新职业英语经贸英语Unit3Unit3BusinessNegotiationReadingASuggestedAnswersSuggestedAnswersGeneralStepsinBusinessNegotiations一般来说，交易磋商包括四个步骤：询盘、报盘、还盘和接受。第一步是“询盘”。买方在报纸、网站或者其他地方看到一则广告后，可能会向对方索取有关自己感兴趣的商品信息，如价格表、样品、付款条件等。而这种索取信息的请求就被称为“询盘”。在发出询盘后，买方就会收到“报盘”。报盘表达了卖方希望出售某种商品的条件，包括数量、价格、装运、付款条件等。它通常出现在口头的或者书面的询盘之后。Offerscanbeclassifiedintotwotypes:firmoffersandnon-firmoffers.Afirmofferisusuallyaseller’spromisetosellspecifiedgoodsorservicesatspecifiedprices,andvalidforaspecifiedperiod,withpacking,payment,etc.describedclearly.Oncethefirmofferisacceptedbythebuyerwithinthevalidity,thesellerisnotpermittedtoreviseorwithdrawhis/herofferandisobligedtoenterintoacontractwiththebuyer.Incontrast,anon-firmofferisactuallyanofferwithoutengagementwhichoftencontainsreservationclauseslike“Wemakeyouanoffersubjecttoourfinalconfirmation.”Nextstepis“counter-offer”.Whenanofferreachestheofferee,he/shemayrejectitandendthenegotiationifhe/shefindsitimpossibletoreachanagreement.Butusuallyhe/shewillcarefullystudytheoffer,andrenewthereceivedofferbyalteringoraddingsometermsandconditions.Insuchacase,thereplytotheofferiscalled“counter-offer”.报盘可以分为两大类：实盘和虚盘。实盘通常是指卖方以指定的价格、有效期、包装、付款等内容销售某种商品或服务的承诺。实盘一旦在有效期内被买方接受，卖方就不准修改或者撤回其报盘，并有义务与买方签署合同。相比之下，虚盘实际上是一个没有约言的报盘，它经常包括诸如这样的保留条款：“此发盘须经我方最终确认。”下一步是“还盘”。当报盘送达受盘人，如果发现不可能达成一致，他/她可能会拒绝，从而终止谈判。但是通常他/她会仔细研究报盘，修改或添加一些条款和条件。在这种情况下，对报盘的回复称作“还盘”。Acounter-offerfunctionsasbotharejectiontotheoriginalofferandanewofferbythebuyer.Consequently,theformerofferornowbecomesanofferee,andtheformeroffereeturnstobeanofferor.Normally,suchexchangesmightgothroughseveralroundsbeforeacontractissigned.Last,we’lldiscuss“acceptance”.Whenanofferarrives,theoffereemightagreeonalltermscontainedintheofferunconditionally,andanagreementwillbereachedbetweenthetwoparties.Insuchacase,thereplytoanofferisknownas“acceptance”.Here,itshouldbenotedthattheword“offer”referstoboththeoriginalofferandthecounter-offerinseveralroundsofnegotiations.还盘的作用既是对原始报盘的拒绝，又是买方提出的新报盘。因此，以前的发盘人现在变成了受盘人，而以前的受盘人变成了发盘人。通常，在最终签署合同之前，这种