Dire Straits

基本解释

As a result, he will leave behind him a country in dire straits.
结果他即将卸任的国家处在了恐怖海峡之中。
But many other economists and many voters think that in a time of fiscal dire straits, "tax cuts" (especially on the richest earners) are morally unjustifiable and economically reckless.
但仍有很多经济学家以及很多选民认为，在财政严重困难时期“税收减免”（特别是给那些最高收入阶层）是既不道德，经济上也不合理的。
Though there are indeed people who are in dire straits and need immediate help, most of the people we generally call "poor" are not as poor as anticapitalists make them out to be.
虽然确实有人处于可怕的窘境中，需要即时的帮助，但大部分所谓的“穷人”，并不如反资本主义者所想的那样。

Confronted in 1994 with escalating power costs, Tulsi Tanti's young textile business was in dire straits.
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Surely additional profits from circumventing retailers would have helped them during their most dire straits.
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