BBC News Review: Hillary Clinton's illness

source: BBC Learning English    2016年9月13日
Hillary Clinton's illness is making headlines around the world. Join Sian and Catherine in News Review to find out about this story and the language you need to understand it.
You can find out more here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/...

The story:
The democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton has said in an interview that she didn't disclose her pneumonia diagnosis originally as she didn't think it would be a big deal.
She's been facing criticism that she hadn't revealed her condition when diagnosed on Friday, but only after she almost collapsed in public two days later.
Jon Sopel - BBC News:
When the news broke that Hillary Clinton had been diagnosed with pneumonia it made headlines around the world.
But, in her interview last night, the democratic presidential candidate said she didn't think her illness was going to be that big a deal and she batted away suggestions that she'd been secretive. "People know more about me than almost anyone else in public life," she told CNN.
That may be true, but among many Americans there's a feeling that the Clintons are anything but transparent.

Key words and phrases:
hold/keep/play your cards close to your chest: not share key information; be secretive

come clean: tell the truth about something you were keeping secret

big deal: something important

not that big a deal: important, but not very important

bout: short period when you are ill or unhappy; a short period of activity

bat away: (here) reject