Reader's question:

Sheilah Etheridge, owner of SME Management in Anchorage, Ala., makes a living by cleaning up "the aftermath of an unqualified accounting person or staff," and she has seen her share of occupational fraud. "The recession will not cause anyone who is honest to become dishonest," Etheridge says. "But it may be a handy excuse for those that have thought about it before to act on it, or those already embezzling to up the ante."

Could you explain “up the ante”? 096047

My comments: Ante refers to the stake (bet) you put forward in a game of gambling. If you “up the ante”, you raise the stake or bet, i.e. you put a greater amount of money at risk but you do it because you expect to win more.

In the example above, Etheridge says the recession will not make honest people dishonest, but it may make dishonest people (those already embezzling) more dishonest as the dire economy will make them become more adventurous, so to speak, in order to make up for past losses. In Chinese, you could say that they would 铤而走险.

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Go to Zhang Xin's column

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About the author:

Zhang Xin has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.