I. Ask and answer the following questions in pairs.

1. What made it difficult for mr. Gong to ship the whole lot at one time?

2. what did he propose then?

3. Did Mr. Brown agree to partial shipment at first?

4. Why didn’t he agree to partial shipment?

5. Did he agree to partial shipment at last? Why?

6. Why did Mr. Gong want transshipment to be allowed?

7. Transshipment will make it longer for the buyer to get the goods ordered, won’t it?

8. What other harms will transshipment do to the buyer?

9. To ensure the goods to arrive at the destination isn time, what did Mr. Gong propose?

10. Give a summary of the whole dialogue.

II. Respond to the following.

1.       We’re sorry we can’t agree to transshipment at Hong Kong. As you know, any transshipment will delay arrival of the goods.

2.       As our customers need the goods urgently, we hope you will advance shipment to August.

3.       You must deliver the goods before April, otherwise we won’t be able to catch the business season.

4.       It has just occurred to me that there is still another way to ensure a prompt delivery of the goods.

5.       You may take it from me that the last thing we want to do is to dissapoint a customer, particularly an olc customer like you.

6.       I’d rather have your lower quotation than a commission.

III. Fill in blanks with the following phrases.

      in advance         in case         deal with

      all at once          in need of       in time for 

      put at once         point out         improve on        lose out

1.       We are _______ different types of designs.

2.       ________ you fail to ship the goods within this month, we’ll hold you responsible for all the losses we suffer.

3.       we _______ all our customers on the same basis.

4.       The design you gave me simply couldn’t be _______.

5.       They will pay a hundred and thirty frances _______.

6.       We have to ________ to you that this is a trouble you have brought upon yourself.

7.       We certainly don’t want to _______ to the other salesmen.

8.       You can’t expect us to do everything _________.

9.       Are you serious in ______ such a view?

10.   Your L/C was just _______ June shipment.

IV. Translate the following into English orally.

   F: 合同1234号的货物你们是否已经备妥待运了？

   C：是的。我们打算预订通过香港转运到纽约的船只。本月底可以装运。

   F；你们能否与船公司联系一下，争取用直达船装运呢？

   C：我们已经这样做了。但遗憾的是所有直达船的舱位都已订满。我们尽一切努力，但暂时还没有办法。

   F：那么你的意思是只能转船了。你应该知道货物早日到达目的港对于我们的重要性。

   C：我们真的无能为力。目前看来转船是惟一的可能途径。再说，合同也允许转船。

   F：坦率地说吧，我们的批发商对从你方进口的产品意见很大有。原因是到货迟，而且有些货物在途中就损坏了。我想这正是转船引起的。

   C：这怎么可能呢？正如我刚刚所说，我们大多数买卖都是按允许转船条件成交，并没有出现麻烦。 我们也从来没有得到宀任何这方面反映。你最好不要轻信别人的意见。

   F；但无论如何，希望你们能与船公司联系或者从其他船公司订舱，看看能否用直达船装运。

   C；好的。客户要求至上，这永远介我们公司宗旨。我们将想方设法，不遗余力地满足你的要求。不过恐怕装船会晚几天哟。

   F：对这一批货没什么大问题。但也不能太晚了。