Are you already a proficient speaker of English? But still keen on expanding your professional vocabulary? Then this article is for you – peppered with plenty of economic terms and difficult expressions. Guess the meaning of the terms and expressions marked with red. Then check your answers in the vocabulary right after the text. Good luck!
Default by debt-wracked Greece loomed dangerously closer after last-ditch talks between Athens and its EU-IMF creditors collapsed on Sunday (14 May), bringing the threat of a Greek exit from the euro closer than ever.
The crunch negotiations failed in their second day, heaping worry that the cash-starved Greek government was heading irreversibly into a financial abyss with a huge IMF debt payment due at the end of the month.
Greece is a cow slipping on ice that must be pushed to firm ground, says European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker, employing a rustic metaphor for painful days of trying to save headstrong Athens from default and catastrophe.
Alexis Tsipras, the 40-year old Greek premier, whose latest reforms-for-cash proposal was roundly dismissed as 46 pages of “leftist ideology” by exasperated European officials, was treading dangerous waters.
Europe’s negotiators are weary of the young man’s manoeuvering, even though the good-natured Juncker always tousles his hair or pecks him on the cheek when he joins Tsipras for the cameras
“They came with their hands in their pockets,” a furious EU source close to the negotiations told AFP, while Greek officials said the failure was the fault of the International Monetary Fund, the country’s most hardline creditor.
“The demands of the creditors are irrational, the discussions lasted 45 minutes,” an irate Greek government source said.
Vocabulary
default: failure to pay your debts
debt-wracked: badly damaged due to debt obligations
to loom: an unpleasant event likely to happen soon
last-ditch talks: a last attempt not expected to succeed
crunch negotiations: (here) difficult negotiations
cash-starved: desperately in need (hunger) for cash
financial abyss: a very difficult, troublesome situation
to dismiss … as : to consider something as not important / not worth considering
exasperated: annoyed
to tread dangerous waters: (here): likely to get into trouble
to be weary of: to be bored with something
irate: very angry
