1.   Despite the rapid growth of recent years, poverty is proving stubbornly hard to eradicate.

2.   The effect has proved hard to reproduce.

3.   Although Karimov insists that he is committed to reform, the habits he and other Uzbek leaders learned while rising through the Communist system have proved hard to break.

4.   Although the pace of the illness has slowed, it has proved hard to get the bad heroin off the streets.

5.   Although Wolfensohn is a former investment banker, he is proving hard to outflank on the left.

6.   And achieving even this has proved hard for the Fed in the past.

7.   And while the storm has passed, its aftereffects have proved stubbornly hard to shake, leaving this country in chronic economic distress.

8.   And while the storm has passed, its consequences have proved stubbornly hard to shake, leaving this country in chronic distress.

9.   Are there certain problems that are proving too hard for any coach to overcome at USC in recent years?

10.   Blodget said that it might prove hard to rebuild the online advertising business.