Vocabulary and Expressions - 8 Oct 2023
Prey for Peace
This morning, I was astonished to learn about the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas. It evoked a profound emotional response within me, triggering concerns about the potential acceleration of a turning point in our peaceful world. Hope this crisis can be resolved with minimal loss on human life.
What Did I Read?
McMillan, Greg, et al. “China Price Pressure Offers Hope of Christmas Cheer for Western Shoppers.” Financial Times, 8 Oct. 2023, https://www.ft.com/content/c1283697-d71b-4809-a03f-d5f3618d6138.
Slow economic activity and a downturn in the country’s heavily indebted property sector have depressed commodity prices and reduced input costs.
- Depress prices
- Downturn in the ... sector
Chinese producers have also regained some of the cost advantages they lost to cheaper locations over the past decade, thanks to a depreciation in the renminbi, which hit a 16-year low against the dollar in September.
- Hit a 16-year low
He added that reduced activity in the construction sector had pushed down prices of commodities, particularly steel, creating knock-on effects for manufacturers that consume large amounts of metal.
- Push down prices
- Knock-on effects: a secondary, indirect, or cumulative effect.
- "a decline in butterflies would have a knock-on effect on other British species"
Concerns over rising costs of living in the US and Europe have dented demand for Chinese goods, leading some factories to cut prices or look to new markets elsewhere in Asia.
- Dent demand
- Dent: have an adverse effect on; diminish.
- "this neither deterred him nor dented his enthusiasm"
The wider economy has also faltered, eking out quarter-on-quarter growth of 0.8 per cent in the three months to June, as factories underperformed and an anticipated services sector rebound fizzled.
- Falter: lose strength or momentum.
- "the music faltered, stopped, and started up again"
- Eke out: to get by with difficulty or a struggle
- When you just eke out a living, you live from check to check, barely managing to pay all your bills. You'll often find eke out followed by "a living," or "an existence," describing the process of working hard for every bit of money.
“The global and domestic economy this year has been on a slowdown, so our business . . . has also seen a decline,” said Michael Lu, president of gift box producer Brothersbox, which employs 240 people at a factory in Dongguan and supplies brands including Nestlé and Marks and Spencer.
- Our business has also seen a decline