Spain's ruling party braces for hefty losses

News item	Words	Meanings
The ruling Socialist Party braced itself for stinging losses as voting began amid protests in regional and municipal elections throughout Spain on Sunday. The elections are a key test of how much the party's support has crumbled due to soaring unemployment and its handling of the financial crisis . . . . "I call for, encourage and appeal for a responsible, big turnout in these May 22 regional and municipal elections in all of Spain," Prime Minister Zapatero said as he emerged with his wife from casting his ballot. Polls indicate Mr.  Zapatero's party could suffer the humiliation of losing historic Socialist strongholds. The financial crisis has forced deep cuts and left Spain burdened with 21.3% unemployment, the highest in the euro zone. . . . Protest camps set up mainly by young people began to spring up in cities around the country a week ago and grew to include tens of thousands of demonstrators who even defied a ban on gatherings on the day before an election, traditionally called the "Day of Reflection."   (The Wall Street Journal, MAY 22, 2011)	braced	got ready for (something unpleasant)
	stinging	harsh; wounding
	crumbled	became weaker (in strength or influence); gradually disintegrated
	call for	publicly ask for
	turnout	number of voters
	ballot	vote; piece of paper on which somebody marks who they are voting for
	historic	important
	strongholds	centres of support; places where there is strong support for a political party
	cuts	reductions in amount
	spring up	appear or develop quickly and/or suddenly
	defied	resisted openly; refused to obey

Model sentences and idiomatic expressions with “brace”:

• The military needs to brace itself for further spending cuts, says McCoy.

• Cathy braced herself to see Matthew, who she expected to arrive at any minute.

• UN troops are braced for more violence.

• They are bracing themselves for a long legal battle.

• I braced myself for the results of my blood test.

• Smith braced himself to give her the bad news.

• Financial markets are braced for another turbulent week.

• The passengers were told to brace themselves (= to press their bodies hard against something or hold them very stiff) for a crash landing.

 

Exercise

Fill in the blanks with the following words:

1. cuts 2. springing up 3. ballot 4. stronghold 5. crumble

1. All his hopes began to  . . . . . away.

2. The chairperson is chosen by secret  . . . . . .

3. The Labour Party retained its traditional  . . . . . in the north.

4. They announced  . . . . . in public spending.

5. Opposition groups are  . . . . . like mushrooms

Answer key: 1. crumble 2. ballot 3. stronghold 4. cuts 5. springing up