She swallowed hard and told him the bad news.

她硬下心把坏消息告诉了他。

《牛津词典》

Unfortunately, bad news has come hard on the heels of good.

遗憾的是，坏消息紧接着好消息而来。

《柯林斯英汉双解大词典》

News of rising unemployment followed hard on the heels of falling export figures.

出口数字下降之后紧接着就是失业率上升的消息。

《牛津词典》

"The fourth quarter's bigger-than-expected fall underlined the fact that, while sentiment towards the region has improved, the hard news on the economy remains distinctly weak, " said Jonathan Loynes, chief European economist at Capital Economics.

NPR: Eurozone Recession Deepens As Germany Falters

Let some other hapless buyer--perhaps a competitor--unearth the bad news the hard way.

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This news followed hard on the heels of the news that housing prices continue to fall in 16 out of 20 major U.S. cities for the sixth month straight, to the level of a decade ago, prices on average down over one third with nine cities hitting their lowest level since the bust.

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