Babiš's stalemate on CNN
Christiane Amanpour has been interviewing foreign leaders for decades, but she still uses a style that confounds many guests. Her first question yesterday for Andrej Babiš went like this: "Welcome to the program, Prime Minister-designate. Can I start asking you what you make of these resignations and this hullabaloo in the Brexiteers in Britain and Theresa May's cabinet?" Ooh la la. Babiš, who has workable English but probably no idea what "hullabaloo" is, ignored the gist of the question and picked out a single word - Brexit - for taking his stand. Brexit is really negative for Europe, he said, trying to combat his anti-EU image straight out of the gate. "So you are pro-EU; I don't think you're anti-EU," Amanpour responded, in a seeming victory for Babiš. But a few moments later she asked him what he can say to convince Europe that he's committed to liberal democracy, and the long-winded, noncommittal answer didn't do much to win her over. "Fine," she said in cutting him off.
Glossary of difficult words
stalemate - in chess, a position counting as a draw, in which a player is not in check but cannot move except into check;to confound - to cause surprise or confusion in (someone), esp. by not according with his or her expectations;
hullabaloo - a state of confusion; a commotion or fuss;
ooh la la - used to express surprise or excitement;
gist - the substance or general meaning of speech or text;
to take a stand - to adopt a position;
straight/right out of the gate - immediately.