This is the first in a two-part Business English Podcast lesson on softening negative replies – saying “no” politely.

这是有关"缓和否定回答"2节课中的第一节——也就是委婉地说“不”。

“No” is one of the strongest words in any language. Because it carries so much force, “no” is hard to say politely. Yet giving a negative reply, disagreeing or refusing a request are all things we have to do on a daily basis. So it’s important to learn how to say “no” in a way that enables you to maintain good relationships. In many cases this requires you to take a softer and more indirect approach. So today we’ll work on ways to soften negative replies in a variety of everyday situations.

“不” 是任何语言中最有力的一个词，因为它很给力，“不”很难礼貌地表达。但是给出否定的回答，不同意或是拒绝要求是日常生活中我们必须做的事，所以学会如何说 “不”并让你们保持良好的关系很重要。在许多场合，这需要你采用更委婉和间接的方法。所以今天我们来研究在各种日常情形中如何委婉地说“不”。

In the dialog we meet up again with Nicholas Fisher, the European sales director for Harper-Tolland6. He is flying into Kiev to support local sales staff by meeting with a large potential customer, Avitek. This is a Ukrainian company that manufactures cargo and firefighting aircraft. In our dialog, Nick is being met at the airport by Harper-Tolland’s sales manager in the Ukraine, Oksana Ivanchuk.

在对话中，我们会再次听到Harper-Tolland 公司的欧洲市场销售主管Nicholas Fisher。他正飞往Kiev去帮助当地的销售人员，他将会见一个潜在的大客户Avitek。这是一家生产货物和消防飞机的乌克兰公司。在今天的对话中，Nick将和Harper-Tolland的销售经理会面。