Jason爭取到一筆國際訂單,這個案子努力了很久,競爭者又多,但今天終於到手了,他外籍同事Ben在電梯口遇到他,「Congratulations! You finally won the global contract!」(恭喜!你拿到全球的合約了!)
有人會用「Congratulations! You finally signed the global contract!」,但是這裡的「拿到合約」不是說簽約這個動作,比較像是終於拿下這個案子,用「win」贏得會更貼切。
談到簽約,還有好幾個英文小陷阱:
1、分辨簽約是狀態還是動作?
例句:我們公司和W飯店有簽約,所以有特別優惠。
(X)My company has signed a contract with W Hotel, so we can get special prices.
(O)We are in contract with W Hotel and are entitled to a special discount.
我們公司就是We,通常老闆在強調自己所有權時才用my company,一般用we就好。在這講的簽約是一種狀態,而不是動作,不用sign contract,而用in contract with。例句:We are in contract with a real estate agency to sell our home.(我們請房仲賣我們的房子。)
2、合約的條款怎麼說?
例句:我對合約的條款只有一個問題。
(X)I have only one question about the condition.
(O)I have only one question about the terms.
合約的條款或條件,像付款期、違約罰則等,不叫condition,也不叫policy或rule,統稱叫做term。像付款條件叫terms of payment或簡化成payment terms。例句:What do you think of the terms of payment? (關於付款條件你們有什麼意見? )
3、合約到期不是finish!
例句:我們的合約上周到期。
(X)Our contract finished last week.
(O)Our contract expired last week.
合約到期有很多種說法,除了expire還有be due(到期)或很正式terminate(終止),口語上可以用our contract is up。例句: I was on a three-year contract that expired last week.(我的三年合約在上週期滿了。)
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