伦敦一家进口行的代表约琴夫-帕麦先生正在访问中国,自几天前他抵达广州,他就一直参加广州交易会。他受伦敦总公司的指示,要和中国外贸公司广州分公司的唐同志联系,商谈索赔案件。唐是代表上海分公司处理这一案件的。
s/ d$ V8 V& Y Palmer: Hello, Mr Tang, how are you? It is nice to meet you again.
5 h+ r4 ]7 p1 G 帕:唐先生,你好。又见到你感到愉快。
% [9 n- O/ `9 `6 l0 Q y, M 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.
1 J* |6 x. W; m: I" B% }1 ^, z4 f 唐:帕麦先生,你好。在这儿又见到你,实在荣幸。你从伦敦回来,希望你这次旅途快乐。1 W- l6 W4 ?! q
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.* L2 P+ n+ p4 X" M4 p* F
帕:我该承认这次乘飞机航程够长的了。但是你知道,客机非常舒适,到终点时一点不感到劳累。
/ S+ x; d, x9 K4 K! f Tang: Glad you have had a pleasant trip. I have to doubt you are comfortably settled and find things at the hotel satisfactory.
0 t* J% i; K6 V4 ~ A/ |2 A 唐:你旅途愉快我也高兴。想必你已安顿下来,旅馆设备都还满意。
3 f; ~0 n7 \/ \) D, n2 I2 Q Palmer: Everything is perfect, thank you. Well, now, Mr Tang, if you don't mind. I'll talk shop with you directly.
" R# `0 c, e2 z9 N9 w; Z 帕:谢谢你,一切都美满。噢,唐先生,要是你不介意的话,现在咱们直截了当谈谈业务吧。
8 f4 d: t7 j6 \3 U( m* V# \8 G 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?2 y6 R9 Q; v: e/ v. H, Z
唐:那很好,说实话,我们最好先谈业务,然后再聊聊。你想提出杨梅的事,是不是?& ]! G# i5 v3 i4 B+ d% R
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.+ H/ E6 n$ R$ k! Z9 ~* m2 b
帕:是,唐先生,也许你早已接到通知,最后一批60箱杨梅损坏严重。“柯娜”轮到达伦敦时,我们发现其中有百分之五十左右是漏的,对此我们感到十分遗憾。经卫生检疫所官员仔细检查,认为内装的食品不再可以供人们食用。, u* O1 d' w" z$ S; |
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.
7 R/ y" |' A# R 唐:帕麦先生,稍等一等。我请问,在伦敦你们有人发现漏的确切原因是什么?这样的事还只有这么一次。我们已经出口了几千吨,在中途损坏的看来仅此头一回。; v e# p8 l2 a0 V; @* Y7 S
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.
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+ k& g6 Y K0 ~9 {! U6 _ 帕:很抱歉,我得说明,损坏不是发生在运输途中,是在装上“柯娜”轮之前,你可能认为这是独一无二罕见的事。可是简单的事实就是如此,我们有必要向你提出索赔。唐先生,这儿有伦敦卫生检疫所官员发的证书,书上写得的一清二楚。我们经办装卸的人仔细检察过,看出果汁漏出的原因是罐头损坏池。很明显,当货在上海码头搬运装船时,因操作不慎造成损坏货物。 |