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rock 2〈…を〉（感情的に）強く動かす, 動転させる
The murder case rocked the whole country. その殺人事件は国中を震撼させた
Compared with the shocks that rocked IBM in the 1990s, its recent problems look fairly minor.
go through ［hit, strike］ a bad patch 《英》 不運な目にあう, 憂き目を見る.
IBM has endured some horribly bumpy patches over the past 20 years.
overall majority 絶対多数
approved in an election by an overall majority of persons voting 選挙で投票者数の過半数を得て承認される
in the early hours of Friday May 6th, with the results from 533 of Parliament's 646 constituencies declared, prime minister Tony Blair’s Labour Party predictably reached the 324 seats needed to secure an overall majority.
clinch 【他動-2】 〜で勝利を収める、〜を制する、（優勝や順位を）確定させる
・ The team was in a position to clinch first place in the league. そのチームは、リーグ優勝を決められる位置にいた。
Mr Blair clinched victory despite accusations from his opponents that he lied to the British public over Saddam Hussein’s supposed weapons of mass destruction, to justify sending troops to Iraq in 2003.
gloomy 悲観的な、希望のない、停滞気味の
・ Prospects are extremely gloomy. 見通しは真っ暗だ。
The Confederation of British Industry《英》産業連盟 reported this week that its monthly survey of retailers was the gloomiest since the 1992 currency crisis that saw sterling pulled from Europe’s exchange-rate mechanism.
flag 衰える、弱る、緩む、薄らぐ、しおれる
・ U.S. interest seems to have flagged. 米国の関心は衰えているようだ
Manufacturers are also flagging, with big job losses resulting from the collapse of MG Rover, a carmaker, and more likely to come at Marconi and IBM, two technology giants.
go bust
倒産する、つぶれる、駄目になる、破滅する
・ I'd better find another job soon because my company is on the verge of going bust. (go for a burton) 私の会社は倒産寸前だから他の仕事を探さなくっちゃ
taken to its logical conclusion, this market in treatments may mean some of the least efficient state hospitals go bust.
foregone conclusion 案の定の結果、当然の結果、予測できる結末、目に見えていること、避けられない結果、既定の結論
THE candidates and the political pundits did their best to whip up some excitement but as the campaign wore on, Britain's election looked increasingly like a foregone conclusion.
