合同，又称为契约、协议，是平等的当事人之间设立、变更、终止民事权利义务关系的协议。合同作为一种民事法律行为，是当事人协商一致的产物。只有当事人所作出的意思表示合法，合同才具有法律约束力。依法成立的合同从成立之日起生效，具有法律约束力。
常用句子
Several companies are competing for the contract.
为得到那项合同，几家公司正在竞争。
She's hesitant about signing the contract.
她对是否签这个合同还犹豫不决。
A delivery date is stipulated in the contract.
合同中规定了交货日期。
They successfully won the contract.
他们终于争取到了那份合同。
Failure to comply with these conditions will result in termination of the contract.
不遵守这些条件将导致合同终止。
I withheld payment until they had fulfilled the contract.
他们履行合同后，我才付款。
He didn't keep to the letter of the contract.
他没有严格按照合同的条文办事。
There's just an outside chance we'll get the contract after all.
说到底，我们得到那份合同的希望极其渺茫。
The company went to the wall because of that contract.
这个公司因为那个合同而生意失败了。
The contract was not signed and has no binding force.
合同没有签署因而没有约束力。
It's clearly a breach of contract.
这显然是违反了合同。
情景对话
Daisy:I have made a very close study of the draft contract.
Eddie:Any questions?
Daisy:Yes. There are two points which I'd like to bring up. First,the packing. It's stipulated in the contract that all the machine parts should be packed in paper cases. This can be done with the machine parts, but it's impossible to pack a truck base like that.
Eddie:I see.
Daisy:Second, about the terms of payment. Your draft contract says that payment is to be made by D/P. This is not our practice. We prefer to have the payment made by L/Cthrough a negotiating bank in China.
Eddie:OK. Let's take up the matter point by point.
Daisy:That's a good idea. And by the way, when should we sign the contract?
Eddie:We'll revise the contract this afternoon, and have it ready to be signed tomorrow morning at nine. How's that?
Daisy:That's no problem.
戴茜:我已经仔细审阅了合同草案。
埃迪:有什么问题吗?
戴茜:有，有两点我想提一下。首先，是包装。合同规定机器零件用纸箱包装。机器零件可以，而汽车底座用纸箱包装则是行不通的。
埃迪:我明白了。
戴茜:第二点是付款的有关条款。你们的合同草案规定付款方式为付款交单。我们通常不这么做。我们希望经中国的一家议付银行用信用证付款。
埃迪:好的，咱们逐点研究一下吧。
戴茜:好的。顺便问一下，我们什么时候签合同?
埃迪:今天下午我们修改一下合同，准备明天早上9点签约，怎么样?
戴茜:没问题。
