英语博客：ESL Podcast 768 – Negotiating Price

 　　Justin: Hello.

　　Rachel: Hi, Justin. It’s Rachel from McQ Corp.

　　Justin: Oh hi, Rachel. Did you get our bid for the job?

　　Rachel: Yes, we did. We like your proposal, but we still need to come to terms on the price.

　　Justin: We’ve already given you our rock- bottom price because we want to get this job, but we always try to be flexible.

　　Rachel: Good. Could you do better on what you’ve quoted us for labor¹? The price seemed a little high.

　　Justin: We might be able to trim a little off of that. How about if we discount that by 10 percent?

　　Rachel: That’s an attractive offer, but we were hoping for 20 percent.

　　Justin: You’re driving a hard bargain. We have certain fixed² costs, you know.

　　Rachel: I do and that’s why I’m only asking about labor costs. Can you meet me halfway³ at 15 percent?

　　Justin: I think that might be doable, if that’s the only stumbling block to us getting the job.

　　Rachel: I can’t make any promises, but I’ll do my best.

　　Justin: That’s all I can ask. I’ll send you over a revised bid.

　　Rachel: Great. I hope to have good news for you next week.

　　Script by Dr. Lucy Tse

1 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

2 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

3 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。