Declining an Invitation 拒绝邀请
Some people find that saying "no" to a friend is extremely hard sometimes. Are you this kind of person? If you are tied up and cannot go to your friend's party, how do you say "no" and at the same time sound inoffensive? 拒绝比接受更难。如何委婉得体地拒绝别人？赶快看看下面的10个例句。
1. I am sorry to turn you down. 我很抱歉必须拒绝你。
Turn you down 就是拒绝别人的要求。例如有一次请老美去参加一个 party，她说她很抱歉无法参加，就是用的这句I am sorry to turn you down.。另外男生追女生，女生想拒绝他，也可以用 turn down。例如I am sorry but I have to turn you down.。
另外不要忘，turn down 还有一个解释就是把音量或是空调关小。还有不要把 turn you down 和 let you down 搞混，这二者是完全不同的意思：turn down 表示拒绝，而 let down 则表示让人家失望。
2. I am not interested. 我没有兴趣。
当电话推销员找上门来，这时你要说的就是I am not interested，这样子对方就不会纠缠太久了。
通常在拒绝别人的时候要注意一下说话的语气，像这句 I am not interested. 听来就不太客气。通常要使得拒绝别人的话听来客气一点，只要在句首加上I am sorry.整句话的口气立刻就不一样了。所以礼貌一点的说法就是I am sorry. I am not interested. 听起来是不是客气很多？
3. I'll think about it. 我要回答的问题时，你就可以说There is nothing to talk about.。例如有人问你的意思，它跟 kill 一点关系也没有。例如跟一个老美打球，打了二局之后问他还要不要再打，他就说That's enough, anymore is just overkill.又如吃东西时你问别人还要不要再吃，如果别人吃不下了就可以说No, thanks. That's overkill.。
礼貌拒绝的典型例句 Refusing invitations without being offensive：
That's very kind of you, but I'm afraid that I'm tied up on Saturday. 非常感谢, 可是恐怕我周六没时间。
I'd really like to, but I'm already booked up for next Saturday. 我很想去，但是我下周六的日程己经安排满了。
I wish I could, but I have an appointment on Saturday. 我真希望能去，但是我周六和别人约好了。
Thanks for asking me, but I am going to be out of town that evening. 谢谢你邀请我，但是我那天晚上要去外地。
I'm really sorry about that! 非常抱歉！
Thanks, anyway. 还是谢谢你！
I would like very much to join you another time. 希望我下次能参加。