积重难返 confirmed habits are hard to get rid of
ingrained habits cannot be cast off overnight
- 政治体制改革的滞后,使社会问题积重难返。
The political system reform lag, causes the social question to be difficult to change. - 直到今年金融市场开始担忧主权债务积重难返,利差才开始扩大。
It was only this year, when financial markets started to worry about the accumulation of sovereign debt, that interest-rate differentials began to widen. - 但是不可名状却又显而易见的危机正在动摇我们这个国家的信心——一种悲观而恐惧的声音不绝于耳,他们说美国的衰落积重难返,我们的后代将失掉自信。
Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.