Говори и пиши как The Eсonomist

Mikheil Saakashvili, then a youthful firebrand leader of the op­position to President Eduard Shevardnadze; Venezuelans, along with their neighbours, have become accustomed to Chavez's habit of switching from firebrand to conciliator and back again — зачинщик, разжигатель; подстрекатель.

The Conservative Party is a faithful product of first-past-the- post — отдающий победу кандидату, набравшему простое боль­шинство голосов.

А chaotic affair, marked by fisticuffs in the country's Congress — драка на кулаках, кулачный бой.

North Caucasus is the Russian empire's most fissiparous area; an outpouring of national pride that is unusual in a fissiparous country of­ten seemingly racked by self-doubt — раскольнический, фракционный.

Mr Obama has dragged America's economy back from the brink of disaster, and has made a decent fist of foreign policy — почерк.

The world economy is fitfully getting back to normal — преры­висто, толчками, урывками.

Della Pietra convinced me that he could find the right fizz to part­ner each course — волнение, выказывать радость.

ABBA is a fizzy 1970s pop group — модный, шипучий.

Cracking jokes and dispensing wisdom in American-accented Po­lish, Michael Schudrich, the chief rabbi, is a fixture in Polish public life — постоянный, неизменно присутствующий элемент.

That may be why subsequent efforts to transfer the same fixity of purpose to broader spheres of peacetime endeavour have fallen short — недвижимость, неподвижность, покой.

The flabby state sector needs a lot more trimming, and the private sector yearns to be unleashed — дряблый, отвислый.

American officials were flabbergasted when he failed to attend the G8 summit and a bilateral meeting with Mr Obama last month — изумлять, поражать, удивлять.

Political cynicism, unmoving opinion polls and flaccid national campaigns are partly to blame for the lack of colour in the constituen­cies — слабый, безвольный, пассивный.

He has taken flack

about an alleged lack of economic nous — заниматься связями с общественностью; выполнять функции пресс- агента.

The "tyranny of the flagship": the tendency for top-of-the-range phones to scoop a disproportionate share of the market — флагман, ведущий.

Short of authority and direction, India's rulers flail in the face of growing problems — цепенеть.

The Chinese record will draw flak; The government took much of the flak for the job losses — взбучка, огонь зенитной артиллерии.

The flashbulbs popped as her handcuffs were taken off — лампа- вспышка.

Taxpayers will remain destined to rescue the flakiest firms time and time again — психованный, чудной.

The Anglo-Saxon media love nothing better than a bit of self-flag­ellation — самобичевание.

Dubai's rich will have yet another way to flaunt their wealth — выставлять себя напоказ, рисоваться.

Nobody knows if a fleck of paint, a particle of frozen astronaut's urine or a fragment broken off a satellite count as an object: there is no case law — пятно.

Working side by side was the best way to train and support the fledgling forces — неопытный юнец; человек, начинающий свою карьеру.

The amount of flannel and balderdash students are taught and then regurgitate in the real world is truly frightening — абсурд, вздор, ерунда.

His Mahdi Army used to flaunt nationalist credentials in an effort not to be viewed as being in Iran's pocket — дефилировать; выставлять себя напоказ, рисоваться.

And that was a mere fleabite compared with his grander ambi­tions — маленькая неприятность; легкая боль.

A Latin American giant plans to modernise India's fleapits — вшивый отель, задрипанный кинотеатр.

The Chinese government is in a muscle-flexing mood —

поиг- рывание мышцами.

You might think such fleecing would leave the government with cash to spare — надувательство.

Most journalists visit Chechnya fleetingly — быстро; мимолетно, скоротечно.

Where Mr Bower gets it wrong, however, is in casting Mr Blair as a feckless flibbertigibbet — сплетник; легкомысленный чело­век.

A formulaic Hollywood-style flick — внезапный легкий удар, щелчок.

The crisis of 2008-09, when oil prices fell and the world economy stagnated, revealed that the Russian economy was dependent on flighty foreign hedge funds and retail investors — капризный, взбалмош­ный.

Some of this flimflam is captured by Thomson Reuters, which distinguishes between "invention patents", which require an exam­ination to see if an idea is really novel, and "utility-model patents" — мошенничество, обман; жульническая уловка.

The killing and incarceration of people on flimsy accusations of insulting Islam has long shamed Pakistan — неосновательный, шаткий.

One of the most fascinating is its long-standing fling with Israel — удалой шотландский танец, флинг.