美国有线新闻 CNN 委内瑞拉遭遇大规模停电 马杜罗称美国是幕后黑手

 

To South America now. In the midst of massive protests, political upheaval¹ and skyrocketing inflation the struggles of many Venezuelans recently got worse when the power went out. 70% of Venezuela has been without electricity at some point since last week. As the country's economic crisis has gotten worse, blackouts have been becoming increasingly common but one this big is rare. President Nicolas Maduro said the U.S. was behind it. He blames America for sabotaging² Venezuela's network through a cyber attack. Juan Guaido who's declared himself the new leader of Venezuela, says that's nonsense because the country's main power plant isn't online. He and the U.S. say that quote "incompetence³" of Maduro's government is to blame. Both Venezuelan leaders have called for rallies in the nation's capital.

PAULA NEWTON: Well the piece of good news comes from the lights that you see behind me. It seems that this city, this country is just beginning to recover. But the toll⁴ it has taken already in a country crippled by acute shortages of food, medicine and now this — we have heard stories of so many people just struggling to survive, especially in those hospitals that were already facing so much adversity. Today we heard from many, many people said look, the power must come back on. We are running out of everything. We have spoiled food in our homes and no way to really figure out how to get more food and quite frankly⁵, the money to get more food into our homes.

Right now, the government has said that Monday, again, everyone should stay home — schools, businesses, the government is closed. People again will continue to try and recover. Politically the opposition⁶ still continues to say this was mismanagement on the government side. President Maduro though continuing to hold to his line, saying that this was indeed sabotage⁷. One thing is for sure — the hydro system, the electricity system in this country is in dire⁸ need of repair. And in the middle of a drought, Venezuelans know while this blackout may be over for now or at least beginning to be over, they know that they risk more blackouts to come — and of course more struggles.

Paula Newton, CNN, Caracas.

1 upheaval   

n.胀起，(地壳)的隆起；剧变，动乱

参考例句：

• It was faced with the greatest social upheaval since World War Ⅱ.它面临第二次世界大战以来最大的社会动乱。
• The country has been thrown into an upheaval.这个国家已经陷入动乱之中。

2 sabotaging   

阴谋破坏（某事物）( sabotage的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Mr Smith fiercely denied any question of sabotaging the talks. 史密斯先生坚决拒绝任何企图阻挠谈话的提问。
• Failed in sabotaging APEC summit in Sydney of Australia. 澳大利亚悉尼APEC会议遭遇惨败。

3 incompetence   

n.不胜任，不称职

参考例句：

• He was dismissed for incompetence. 他因不称职而被解雇。
• She felt she had been made a scapegoat for her boss's incompetence. 她觉得，本是老板无能，但她却成了替罪羊。

4 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

5 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

6 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

7 sabotage   

n.怠工，破坏活动，破坏；v.从事破坏活动，妨害，破坏

参考例句：

• They tried to sabotage my birthday party.他们企图破坏我的生日晚会。
• The fire at the factory was caused by sabotage.那家工厂的火灾是有人蓄意破坏引起的。

8 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。