesmen from factories profess that the prices from the factory should be lower than those from the trading company，I do not think so.
吴先生：说实话，我们是一家贸易公司。在交易会上，很多客户问我这个问题。尽管工厂的业务员声称工厂的报价比贸易公司低，但我倒不是这么认为。
Allan：Why?
艾伦：为什么呢？
Tony：As ours are seasonal items，not everyday products.The customers normally place one or two shipments per year.But, as a trading company，we can give more orders to the factories.So, prices offered to me by my factories surely will not be higher than what they sell directly to the foreign customers.To be frank，if this happens, I surely will cancel the factory from my suppliers list.Furthermore，compared to the factory, we have more advantages.
吴先生：因为我们的产品是季节性产品，不是日常用品。客户一般每年就做一两票货。但是贸易公司有更多的订单给工厂，所以工厂给的价格肯定不会比他们直接卖给国外客户的价格要高。坦率地讲，如果真的有这样的事情，我肯定会取消这家工厂做我的供应商。而且，和工厂比较，我们还有很多的优势。
Allan：Would you please let me know your advantages?
艾伦：能给我讲讲你们的优势吗？
Tony：First, we have more varieties of designs for the customers’choice.We can collect different factories’ products for customers’ choice.But, to a separate factory，it can only sell its own.So, the customers can consolidate different factories’products into shipments and I believe huge freight costs can be saved compared to the customers place and ship orders from different factories individually.
Second，we have an experienced team on following-up the orders.The scales of the factories in Christmas products are not large，they have few knowledge on international trade.Many of them even have no specialized sales person with good English level.One of my customers ever told me that he did deal with a factory, but he often felt confused on what they said in their e-mail messages.Finally that factory delivered wrong products to him.
Third，many of factories have no sense of quality，especially for the small factories in line of our products.But，we can control the production quality well.We always send one QC to each of my factories, their responsibility is to inspect the product quality，packaging and guarantee shipping on time.
Fourth, we have a strong design team，every year it comes out 500 new designs to meet the needs of customers.
吴先生：首先，我们给客户选择的品种更丰富。我们可以收集各家工厂的样品供客户选择。但是，对于工厂，他们只能去卖自己的产品。所以，对客户来讲，他们将订单给贸易公司，可以将不同的工厂的东西放在一起出货，而不需要下给不同的工厂单独出货，这样他们可以节约大量的运费。其次，我们有经验丰富的跟单团队。做圣诞节产品的工厂规模都不太大，他们的国际贸易知识也很不足，有很多工厂甚至没有英语水平高的销售人员。我有个客户告诉我，他曾经跟工厂做过生意，他经常看不懂工厂工作人员给他发的电子邮件在讲什么，结果工厂将货做错了。再次，很多工厂质量意识不强，特别是像做我们这些产品的工厂。但是，我们能将生产品质控制好。我们一般在每家工厂都派驻一个检验人员，他们的职责就是检验产品品质、包装，确保能按时交货。最后，我们有一支优秀的设计团队，每年推出500种新款以满足客户的需求。
Allan：Thanks for your explanations. What you said are really reasonable.Let’s return to your samples.Please note down that each item chosen here shall be in six colors，I mean the background color of the Christmas ornaments，red，green，purple，blue，silver and gold，all in matt finish.The patterns on the original samples keep no change，but the color of the pattern should be the same as the background color.Furthermore，you need to change the pearls on your samples to clear jewels.Are you clear now?
艾伦：谢谢你的解释。你说的非常有道理。我们现在回到你们的样品上。请记录，我这儿选的样品，每款做六个颜色，我指的是圣诞装饰品的底色，红色、绿色、紫色、蓝色、银色和金色，所有的颜色都是亚光效果。原样上的图案不变，但是图案的颜色改为与底色相同的颜色。另外，你原样上的珍珠要改为透明宝石。明白了吗？
Tony：Yes.
吴先生：明白了。
Allan：Please make samples for me，3pcs of each.When you can send me samples?
艾伦：请每款做三只样品。样品什么时候能寄？
Tony：Before mid of November.By the way，we will not charge you for samples，but we hope you can afford the freight costs.
吴先生：11月中旬之前。顺便说一下，我们做样品不会向你收费，但是希望你能承担运费。
Allan：Sure.Please write down my account number of DHL，V93F72，you can use my account to send samples to me，I accept freight to be collected.
艾伦：那是当然。请记一下我的DHL账号V93F72，你可以用我这个账号寄样品给我，我接受邮费到付。
Tony：Thanks.
吴先生：谢谢！
Allan：Please send me the photo quotation after your sending samples.I really do not want to waste your time at the fair. Hope you can meet more customers.
艾伦：样品寄出后请给我图片报价。在交易会上我真的不想浪费你的时间，但愿你能接待更多的客人。
Tony：Thanks for your kind attention.
吴先生：谢谢你的关心。
Allan：I have a last question.Do you have other customers in America，and who are they?
艾伦：最后一个问题。你在美国还有其他客户吗，他们都是谁？
Tony：America is our largest market. Pier 1，Cost Plus，Bit Lots and Wal-mart are all our customers.
吴先生：美国是我们最大的市场。Pier 1，Cost Plus，Bit Lots 和沃尔玛都是我们的客户。
Allan：Great.All these are large retail stores.We are also a retailer，but we only have 350 stores.
艾伦：太棒了。这些都是很大的连锁店。我们也是一家零售商，但是只有350家店。
Tony：You are very large too.Hope we can get your orders as soon as possible.
吴先生：你们也很大了。希望能尽快接到你的订单。
Allan：As I already made changes on basis of your items，please do not sell the same products to other American customers，I do not want to have competitors.
艾伦：因为我在你的产品基础上做了改动，请不要将相同的东西再卖给美国其他客户，我不想有竞争者。
Tony：I assure you that you will have exclusive rights for these amended items.I will not sell the same ones to other customers.In future，if you have any artworks or designs on Christmas ornaments, please send me by e-mail so that I can make counter samples for you.I also confirm I will not sell them to any other customers.
吴先生：我保证这些你修改的产品，你有独家销售权，我们不会再卖给其他客户了。将来，如果你有什么圣诞装饰品的设计稿或者款式，请传电子邮件给我，我替你复样，我同样确认不卖给其他客户。将来，如果你有什么圣诞装饰品的设计稿或者款式，请传电子邮件给我，我替你复样，我同样确认不卖给其他客户。
Allan：Good.It is pleasure to meet you.I will send you orders if your prices are reasonable.
艾伦：好的。很高兴与你见面。如果价格合理，我会下单给你的。
Tony：Thanks.I will give you the most favorable prices.
吴先生：谢谢！我会给你最优惠的价格。
Allan：Good Luck! Bye!
艾伦：祝你好运，再见！
案例点评：
外贸公司应充分了解各国消费者的喜好，开发出适销对路的产品。如乌鸦在西方国家尤其是德国深受喜爱，被视为吉祥鸟；猪是奥地利的吉祥物；科迪斯公司曾经出口过几款玻璃鼻涕虫，在加拿大很畅销。（中国海关出版社《外贸英语函电实战》友情提供）
