Describe Trends in Business English - Describing Statistics, Sales and Market Trends

商务英语 — 描述市场趋势

Hi, I’m Kasia.

嗨，我是Kasia。

In this lesson, you can learn how  to describe trends and statistics,  

本节课着重于商务英语使用，您 可以学到怎么描述趋势

with a focus on business English use. That means  you’ll learn how to describe sales figures,  

和统计。那意思是您会学 到怎样描述销售数字、

market trends, and company successes or failures.

市场趋势以及公司的成败。

You’ll see useful language to talk  about statistics in different ways,  

您会看到用不同的方式来 谈论统计的有用说法，

including how to describe line graphs, proportions  and pie charts, and comparing different trends.

包括怎么描述折线图、比例和饼图， 以及比较不同的趋势。

Do you want English subtitles while watching  this video? Click the ‘CC’ button in the bottom  

在看本视屏时，您想要有中英文字幕吗？ 如果您想要看它们，现在点击

right now to turn on English subtitles if you need  them. On a mobile device, tap the settings button.

视屏播放软件下方的“CC”键打开字幕。 在手机设备里，敲击设置键。

Now, let’s look at our first topic: how to  describe sales figures in different time periods. 

现在，我们看看第一个主题：怎么  描述在不同时期里的销售数字。

Sales to the 18 to 35 age group increased  consistently over the year. Sales rose from  

对18-35岁年龄层的销售一整年都 持续增加。 销售从在第一季

just under two million in the first quarter  to a little over two million by the end of Q4.

仅在200万以下提升到 第四季末略超过200万。

Sales were strongest overall  to the 36 to 50 demographic,  

总体而言，销售在36-50岁人口里是最强劲 的，在第一季和第三季之间

with figures improving by five million between  Q1 and Q3. However, the most spectacular  

销售额提高了500万。然而，在第四季 销售可以看到最惊人的结果，

results were seen in Q4; sales doubled  from Q3, reaching a peak of 15 million.

销售额两倍于第三季， 达到了1500万的顶峰。

For the 51 to 65 group, results were  solid but there was only a negligible  

在51-65岁人口里，销售业绩稳定 但是一整年只有略微增长。

increase for the full year. Sales  initially fell between Q1 and Q2,  

销售在第一季与第二季之间  开始下滑，但是在

but recovered from four million in  Q2 to 6.5 million by the end of Q4.

第四季末从第二季的400万 回升到650万。

Finally, sales to those aged 66 and up  decreased steadily throughout the year.  

最后，在66岁及以上的人口里， 销售全年逐步下降。

Sales fell from eight million in the first  quarter to two million by the end of Q4. There  

销售从第一季的800万跌到 第四季末的200万。

was a particularly pronounced decline between  Q2 and Q3, when sales dropped by three million. 

在销售垂降300万时，第二季和第 三季之间的衰退尤为明显。

Look at a sentence. 

看一个句子。

What word could you use to complete the  sentence? There’s more than one possible  

您可以用什么单词来完成句子？ 有一种以上的可能的答案！

answer! Pause the video and think about  it. Try to get as many answers as you can. 

暂停视频并考虑它。试着尽您所能 得到更多的答案。

You could say: ‘Sales *increased*  from 150 million to 200 million.’ 

您能说：“Sales *increased*  from 150 million to 200 million.”

Or, you could say: ‘Sales *rose*  from 150 million to 200 million.’

或者，您可以说：“Sales *rose*  from 150 million to 200 million.”

You could also say ‘grew’, ‘improved’,  

您也可以说“grew”、“improved”、

or ‘climbed’. Note that you can only use ‘improve’  if you’re talking about something positive. 

或是“climbed”。注意，如果您在谈论某些正面 的东西，您只能使用“improve”。

All these verbs follow the same pattern. However, you can use them in other ways.  

所有这些单词都追随相同的结构。 然而，您可以用其他方法来使用他们。

Look at two sentences. Do you know the difference? Could you explain it? 

看两个句子。您知道区别吗？ 您可以解释它吗？

Let’s do this by example. 

我们用事例来做这个。

If these are the figures, which is correct?  Did sales increase *to* 1,000, or *by* 1,000?

如果这些是数字，哪一个是正确的？ 销售 *增加到* 1,000，还是*增加了* 1,000？

The correct answer is: ‘Sales increased  

正确的答案是：“Sales increased

*to* 1,000’. What about ‘increased  by’? What would the numbers look like? 

*to* 1,000."那”increased by"呢？ 数字看上去像什么？

If sales increased *by* 1,000,  the numbers might look like this. 

如果销售*增加了* 1,000，  数字可能看上去像这个。

The same rule works with the other verbs you saw  before: ‘rise’, ‘grow’, ‘improve’ and ‘climb’.

同样的规则适用于您之前看到的其他动词： ”rise“、”grow“、”improve“和”climb“。

Look at one more sentence: 

再看一个句子：

How many words could you use  to complete this sentence? 

您可以用多少个单词来 完成这个句子？

You could say ‘decrease’, but again  there are other possibilities;  

您可以说”decrease“，但是同样 有其他的可能性；

‘fall’ and ‘drop’ are also common. You could also  use ‘decline’, although it’s rarer as a verb.

”fall“和”drop“也是常用的。您也可以用 ”decline“，尽管它比较少做动词用。

You can use the same patterns you saw before.  For example, you can say that something  

您可以使用您之前看到的相同的 结构。例如，您说某样东西从

decreased from something to something.  Or, you can use ‘by’ after these verbs.

什么数字减少到什么数字。或者，您 可以在这些动词后面用”by"。

Finally, many of these verbs can also be used  as nouns. For example: ‘There was a large  

最后，这些动词里有很多可以当名词用。 例如：“There was a large

increase in sales figures in  the first quarter of the year.’ 

increase in sales figures in  the first quarter of the year.”

‘There was a steady fall in  advertising revenues throughout 2019.’ 

“There was a steady fall in  advertising revenues throughout 2019.”

‘We experienced a sudden drop  in web traffic in August.’ 

“We experienced a sudden drop  in web traffic in August.”

In some cases, the noun form is  different, as in ‘grow - growth’, 

在一些事例里，名词形式是不同的， 像是“grow - growth” ，

or ‘improve - improvement’. You can use these nouns in the way you just saw.  

或者“improve - improvement”。您可以用您刚才 看到的方法来使用这些名词。

For example: ‘There was a steady growth  in advertising revenues throughout 2019.’

例如：“There was a steady growth  in advertising revenues throughout 2019.“

Now, you should have many  different ways to describe trends.  

现在，您应该会有很多不同 的方法来描述趋势。

Let’s see how you can describe  percentages and proportions.

我们来看看您可以怎样描述 百分比和份额。

More than half (55%) of our sales were vehicle  insurance. The second highest performer was  

我们的销售超过一半 (55%)是汽车保险。 销售业绩第二好的是

home insurance, making up one-fifth of policies  sold. Life and health insurance each comprised  

家庭保险，占已售保单的五分之一。 生命和健康保险各占

ten per cent of total sales, while travel  insurance accounted for the smallest  

销售总额的10%，与此同时， 旅行保险所占销售份额最小，

percentage of sales, at just five per cent. If you want to talk about percentages and  

仅有5%。如果您想谈论 百分比和份额，

proportions, you’ll need to use different language  compared to talking about trends and quantities.

您会要用到不同的比较说法 来谈论趋势和数量。

Look at some sentences you  heard in the presentation. 

看看您在演示简报里听到的一些句子。

Can you remember the missing words? Pause the  video and try to find the answers. If you want,  

您能记住空缺的单词吗？暂停视屏并 尝试找出答案。如果您想，

you can also go back and review the presentation.

您也可以回头复习一下。

Ready? Let's check.

准备好了吗？我们来检查一下。

To talk about proportions, you might need to  talk about fractions, like in sentence one.

要谈论份额，您可能要讲 分数，像是句子一那样。

Do you know other words for fractions in English? 

您知道分数的其他英文单词吗？

You can say ‘a third’, ‘a quarter’, ‘a fifth’,  and so on. Then, you can add words like  

您可以说“a third”、“a quarter”、“fifth”， 类似这样的。然后，您可以

‘more than’ or ‘less than’ to  describe things more accurately.

添加单词像是“more than”或 “less than”来描述事情更准确。

For example: ‘Less than a third of customers  said they would recommend us to a friend.’ 

例如：“Less than a third of customers  said they would recommend us to a friend.”

‘More than three quarters of  purchases were through our website.’ 

“More than three quarters of  purchases were through our website.”

You might also need verbs like  ‘comprise’ or ‘account for. 

您也许需要像是“comprise”  或“account for”。

A similar verb is ‘make up’. You heard ‘The  second highest performer was home insurance,  

一个简单的动词是“make up”。您听到“The  second highest performer was home insurance,

making up one-fifth of policies sold.’ You can use these verbs with percentages  

making up one-fifth of policies sold.” 您可以用百分比或分数来

or fractions. For example, you can say ‘Clothing  sales accounted for 80% of our revenue last year.’ 

搭配那些动词。例如，您可以说“Clothing  sales accounted for 80% of our revenue last year.”

Or, you could say ‘Clothing sales accounted  for four-fifths of our revenue last year.’

或者，您可以说“Clothing sales accounted  for four-fifths of our revenue last year.”

Again, you can add a modifier, like ‘more than’  or ‘approximately’, if you need to. For example:  

同样，如果您需要，您可以添加一个修饰 的，像是“more than” 或“approximately”。

‘Clothing sales accounted for approximately  four-fifths of our revenue last year.’ 

例如：“Clothing sales accounted for approximately four-fifths of our revenue last year.“

Or: ‘Clothing sales accounted for just  under four-fifths of our revenue last year.’ 

或者：”Clothing sales accounted for just  under four-fifths of our revenue last year.“

In this way, you can describe a wide range  of figures as precisely as you need to.

在这种方式，您可以描述一个 大范围的精确数字。

Let’s move on to our next point:  describing rates of change.

我们进入下一个重点： 描述变率。

In Europe, the number of new customers fluctuated  between 2017 and 2020, but overall numbers  

在欧洲，在2017到2020年间的新客户 有波动，但是数字整体

remained constant, with figures for 2020 very  close to those for the beginning of the period.

保持不变，2020年的数字非常 接近那些初期的数字。

In Asia, numbers increased in every year, but  between 2019 and 2020 there was a dramatic rise,  

在亚洲，数字每年增长，但是2019年和2020 年间，有一个显著的升高，

reaching a peak of 30 million  new customers gained in 2020.

并在2020年到达3000万 新客户的顶峰。

Customer acquisition in the  Americas saw steady growth,  

在美洲地区的客户获取以每年大约

with numbers rising by around  five million each year.

500万的数字持续增长，

In the Middle East and North Africa, the number  of new customers collapsed between 2017 and 2018,  

在中东和北非，2017到2018年间 的新客户数量在锐减，

reaching a low point of just half a  million in 2018. Customer acquisition  

在2018年到达了仅仅50万的低点。 然后，客户获取数字

figures then levelled off, with only small  fluctuations over the remaining period. 

趋于平衡，在接下来的 时期里波动很少。

Let’s look at some language  you saw in the presentation. 

我们来看一下您在演示简报里  看到的一些说法。

Look at the highlighted words. Imagine that you  want to explain what they mean to a colleague  

看看突出显示的单词。想像您想向一个 之前从未看过这些的同事解释

who hasn’t seen them before. How would you  explain the words in English? Think about it! 

这些单词意思是什么。您会怎么用英语 解释这些单词？考虑一下！

If a figure fluctuates, it moves up and  down, but the overall change is small.  

如果数字波动，它上移和下移， 但是总体变化是小的。

Here, it means that the  number increased and decreased  

这里，它意思是数字在不同的 年份里增加和减少，

in different years, but that the number  in 2020 was close to the number for 2017. 

但是2020年的数字是 接近2017年的。

A dramatic rise means a really large, sudden  increase. ‘Dramatic’ is a strong word,  

一个急剧的升高意思是一个真正大的、突然的增加。 “Dramatic”是一个表达程度强烈的单词，

so don’t overuse it – save it for exceptional  cases. If you want other words to describe  

所以不要滥用它 — 省下它来用在特殊的事例上。 如果您想用其他的单词来描述

a large increase, you could say ‘a significant  rise’, ‘a considerable rise’ or ‘a large rise’.

一个大的增加，您可以说“a significant  rise”、“a considerable rise”或“a large rise”。

Remember that ‘increase’ can also be used as  a noun, so you can say ‘a dramatic rise’ or ‘a  

记住“increase”也可以用作一个名词，所以您可以说 “a dramatic rise”或“a

dramatic increase’. You can say ‘a significant  rise’ or ‘a significant increase’, and so on. 

dramatic increase”。您可以说“a significant  rise”或“a significant increase”，类似这样的。

‘Steady growth’ means that something increases  at a constant rate over a period of time.  

“Steady growth”意思是某事在一个时间段 里以一个恒定的速率增加。

You can also say ‘gradual growth’ or  ‘continuous growth’, with a similar meaning. 

您也可以说“gradual growth”或 “continuous growth”，有一个类似的意思。

Finally, in sentence four,  ‘collapse’ means to decrease  

最后，在句子四，“collapse”意思 是在一个很短的期间

by a large amount in a short time. ‘Collapse’ has  the meaning of something negative or destructive.  

内大量地减少。“Collapse”有 某事负面的或毁灭性的意思。

Generally, if something collapses,  then it doesn’t exist any more.

通常，如果某样事物坍塌了， 那么它不会存在了。

‘Collapse’ can be a verb or a noun.  You can use it as a noun like this:  

“Collapse”可以是一个动词或名词。 您可以把它当名词用，像是这个：

‘After the collapse of the company,  thousands were made redundant.’

“After the collapse of the company,  thousands were made redundant.”

Now, let’s look at our final point.

现在，我们看看最后一个重点。

2020 was a strong year for our vehicle insurance  arm. In fact, in the second half of the year,  

对我们车辆保险部门而言，2020是销售 强劲的一年。事实上，是在下半年，

sales hit their highest levels ever, which made  a significant contribution to our record profits  

销售额达到有史以来的最高水平， 为我们今年创纪录的利润

for the year. The home insurance division  also did well, with a solid performance  

做出了重大贡献。家庭保险部门 也做得很好，在2020一整年

throughout 2020. Although life insurance  constituted a small proportion of our total,  

有一个稳定的表现。尽管生命保险  仅是构成我们总额的一个小份额，

sales nonetheless outperformed expectations, and  we’re hoping to build on that growth in 2021.

不过，销售业绩超过预期，我们希望 2021年在那个增长的基础上继续。

On the other hand, our health insurance  division had a disappointing year,  

另一方面，我们的健康保险部门 有表现令人失望的一年，

with sales falling well below expectations.  Challenging market conditions led to a significant  

销售远低于预期，充满挑战的市场 条件导致客户获得成本有

increase in customer acquisition costs, meaning  that profitability was also negatively impacted.  

一个明显的增加，盈利能力 也受到了负面的影响。

Sales of travel insurance were also poor,  although broadly in line with predictions. 

旅行保险的销售也很糟糕， 尽管基本上与预期的一致。

Look at some sentences from the presentation  relating to a strong sales performance. 

看看演示简报里与强劲销售 表现有关的一些句子。

Can you remember or guess the missing words?  Pause the video and try to find your answers. 

您能记得或猜一下空缺的单词吗？ 暂停视屏并试着找出您的答案。

Let’s take a look. 

我们来看一下。

Sales figures can be strong if they’re  better than expected. You can also use  

如果他们是比预期的要好，销售数字 可以是强劲的。您也可以使用

general words like ‘good’ or ‘excellent’. In sentence two, you can also say ‘reached’.  

一般的单词，像是“good”或“excellent”。 在句子二里，您也可以说“reached”。

If sales hit their highest levels ever, then  you could say that you set a new record.

如果销售额达到有史以来的最高水平，那么 您可以说您创了一个新纪录。

You set a new record when you reach a level  which is better than you ever have in the past. 

当您达到了一个比您过去任何时候都好 的水平时，您创了一个新纪录。

In sentence three, ‘outperform’ means to  perform better than expected. The opposite verb  

在句子三，“outperform”意思是 表现比期待的要好。相反的动词是

is ‘underperform’, so if figures are  

“underperform”，那么如果数字是

worse than expected, you could say that  a department or a company underperformed. 

比期待的要糟糕，您可以说一个部门 或一家公司表现不佳。

What about if sales were poor?  Look at three more sentences. 

如果销售很差呢？ 再看三个句子。

Can you remember the missing words? You know what  to do! Pause the video and get your answers now. 

您能记得空缺的单词吗？您知道要做 什么！现在暂停视屏并给出您的答案。

Could you remember? Let’s look together. If sales are worse than you expected,  

您记得住吗？我们一起来看看。 如果销售比您期待的要低，

you could also describe them as  ‘weak’, ‘poor’, or just ‘bad’. 

您也可以描述他们成 “weak”、“poor”、或是“bad”。

In sentence two, ‘challenging’ means  something like ‘difficult’. ‘Challenging  

在句子二，“challenging”意味着某些像是 “difficult”的事情。“Challenging

market conditions’ means that doing business  and making sales is harder than it normally is. 

market conditions”意思是做业务或行销 比平常更难。

Don’t forget: the presentations contain  many more examples of language you can use  

不要忘了：演示简报包含更多的您可以 用来描述市场趋势

to describe market trends and company performance.  

和公司表现的说法事例。

Review them several times and find words  and phrases which you can use in your work!

复习它们几次，找到可以在您的 工作里使用的单词和短语！

Thanks for watching!

感谢观看！

See you next time!

下次见！