III.課文篇

The French claim that visiting cards first appeared in their land in the seventeenth century while the Chinese seek to prove that visiting cards were invented by their ancestors shortly after they had concocted explosive powder. However, the first ever known sample of a visiting card, dating back to 1786, was found in Germany. Gradually, with the development of certain rules of use, the cards had become common by the nineteenth century.

法國人認為拜訪卡于十七世紀在他們的土地上率先出現，而中國人則設法證明拜訪卡是在他們的祖先發明了火藥后不久發明的。不管怎樣，人們所知道的第一個拜訪卡樣本－追溯到1786年－出現于德國。慢慢地，隨著某些使用規則的出現，到十九世紀時名片變得普遍起來。

Do you know which corner of a visiting card you must fold when leaving it with a footman in order to indicate that you have called on to inquire after the master's health? No? Neither do I, but only a hundred years ago this knowledge was as vital for an aristocrat as dancing and polite conversation.

你知不知道當你把拜訪卡留與仆人時，為了暗示你來拜訪過主人給他請安，你必須折疊拜訪卡的哪一角？不知道？我也不知道，不過就在一百年以前這點學問對于貴族來說有如跳舞和有教養的交談那樣至關重要。

Visiting cards used to be an indispensable attribute of the etiquette and the rules of their use were as sophisticated as those of cutlery. At that time visiting cards belonged to the notions of such consequence like title, rank, land, horses etc.

過去拜訪卡是禮節一個不可缺少的組成部分，而且它們的使用規則像餐具的使用規則那樣復雜。在那個時候，拜訪卡有如頭銜、等級、土地、馬匹等一樣重要。

First businessmen used their cards as marks of distinction and thus introduced the first modifications in their design. Later, as the growing demand for the cards boosted the development of the printing industry, more and more sophisticated card design patterns appeared.

最早的商人將他們的卡片作為區別于他人的一個標志，因此在他們的設計中首先出現了修改。后來，隨著名片需求的增加，推進了印刷工業的發展，出現了越來越多復雜的卡片設計圖案。

On the other hand, there appeared an ever-growing social group of private entrepreneurs who had a constant need to exchange their contact information. These pragmatic people started to print out their own cheaper business cards to give them at presentations, exhibitions, conferences etc.

另一方面，私人企業家的社會團體也在日益增長。這些人需要經常交換他們的聯系信息。這些注重實效的人開始印出自己便宜的名片，在見面、展覽以及開會等場合送出。

In the modern business card design, with its developed professional conventions, one can still detect the two conflicting approaches, the fanciful and the functional one. The purpose of the first approach is to show that there is nothing impossible for the card's owner. The more striking by its design and materials and the more sophisticated in its manufacturing technology, the card will be the better. What matters is the card's uniqueness. The content of the card does not matter much either.

在現代名片設計中，隨著其職業協定的發展，人們仍然可以察覺到互相矛盾的兩個方面：裝飾性與功能性。第一個方面的目的是為了炫耀對于名片主人來說沒有什么是不可能的。設計與材料越精美，生產技術越復雜，名片就越好。重要的是名片的獨特性。名片的內容也不太重要。

The other approach, on the contrary, emphasizes functionality. It is the one that rules in the pragmatic West. And the English name of the item - "business card"- also focuses on its specific functionality. These cards are essential for those company workers that interact with clients. That is why, on the one hand, you can see a small clerk, a service engineer or even a heaver with his own business card and a head of the department without such if he or she does not interact with clients.

另一個方面恰恰相反，強調功能性。注重實效的西方崇尚這一點。此外，名片的英文名－"business card"－也強調了它具體的功能性。這些名片對那些與客戶有聯系、在公司里工作的職員來說很關鍵。這就是為什么，一方面，你會看到一個小小的職員、一個維修工程師乃至一個搬運工都有他自己的名片，而另一方面，部門頭頭如果他／她不和客戶打交道的話卻沒有名片。

Business cards used to be made exclusively of stiff paper (card), but today come in materials from plastics to thin metals and even glass! A name or business card reflects the owner - it should represent visually the company or the person passing it. Take the time to have a closer look at your own cards and decide if they really suit you and your company.

以前名片無一例外都是用硬紙來做成的（卡片），不過現在用來制作的材料很多，從塑料到薄金屬片甚至玻璃！名片反映著主人的風格－在視覺上它應該代表著公司或給名片的人。仔細看你自己的名片，看看它是否真的適合你或者你的公司。