美国国家公共电台 NPR Many Venezuelan Workers Are Leaving The Job, And The Country

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

As Venezuela gets ready to hold its presidential election next Saturday, Nicolas Maduro, the country's authoritarian¹ president, predicts he'll win another six-year term despite chronic² food shortages, hyperinflation, widespread unemployment. Even Venezuelans with jobs suffer because their wages are nearly worthless, and many are no longer bothering to even show up to work. Reporter John Otis has more.

JOHN OTIS, BYLINE³: At this textile plant in Caracas, workers cut polyester fabric⁴. The pieces are then sewn together to make baseball and soccer jerseys⁵. But the plant is mostly empty. Workers can no longer afford the clothes they make because their wages amount to just $3 per month. Of the 20 people once employed here, six remain. Yajira Delgado worked as a seamstress at the plant for three years. But since December, she's been staying home to spend more time with her two kids.

YAJIRA DELGADO: (Speaking Spanish).

OTIS: Delgado says, "I didn't earn enough to cover bus fare and food, so I quit." An estimated 40 percent of Venezuelan employees have quit or regularly skipped work. Many get by doing odd jobs or receive money sent from relatives overseas. So says Carlos Gonzalez, who heads one of Venezuela's largest business associations.

CARLOS GONZALEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

OTIS: Gonzalez says rising absenteeism is due in part to food shortages, which force people to skip work to hunt for groceries. In addition, a lack of tires and spare parts has led to a critical shortage of buses and subway cars.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT NICOLAS MADURO: (Speaking Spanish).

OTIS: President Maduro announced a 95 percent increase to the minimum wage ahead of the election, but it's unlikely to have much effect given that this is the third wage hike this year and prices are rising even faster.

MARIBEL JIMINEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

OTIS: This hyperinflation is demoralizing for people who still have jobs like Yorman Jimenez and his wife Maribel. They live in a mountainside slum and travel every morning to government jobs in downtown Caracas.

YORMAN JIMENEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

M. JIMINEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

OTIS: Before dawn, they climb aboard a bus that will take them to the metro⁶ station. Bus fares have doubled in the past month. That means they will shell out a quarter of their day's wages just to get to their offices. Yorman and Maribel dash through the station. They slip inside the train just before the subway doors close. There's hardly room to breathe. Even so, scores of people try to push their way onboard at each stop.

(SOUNDBITE OF TONE)

OTIS: That's the sound of a metro trying to close the doors, but they can't do it 'cause there's so many people jammed in there, blocking the doors.

(SOUNDBITE OF TONE)

OTIS: After nearly two hours of travel, Maribel exits the subway for her job at the attorney general's office. I follow Yorman to the Transportation Ministry⁷, where he earns about $4 per month as a truck driver. Yorman is 45 minutes late, yet he's still beaten most of his colleagues to work. Others have stopped coming, an option that Yorman contemplates⁸.

Y. JIMENEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

OTIS: "I've thought about quitting my job," Yorman says. "I've also thought about leaving Venezuela for good." For NPR News, I'm John Otis in Caracas, Venezuela.

1 authoritarian   

n./adj.专制(的)，专制主义者，独裁主义者

参考例句：

• Foreign diplomats suspect him of authoritarian tendencies.各国外交官怀疑他有着独裁主义倾向。
• The authoritarian policy wasn't proved to be a success.独裁主义的政策证明并不成功。

2 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 fabric   

n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织

参考例句：

• The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
• I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。

5 jerseys   

n.运动衫( jersey的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The maximum quantity of cotton jerseys this year is about DM25,000. 平方米的羊毛地毯超过了以往的订货。 来自口语例句
• The NBA is mulling the prospect of stitching advertising logos onto jerseys. 大意：NBA官方正在酝酿一个大煞风景的计划——把广告标志绣上球服！ 来自互联网

6 metro   

n.地铁；adj.大都市的；(METRO)麦德隆(财富500强公司之一总部所在地德国，主要经营零售)

参考例句：

• Can you reach the park by metro?你可以乘地铁到达那个公园吗？
• The metro flood gate system is a disaster prevention equipment.地铁防淹门系统是一种防灾设备。

7 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

8 contemplates   

深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的第三人称单数 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想

参考例句：

• She contemplates leaving for the sake of the kids. 她考虑为了孩子而离开。
• Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them. 事物的美存在于细心观察它的人的头脑中。