Business correspondence in foreign trade is a letter written in formal language, usually used when writing from one business organization to another, or for correspondence between such organizations and their customers, clients and other external parties, and the two organizations or parties are of two different countries or regions.
Words features
Business writing strives to be crisp and succinct rather than evocative or creative; it stresses specificity and accuracy. So the words should be more formal than normal and conventional english. However, writing that is too formal can alienate readers, and an attempt to be overly casual may come across as insincere or unprofessional. What’s more, it is perfectly appropriate to refer to yourself as I and to the reader as you. When stating your opinion, use I; when presenting company policy, use we.
Sentence features
It is better to minimize the use of the passive voice, because business correspondence should be written to achieve a style that is so clear that their messages cannot be misunderstood. Although the passive voice is sometimes necessary, often it not only makes the writing dull but also can be ambiguous or overly impersonal. Besides, passive voice requires longer verb forms, building longer sentences that are tiresome to read.
Text features
Accuracy and concise
A good business letter does not ramble on; it supplies all pertinent information in a clear and concise manner. Consequently, the number of written words must be frugal with in every sentence. However, the letter cannot turn out as an endless series of short, choppy sentences — 『concise』 does not have to mean 『blunt』. Morover, it is necessary to state the purpose in the opening sentence of the letter because there are really not enough hours in the day for a busy person to read each letter slowly, word for word.
No mistake
Even though someone may be skimming the letter, do not assume that he or she won’t notice any spelling or grammatical mistakes. Business correspondence represents not only you but the company. A badly written business letter can bring a bad image to your copmany. So no mistake is allowed.
Example
Dear Sirs,
We are in receipt of your letter of 8th June and regret to note your complaint respecting the Woolen Goods we sent you by s.s. Dongfeng.
We have booked up the matter in our records, and so far as we can find, the goods in question were in first-class condition when they left here, as was evidenced by the Bill of Lading. It is therefore quite obvious that the damage complained of must have taken place in transit. In the circumstances, we are apparently not liable for the damage and would advise you to claim on the shipping company who should be held responsible.
At any rate, we thank you for bringing this to our attention and if you feel it necessary we shall be pleased to take the matter up on your behalf with the shipping company concerned.
Nowadays, American internet giants, leaded by Google and Yahoo!, are expanding their market sharing rapidly throughout the world. However, there is a strange fact that, none of them can occupy the market of mainland China. So in this artical, I’m going to explore reasons in view of a geek.
In China, to many people, „copyright“ just means „copy is right“. Once a new product was invented, imitators will appear at once, which of course will harm the innovators. Another famous example is China’s copycat mobile phones.
中國內地經營環境
網路審查
經過多年的中外交流，國內外網民得出了這樣一條共識：
Doing a social web page and being banned in China shows that you are good at what you are doing.
針對互聯網的開放性，歐巴馬總統在今年訪華期間，曾就相關問題（ „In a country with 350 million Internet users and 60 million bloggers, do you know of the firewall?』 „Should we be able to use Twitter freely』 ）作過這樣的回答：
…I am a big believer in technology and I’m a big believer in openness when it comes to the flow of information. I think that the more freely information flows, the stronger the society becomes, because then citizens of countries around the world can hold their own governments accountable. They can begin to think for themselves. That generates new ideas. It encourages creativity.
…I’ve always been a strong supporter of open Internet use. I’m a big supporter of non-censorship. This is part of the tradition of the United States that I discussed before, and I recognize that different countries have different traditions. I can tell you that in the United States, the fact that we have free Internet — or unrestricted Internet access is a source of strength, and I think should be encouraged.
…in the United States information is free, and I have a lot of critics in the United States who can say all kinds of things about me, I actually think that that makes our democracy stronger and it makes me a better leader because it forces me to hear opinions that I don’t want to hear. It forces me to examine what I’m doing on a day-to-day basis to see, am I really doing the very best that I could be doing for the people of the United States.
…less than 20 years ago (Google) was the idea of a couple of people not much older than you. It was a science project. And suddenly because of the Internet, they were able to create an industry that has revolutionized commerce all around the world. So if it had not been for the freedom and the openness that the Internet allows, Google wouldn’t exist.
…I’m a big supporter of not restricting Internet use, Internet access, other information technologies like Twitter. The more open we are, the more we can communicate. And it also helps to draw the world together.
…there’s some price that you pay for openness, there’s no denying that. But I think that the good outweighs the bad so much that it’s better to maintain that openness. And that’s part of why I’m so glad that the Internet was part of this forum.
大家知道，Google 有一句非常有名的座右銘，叫„Don’t be evil“ 也就是 „不作惡“。因此，Google 曾作出聲明：„we’re not going to offer some Google products, such as Gmail or Blogger, on Google.cn until we’re comfortable that we can do so in a manner that respects our users’ interests in the privacy of their personal communications.“（via）；„We will not maintain on Chinese soil any services, like email, that involve personal or confidential data. “（via）
因此，Google用戶悲哀的發現，他們可以用 WIndows Live ID 和 Yahoo! 帳號，甚至是被迫改名的人人網帳號登錄谷歌音樂，卻不能用 Google 帳號登錄。據此，我們可以得出結論，用戶在WL、 Y！以及人人網等網站上的個人信息的隱私和安全，是得不到保證的。同時也可以看出，Google 並不想在出賣用戶隱私和數據這一方面與內地政府完全合作。
所以很顯然，CCTV要的，就是 Google 不願放的那些用戶隱私和數據。當然，CCTV不僅僅是CCTV。
唯一在內地發展比較順利的國外互聯網企業可能就要算百度了。（筆者注：註冊於英屬開曼群島和英屬維京群島的百度公司是一家在華經營互聯網業務的美資 控股公司，具體地址為：M&C Corporate Services Limited, P.O. Box 309 GT, Ugland House, South Church Street, George Town, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands.）
In China, to many people, „copyright“ just means „copy is right“. Once a new product was invented, imitators will appear at once, which of course will harm the innovators. Another famous example is China’s copycat mobile phones.
中國內地經營環境
非常自由
中國各方發言人在多個場合多次強調，中國的互聯網是非常自由的（沒圖沒真相）：
（該圖片來源於互聯網）
網路審查
經過多年的中外交流，國內外網民得出了這樣一條共識：
Doing a social web page and being banned in China shows that you are good at what you are doing.
針對互聯網的開放性問題，歐巴馬總統在今年訪華期間，曾就相關問題（ „In a country with 350 million Internet users and 60 million bloggers, do you know of the firewall?』 „Should we be able to use Twitter freely』 ）作過這樣的回答：
…I am a big believer in technology and I’m a big believer in openness when it comes to the flow of information. I think that the more freely information flows, the stronger the society becomes, because then citizens of countries around the world can hold their own governments accountable. They can begin to think for themselves. That generates new ideas. It encourages creativity.
…I’ve always been a strong supporter of open Internet use. I’m a big supporter of non-censorship. This is part of the tradition of the United States that I discussed before, and I recognize that different countries have different traditions. I can tell you that in the United States, the fact that we have free Internet — or unrestricted Internet access is a source of strength, and I think should be encouraged.
…in the United States information is free, and I have a lot of critics in the United States who can say all kinds of things about me, I actually think that that makes our democracy stronger and it makes me a better leader because it forces me to hear opinions that I don’t want to hear. It forces me to examine what I’m doing on a day-to-day basis to see, am I really doing the very best that I could be doing for the people of the United States.
…Internet has become an even more powerful tool for that kind of citizen participation. …
through the Internet, people became excited about our campaign and they started to organize and meet and set up campaign activities and events and rallies.
…less than 20 years ago (Google) was the idea of a couple of people not much older than you. It was a science project. And suddenly because of the Internet, they were able to create an industry that has revolutionized commerce all around the world. So if it had not been for the freedom and the openness that the Internet allows, Google wouldn’t exist.
…I’m a big supporter of not restricting Internet use, Internet access, other information technologies like Twitter. The more open we are, the more we can communicate. And it also helps to draw the world together.
…that helps, I think, promote the kind of understanding that we talked about.
…there’s some price that you pay for openness, there’s no denying that. But I think that the good outweighs the bad so much that it’s better to maintain that openness. And that’s part of why I’m so glad that the Internet was part of this forum.
大家知道，Google 有一句非常有名的座右銘，叫„Don’t be evil“ 也就是 „不作惡“。因此，Google 曾作出聲明：„we’re not going to offer some Google products, such as Gmail or Blogger, on Google.cn until we’re comfortable that we can do so in a manner that respects our users’ interests in the privacy of their personal communications.“（via）；„We will not maintain on Chinese soil any services, like email, that involve personal or confidential data. “（via）
因此，Google用戶悲哀的發現，他們可以用 WIndows Live ID 和 Yahoo! 帳號，甚至是被迫改名的人人網帳號登錄谷歌音樂，卻不能用 Google 帳號登錄。據此，我們可以得出結論，用戶在Windows Live、 Yahoo! 以及人人網等網站上的個人信息的隱私和安全，是得不到保證的。同時也可以看出，Google 並不想在保護用戶數據這一方面與內地政府完全合作。
所以很顯然，CCTV要的，就是 Google 不願放的那些用戶隱私和數據。當然，CCTV不僅僅是CCTV。
唯一在內地發展比較順利的國外互聯網企業可能就要算百度了。（筆者注：註冊於英屬開曼群島和英屬維京群島的百度公司是一家在華經營互聯網業務的美資控股公司，具體地址為：M&C Corporate Services Limited, P.O. Box 309 GT, Ugland House, South Church Street, George Town, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands.）
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