Level B2 Business English
Lesson 9
Meeting - Reporting Causes And Reasons
ミーティング 理由の報告

1
PHRASE OF THE DAY
今日のフレーズ

It's most likely due to...
~が最も可能性のある理由と思われます

2
SITUATION
状況

Rachel is explaining the sales result.
レイチェルは売り上げ結果について説明しています。

3
DIALOGUE
ダイアログ

Directions: First repeat after your tutor and then practice each role.

Yuta
Rachel, why do you think sales improved so dramatically in the second quarter?
Rachel
It’s most likely due to the unseasonably mild weather experienced in Japan. I think the mild summer we experienced, combined with the lower-than-average precipitation, caused more people to engage in outdoor recreational activities. More consumers needed new shoes during this quarter.
Yuta
And what was the cause of the slump in the third quarter?
Rachel
Ah, this was probably caused by the unusual amount of rain we got. Everyone was stuck indoors.

4
VOCABULARY
語い

Directions: First repeat after your tutor and then read aloud by yourself.

improved
改善された
most likely
最も可能性の高い
unseasonably
季節外れに
mild
穏やかな、温暖な(気候)
precipitation
降水量
stuck indoors
屋内にこもる

5
LANGUAGE FOCUS
今日のポイント

It's most likely due to...
~が最も可能性のある理由と思われます
Meeting - Reporting Causes and Reasons

Directions: First repeat after your tutor and then read aloud again by yourself.

This was caused by a …
The most likely reason was …
The reason behind this was due to …
The only reason I can think of is because of…
The most logical explanation is that …
As far as I can tell, the reason for this is because…
In all likelihood, this is due to …
My best guess for the reason behind …
This is a result of …

6
ACTIVITY
練習

Activity 1: Discuss some current items from the local news with the tutor, talk about what the causes were and their potential future effects.

Activity 2: Below is a list of some current business trends. Try to come up with reasons why you think these trends occurred. Report the causes to your tutor.

•lipstick sales surged in 2011
•financial planning websites targeted for women have increased
•68% of U.S. adults are overweight
•westerners becoming vegetarians are up 25%
•sales of male-specified beauty products + $10 billion
•81% Smartphone users use phones to surf internet at home

HINTS
a result of
~の結果
because of
~の理由で
certainly
確かに
caused by
~が理由で
doubtful
疑わしい
due to
~によると
not likely
可能性の低い
probably
おそらく
unlikely
ありそうもない