美国有线新闻 CNN 委内瑞拉经济崩盘 局势加速恶化

 

Venezuela has been in the news a lot this year. Massive protests have been taking place since cities across the country, including Caracas, the Venezuelan capital. Since April, more than 120 people have died in protests against the government. Why?

The Venezuelan economy has practically collapsed¹. Its government gets almost half of its revenue from oil. It nationalized or took over Venezuela's oil industries in 1976.

But when oil prices dropped in recent years, so did Venezuela's revenue and that led to extreme inflation, a recession that's lasted for years, an unemployment rate of 25 percent. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro blames his political opponent and the United States for his country's economic problems.

A vote last month allowed President Maduro to replace his country's legislative² branch. It used to be controlled by a political party that opposed him. The new one is filled with people who support him.

The president says the constituent³ assembly will help bring peace to a divided Venezuela. But his opponents, as well as other countries like the U.S. called the vote a sham⁴, and America put economic penalties on President Maduro. He faces growing crises at home and abroad.

PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Venezuelan politics have always been complicated and temperamental. But even more so now, as the crumbling⁵ economy has plunged⁶ this country into a very dangerous political stalemate.

In 1999, Hugo Chavez was elected president and he turned to his very specific and personal brand of socialism, Chavismo. He gave out free flats, television sets, refrigerators, fixed⁷ prices for basic things, like flour and eggs.

And that made many people in Venezuela happy. It totally brought up the standard of living in the middle class. The problem was there was no way to pay for these things.

When Hugo Chavez died in 2013, his handpicked successor, Nicolas Maduro, was elected president. He continued with Chavismo. The problem was that the price of oil collapsed from $100 a barrel to less than $50. The economy has never recovered. One in four Venezuelans is unemployed⁸. Inflation could hit 700 percent this year and there are shortages of very basic things like that flour, that medicine, even things like toilet paper.

In the meantime, President Nicolas Maduro was being encouraged by the international community to sit down with the opposition⁹ and negotiate an opposition that he continues to try and undermine. The opposition here won elections in 2015 for the national assembly, an assembly that Nicolas Maduro continues to undermine.

As of now, the international community would like Nicolas Maduro to release hundreds of political prisoners, trying to stabilize¹⁰ his economy and come to some kind of peace with the opposition.

1 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

2 legislative   

n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的

参考例句：

• Congress is the legislative branch of the U.S. government.国会是美国政府的立法部门。
• Today's hearing was just the first step in the legislative process.今天的听证会只是展开立法程序的第一步。

3 constituent   

n.选民；成分，组分；adj.组成的，构成的

参考例句：

• Sugar is the main constituent of candy.食糖是糖果的主要成分。
• Fibre is a natural constituent of a healthy diet.纤维是健康饮食的天然组成部分。

4 sham   

n./adj.假冒(的)，虚伪(的)

参考例句：

• They cunningly played the game of sham peace.他们狡滑地玩弄假和平的把戏。
• His love was a mere sham.他的爱情是虚假的。

5 crumbling   

adj.摇摇欲坠的

参考例句：

• an old house with crumbling plaster and a leaking roof 一所灰泥剥落、屋顶漏水的老房子
• The boat was tied up alongside a crumbling limestone jetty. 这条船停泊在一个摇摇欲坠的石灰岩码头边。

6 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。

7 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

8 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

9 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。

10 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。