商务英语写作指南精华篇
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1.商务英语写作指南:介词of大揭秘
I find that non-native English speakers tend to use the word “of” much too often. “Of” is also frequently used incorrectly instead of other prepositions.
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, the attorney of the claimant where native speakers would write the claimant’s attorney. Although both structures are grammatically correct, phrases like the attorney of the claimant increase the “wordiness” and complexity of 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 claimant’s 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 Style Good Style the decision of the regulatory authority the regulatory authority’s decision the approval of the Management Board the Management Board’s approval the consent of the Meeting of Shareholders the consent of the Shareholders’ Meeting the representative of the Company the Company’s representative the total remuneration of the Contractor the Contractor’s total remuneration
Note 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 Style Good Style German law’s perspective the perspective of German law the contract’s termination the termination of the contract the claim’s rejection the rejection of the claim the contract’s annex the annex to / of the contract the judgement’s date the date of the judgement the plans’ realisation the realisation of the plans
There 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 are exceptions to 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。
2.商务英语写作指南:易混淆词汇辨析
1.raise vs rise
raise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 an intransitive verb (it does not take an object), while raise is a transitive verb (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 itself
rise(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 an irregular verb: rise / rose / risen
rise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 / raised
raise是规则动词,其变化形式是raise/raised/raised。
2.Assume vs know vs think
assume、know和think的辨析
To assume is 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 you’re 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 be absolutely certain or sure about something, usually through observation, 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, memorise this 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.overtake vs takeover (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 you’re 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 your rear view 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。
3.商务英语写作指南:能把人绕晕的account
The word “account” can mean a variety of things, depending on the context in which it is used. It also has many idiomatic uses. As a result, if not used with great care, the word can cause ambiguity and 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 (it’s an exaggeration, 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 of a payment made on account of the service charges on the Lessor’s account, no further payments on this account are 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 sentence thoroughly confusing for a reader, and so some serious editing is 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 let’s look at each phrase in turn: (1) On account of a payment made (2) on account of the service charges (3) on the Lessor’s 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 Lessor’s account, no further payments (4) on this account are necessary.
(1) The first phrase, on account of means 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 of on account of is ambiguous because it does not mean “by reason of”. Rather it means “on the service charge account”, i.e. the record of credits 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 phrase on the Lessor’s account contains 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 Lessor’s (bank) account”. However, the phrase “on someone’s account” is idiomatic and means “on someone’s behalf”. But this payment was not made on the Lessor’s behalf, rather it was made into his bank account!
(3)第三个词组中的“on the Lessor’s 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 someone’s account”是有固定用法的,相当于“on someone’s 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 “into or to a 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 sentence ultimately means 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 you’ll agree that it is not very satisfactory to write something that can be interpreted in 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。