meet with one's expectations

アップ数が少ないのでもうひとつ。本来ならAsahi Weeklyの連載用にセーブしていたモノですが、まだ用例が少ないのでここにアップします。

Changing of guard in Japan as PM concedes vote

(CNN) -- Japan's prime minister conceded defeat in parliamentary elections Sunday, signaling the return to power of the Liberal Democratic Party and ending the brief rule of the disappointing upstart Democratic Party of Japan.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda pledged to step down as party president after exit polls showed a smashing loss in lower house voting. The party, once seen as a breath of fresh air in Japanese politics, came to be regarded as increasingly ineffective.

"We got a regrettable result," Noda said. "The result is everything in the politics. The biggest responsibility lies on me. I will quit as the partly leader of DPJ."

The move clears the way for the return to power of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the current leader of the conservative-leaning Liberal Democratic Party, or LDP.

"The Japanese people will be keenly looking whether the LDP can meet with their expectations," Abe said in interviews after the polling.

The LDP ruled the country almost continuously since its establishment in 1955 until it was forced from power three years ago by the DPJ.

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/12/16/world/asia/japan-election/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

meet one's expectationは「受験英語」の定番ともいえるフレーズですが、ここではmeet with one's （記事ではtheir）expectationsと、withが入っていることに注意してください。

この表現、ちらほらですが、英語メディアにも進出してきているようです。意味はmeet one's expectationsとほぼ一緒で、「〜の期待に応える、そう」です。

しかしながら、meet sb.（人と会う）とmeet with sb.（予約をして人に会う）の間に微妙なニュアンスの違いがあるようにmeet one's expectations/meet with one's expectationsにも感覚上の違いがあるのです。

この用法を取り上げた辞書、辞典、文法書はまだないと思います（かなり探りましたが...）。そこで友人の言語学者に聞くと、次のような答えが返ってきました。

That's a tough question. I think that technically they are the same though when I hear "meet WITH one's expectations" it feels as if the speaker/writer has a more SPECIFIC set of expectations and/or a SPECIFIC line at which those expectations are met, whereas, "meet one's expectations" feels a bit more vague and general as if there isn't really a specific cutoff point between meeting/not meeting expectations.

このように両者の違いはやはり感覚的なもの、そう言われないと気づかない程度のものですが、withが付くことにより、記事では来るべき参議院選挙を踏まえ、公約を守ることができなかった民主党の二の轍を踏んではいけない、絶対に今回の選挙で票を入れてくれた有権者の期待に応える、という思いがこのmeet withに集約されていることを読み取ることができます。

まだまだ調査中ですが、カウンターを設けて40万突破記念の蔵出しで〜す！（UG）