零售商以電子郵件發(fā)了一封詢(xún)價(jià)信給供貨商之后，第二天即與對(duì)方聯(lián)絡(luò)。以下就是供貨商在電話中向他報(bào)價(jià)的情形：

英文正文

A: Good morning. We e-mailed an inquiry to you yesterday about the SuperWang computer.

B: Oh yes! Thanks.I was told that our salesman, Mr. Chen, had solicited your inquiry.

A: Yes. Mr. Chen. I met him at a trade show last month, and he gave me full particulars on the SuperWang.

B: In your e-mail you asked for a quotation. We can quote you U.S. $800 for the item.

A: That sounds good. When would be the earliest delivery date for an order of 2000 units?

B: That's not a difficult matter, but I'll need to check. I think 20 days from the day the order is made would be the earliest date possible.

句型總結(jié)

●　何時(shí)會(huì)…
1. When would be...?
2. Can you advise me as to when...?
3. May I inquire as to when...?

這個(gè)句型主要是很客氣地詢(xún)問(wèn)對(duì)方‘什么時(shí)候可以做某件事’。"would be"與"will be"意義相同，‘將會(huì)是...’之意，但口氣上"would"比"will"要客氣得多。所以在請(qǐng)別幫忙某事時(shí)是多用"Would you please..."，而較少用"Will you please..."。

短語(yǔ)解說(shuō)

solicit your inquiry 促請(qǐng)您詢(xún)價(jià)
"solicit"，‘懇求、請(qǐng)求’之意。"solicit your inquiry"是歡迎買(mǎi)者前來(lái)詢(xún)問(wèn)產(chǎn)品的商業(yè)客套話。一般詢(xún)價(jià)通常由買(mǎi)方提出，但賣(mài)方為推廣產(chǎn)品，亦可主動(dòng)提供商品數(shù)據(jù)給買(mǎi)方，以期引起買(mǎi)方的與趣。這在銷(xiāo)售上是一種反守為攻的主動(dòng)作法。

quote 報(bào)價(jià)；開(kāi)估價(jià)單
"quote"為動(dòng)詞，名詞為"quotation"。這是指買(mǎi)賣(mài)其中一方（大多數(shù)為賣(mài)方）將價(jià)格及條件報(bào)給對(duì)方。這個(gè)字的用法與"offer"雖可交替使用，但實(shí)務(wù)上，用"offer"時(shí)，通常已決定了交易數(shù)量及其它交易條件，而用"quote"或"quotation"時(shí)，卻尚未敲定交易數(shù)量。

earliest delivery date 盡快送達(dá)；最早交貨日期
"delivery"原意為‘運(yùn)送、交付’；"delivery date"；即交貨日期，在國(guó)際貿(mào)易實(shí)務(wù)的習(xí)慣上，這其實(shí)是指‘裝運(yùn)日期’--"date of shipment"（由于國(guó)際貿(mào)易多采海上運(yùn)輸）但‘交貨日期’又分為兩種：‘即期交貨’和‘定期交貨’。‘即期交貨’并未載明確切日期，因此容易發(fā)生糾紛，在實(shí)務(wù)應(yīng)用上遠(yuǎn)不如約好交貨日子的‘定期交貨’來(lái)得普遍，而"earliest delivery date"－－最早交貨日期，屬于未限定日期的‘即期交貨"。