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.

法国人认为名片于十七世纪在他们的土地上率先出现，而中国人则设法证明名片是在他们的祖先发明了火药后不久发明的。（无忧教育整理www.51education.net）不管怎样，有记录的第一张名片1786年出现于德国。（无忧教育整理www.51education.net）慢慢地，随着某些使用规则的出现，到十九世纪时名片变得普遍起来。（无忧教育整理www.51education.net）

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.

你知不知道当你把名片留与仆人时，为了暗示你来拜访过主人给他请安，你必须折叠名片的哪一角？不知道？我也不知道，不过在一百年以前这点学问对于贵族来说就和跳舞和有教养的交谈一样重要。（无忧教育整理www.51education.net）

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.

过去名片是礼节一个不可缺少的组成部分，而且它们的使用规则像餐具的使用规则那样复杂。（无忧教育整理www.51education.net）在那个时候，名片有如头衔、等级、土地、马匹等一样重要。（无忧教育整理www.51education.net）

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.

最早的商人将他们的卡片作为区别于他人的一个标志，因此在他们的名片设计中首先出现了变化。（无忧教育整理www.51education.net）后来，随着名片需求的增加，印刷工业的发展得到推进，出现了越来越多复杂的卡片设计图案。（无忧教育整理www.51education.net）

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，私人企业家的数量也在日益增长。（无忧教育整理www.51education.net）这些人需要经常交换他们的联系信息。（无忧教育整理www.51education.net）这些注重实效的人开始印刷便宜的名片给自己，在见面、展览以及会议等场合送出。（无忧教育整理www.51education.net）

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.

在现代名片设计中，随着其职业协定的发展，人们仍然可以察觉到互相矛盾的两个方面：装饰性与功能性。（无忧教育整理www.51education.net）第一个方面的目的是为了炫耀对于名片主人来说没有什么是不可能的。（无忧教育整理www.51education.net）设计与制作材料越精美，生产技术越复杂，名片就越好。（无忧教育整理www.51education.net）重要的是名片的独特性。（无忧教育整理www.51education.net）名片的内容也不太重要。（无忧教育整理www.51education.net）

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.

另一个方面恰恰相反，强调功能性。（无忧教育整理www.51education.net）注重实效的西方崇尚这一点。（无忧教育整理www.51education.net）此外，名片的英文名－"business card"－也强调了它具体的功能性。（无忧教育整理www.51education.net）这些名片对那些与客户有联系、在公司里工作的职员来说很关键。（无忧教育整理www.51education.net）这就是为什么，一方面，你会看到一个小小的职员、一个维修工程师乃至一个搬运工都有他自己的名片，而另一方面，部门头头，如果他／她不和客户打交道的话，却没有名片。（无忧教育整理www.51education.net）

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.

以前名片无一例外都是用硬纸来做成的（卡片），不过现在用来制作的材料很多，从塑料到薄金属片甚至玻璃！名片反映着主人的风格——在视觉上它应该代表着公司或送出名片的人。（无忧教育整理www.51education.net）仔细看你自己的名片，看看它是否真的适合你或者你的公司。（无忧教育整理www.51education.net）