如何与外国客户开会？

Having a Meeting with Foreign Clients

　　　Episode 6

　　[In Shanghai, Bob Randall is participating in an informal, though important, meeting. Bob, Cindy Li and T.J. Liu need to make a final decision about the sports programming for the Shanghai restaurant.]

　　T.J.: Thanks, everyone, for being so punctual this morning. There’s coffee and tea over in the corner, so please help yourself throughout our meeting.

　　Bob: Great. Can we go over the agenda?

　　T.J.: Absolutely. But before we do that, I’d like to rearticulate the purpose of today’s meeting: Time is running out, and we still haven’t nailed down the programming content for cable TV.

　　Bob: I think the programs used in various restaurants all over the world should be the same, and…

　　Cindy: [politely interrupting] If I could just break in here, Bob, to say I’m not sure that the Shanghai market is really the same as the markets you’ve been working with.

　　Bob: [mildly annoyed] Well, I don’t think you can just run with any old local programming and be successful. Our proven track record…

　　T.J.: We can talk about the specifics in a minute. But let’s review the agenda first.

　　We have two items. The first is to determine the number of channels we’ll be bringing in. That’s basically a cost issue. In the second item of business, we’ll decide which sports and which countries will be represented. That’s a positioning issue.

　　Bob: That seems like a logical way to proceed.

　　T.J. Based on the quotes per channel you’ve provided, Bob, I believe we can afford only two channels. Would you agree?

　　Bob: Yes, At least for right now.

　　T.J.: And for the sports coverage, what are your thoughts?

　　Bob: Well, my own perspective is that we should stick with the proven formula, and focus on football, with the NFL regular season, and basketball, with the NBA regular season.

　　T.J.: That’s certainly one way to look at the programming. But you know, frankly speaking, American “football” is not really that big here. We’re really more about soccer.

　　Bob: It’s your market. I stand corrected.

　　T.J.: OK, to recap: We’ve agreed to broadcast two channels, with a focus on soccer and basketball. For action items, Cindy, if you could get this written up and sent over to New York? Thank you, everyone, for a very productive meeting.

　　语言点

　　1.“Thanks for being so punctual.” “Thanks for being on time.” 感谢大家准时到。

　　2.“The purpose of this meeting is…” 本次会议的目的是。。。

　　3.“I called this meeting today in order to…” 我召开这个会议是为了。。。

　　4.“What we hope to achieve in today’s meeting is to nail down the programming content.” 希望在今天的会上我们能把节目内容确定下来。

　　5. “That’s true, but…” “You’re absolutely right, but…” 是的，不过。。。 你完全对，不过。。。

　　6.“That’s a good point, but…” 这点很有道理，不过。。。

　　7.“There are a couple ways to look at this issue. To me,…” 可以有两个角度看这个问题，在我看。。。

　　8.“If I could just jump in here for a moment.” “If I could just break in here.” 如果我能在此插个话。

　　9.“If I could just finish my point.” 如果允许我说完我的观点。

　　10.“We can talk about specifics in a minute.” “Let’s get into details later.” 一会儿我们再谈细节。

　　11. “As for the pricing policy, what are your thoughts?” 关于我们的价格政策，你有什么想法？

　　12.“What is your perspective on the issue?” 在这个问题上你有什么看法？

　　13.“What do you think about the marketing plan?” 你觉得我们的市场计划怎么样？

　　14. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch what you were saying.” 对不起，我没听清楚您说什么？

　　15.“I’m not sure I understand the point you were making. Can you run that by me again? 我不敢确定是否听懂您的要点。您能再说一遍吗？

　　16.“To recap, we’ve said that…” 总结一下，我们说过。。。

　　17. “I think we’ve accomplished what we set out to do—to determine beverage pricing.” 我想我们已经完成一开始想要做的事—决定饮料的价格政策。