商务礼节美语第82期:谈话的艺术

　　The Art of Conversatione 谈话的艺术
陈豪在北京的ABC美国公司工作。他今天有事去找美国同事Amy。
(Office ambience)
A：Hi, Chen Hao. How are you today?
C：还好，不过，我有点儿事想请教你。
A：How can I help you?
C：今天下班，我又要去参加公司的社交活动。
A：Where the point is to make business contacts and develop relationships with current¹ or potential clients²?
C：没错，就是要多认识点儿人，跟客户搞好关系。不过，我还是不太习惯这种活动。
A：What's the problem?
C：自我介绍完，我就不知道该说什么了。
A：Well, The first thing is to prepare your conversation starters ahead of time.
C：怎么准备啊？
A：Find out who will be there so you will know whom you will be seeing.
C：然后呢？
A：Find out as much as you can about the guests. The more information you have about them and their business, the easier it will be to talk to them.
C：可我根本不知道谁会去啊？
A：I suggest you go ask your boss' assistant right now.
一个小时过后，陈豪和Amy又见面了。
C：Amy, 今天的活动是Jepson公司主办的。
A：I happen to know that Mr. Jepson, the president of the company, loves airplanes. He is a licensed³ pilot and owns quite a number of small planes.
C：Mr. Jepson自己有飞机，还有执照？太好了，我也喜欢飞机。
A：Well, see, you have something in common so you shouldn't have any problems talking to him.
C：那其它人呢？
A：Be ready to ask people about themselves. Start your conversations with open-ended questions.
C：Open-ended questions, 那是什么样的问题啊？
A：Those are questions that begin with "how" and "why?" The kinds of questions that people almost have to answer with more than one word.
C：就是要问为什么，怎么样这类的问题， 是吗？
A：Right. Stay away from "when," "where" and "what" since it's easy to give short answer to those questions.
C：不要问什么时候，在哪儿，哎呀，太复杂了。我恐怕记不住。
A：Oh, yes, you can. People like to talk about themselves so long as you continue to listen and act interested, they will continue to talk.
C：做个好听众当然没问题。我难道就不需要说话吗？
A：All you really need to do is repeat or comment on something the other person has said. Like with Mr. Jepson, you could ask how many planes he has?
C：他要是说25架呢？
A：Then you respond⁴, "So you have 25 of your own airplanes?" That's interesting. Tell me about them." And he'll continue to talk.
C：好主意。我试试看。

1 current   

n.涌流，趋势，电流，水流，气流；adj.当前的，通用的，流通的，现在的，草写的，最近的

参考例句：

• Electric current is often powerful enough to kill a man.电流常强得足以致命。
• There is a story about her in the current number.最近一期上有关于她的故事。

2 clients   

n.顾客( client的名词复数 )；当事人；诉讼委托人；[计算机]客户端

参考例句：

• a lawyer with many famous clients 拥有许多著名委托人的律师
• She understood the importance of establishing a close rapport with clients. 她懂得与客户建立密切和谐的关系的重要性。

3 licensed   

adj.得到许可的v.许可，颁发执照(license的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The new drug has not yet been licensed in the US. 这种新药尚未在美国获得许可。
• Is that gun licensed? 那支枪有持枪执照吗？

4 respond   

vi.回答，响应

参考例句：

• I offered him a drink but he did not respond.我请他喝酒，但他未作回答。
• I greeted him but he didn't respond.我跟他打招呼，他没答理我。