[] a person or a company that is paid by another person or company to do business for them, especially in discussing a contract, buying or selling, or finding work in entertainment or publishing代理人，代理机构（受委托人委托代理经营事务，尤其是代表委托人洽谈合同、买卖或在娱乐、出版业找工作等）◆The director was acting as agent for the shareholders in trying to sell their shares.董事代表股东努力推销他们的股票。◆You can hire an agent to negotiate on your behalf. 你可以雇用代理人代表你谈判。➡principal a person who sells a service or product for one or more companies代理商（代表一家或多家公司销售服务或产品）◆an independent insurance agent独立的保险代理人◆The company has 31 overseas agents and distributors.这公司有 31 家海外代理商和经销商。◆There have been complaints over the methods of some of their sales agents.他们某些销售代理所用的方式一直遭人投诉。bargaining agent business agent buying agent change agent commercial agent commission agent customs agent del credere agent economic agent estate agent forwarding agent free agent insurance agent managing agent patent agent paying agent press agent real estate agent shipping and forwarding agent shopping agent subagent tied agent travel agent agent / broker / sales representative / dealer <chn/>All these people have jobs that involve buying or selling things. 这些人都从事买卖交易工作。An agent is given authority to carry out a particular piece of business on somebody's behalf. For example, an estate agent (NAmE real estate agent) is given authority to sell a house for somebody. 代理人（agent） 有权代表委托人办理特定业务。例如，房地产代理人（estate agent，美式英語 real estate agent）获授权为他人出售房屋。A broker is usually a person who buys and sells investments or financial products on behalf of others. 经纪人（broker）通常是代表他人进行投资或买卖金融产品的人：Ask your broker to explain the difference between the mortgages. 向你的经纪人询问一下不同抵押贷款方式的区别。Both agents and brokers work independently or as part of their own companies (called agencies and brokerages) and receive a fee for their services. 代理人和经纪人均独立开展工作，或者为其所属公司（称为中介公司 agency 和经纪公司 brokerage）工作，从中收取佣金。Dealers usually buy and sell a particular type of product. 经销商（dealer）通常从事特定产品的买卖：an art/a car/diamond dealer 艺术品／汽车／钻石经销商A sales representative (often shortened to representative, or more informally, a sales rep or rep) works as an employee of a company, selling their goods or services to people in a particular area. 销售代表（sales representative，常简写作 representative，或较非正式称为 sales rep 或 rep）为公司雇员，向某特定区域的消费者推销产品或服务：We have representatives in over 50 countries. 我们在 50 多个国家设有销售代表。