美国国家公共电台 NPR Venezuela To Hold Presidential Election But Main Opposition Is Boycotting It

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Venezuelans are being asked to vote in a presidential election tomorrow. The result may seem a foregone conclusion. The autocratic Nicolas Maduro is expected to remain in power despite the economic catastrophe¹ that engulfs² his nation. NPR's Philip Reeves took to the streets of Caracas where he found some deeply worried people.

PHILIP REEVES, BYLINE³: In a Caracas market, a trader's listing the latest prices for fruit and veg. These days, he never has good news. Hyperinflation is devastating⁴ Venezuela.

ARILES LOPEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

REEVES: "Life is so hard," says Ariles Lopez (ph), who sells mangos and plums. "Inflation's killing⁵ us."

Lopez is among those who plans to vote in tomorrow's election in Venezuela. The mainstream⁶ opposition⁷'s boycotting⁸ the poll because it says it's fraudulent. Yet Lopez thinks voting's important because somehow, life here has to change, especially her life. Lopez used to work behind her fruit stall with her husband. Ten months ago, he was attacked in a nearby gas station by two men trying to steal his cellphone.

LOPEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

REEVES: They shot him in the chest, she says, and took his phone. He survived five days. After his murder, her mother, who's diabetic, became ill and went into a coma⁹, she says. There's a dire¹⁰ shortage of medicine in Venezuela. Lopez launched a desperate appeal to her fellow Venezuelans on Facebook.

LOPEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

REEVES: "Thank God we found a woman who had the meds we needed," she says.

(SOUNDBITE OF TRAFFIC NOISE)

REEVES: Talk to Venezuelans, and you hear many stories like this. Hundreds of thousands have fled the country. Lopez would like to go, too. When she tried to get a passport, she says she couldn't afford the $700 bribe¹¹ the officials demanded. A few feet from her stall, Carlos Bellos (ph) is buying a handful of potatoes. He sells hardware, but most of his work's dried up. His income's been rendered almost worthless by the collapse¹² of the currency. He lives on fruit and veg and looks skeletal.

CARLOS BELLOS: (Speaking Spanish).

REEVES: "I won't be voting," says Bellos. He has no faith in government or in the election's principal characters - President Nicolas Maduro and the main challenger, Henri Falcon¹³, a former state governor. Falcon is the focus of much debate in this election. Venezuelans are divided over what to make of him. He used to be in the ruling Socialist¹⁴ Party but left in 2010. He wants to dollarize the economy and allow international humanitarian¹⁵ aid into Venezuela. That's helped him win significant support, although not from Venezuela's opposition.

MARIA CORINA MACHADO: I believe Mr. Falcon is part of the system we're trying to change.

REEVES: Maria Corina Machado is one of the prominent opposition leaders. She believes Falcon's candidacy is legitimizing a fraudulent poll. Maduro's certain to be declared the winner, she says.

MACHADO: This is a farce¹⁶, sham¹⁷ process.

REEVES: Many in the international sphere agree with that, including the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: (Shouting in Spanish).

REEVES: This doesn't deter¹⁸ Maduro supporters, as they rally ahead of an election they're confident is theirs. These include Jose Pimental (ph), who's 23. He says he likes President Maduro...

JOSE PIMENTAL: (Speaking Spanish).

REEVES: ...Because he supports the young. He also buys Maduro's central argument that Venezuela's a victim of an economic war led by the U.S. Maduro still has a core support. And he and the ruling party also control the government's most powerful institutions. Most analysts¹⁹ appear to believe that means he'll remain in power. Back in the fruit market, Ariles Lopez is worried by that. She says no one knows what'll happen after the election as Venezuela's economic disaster further unfolds.

LOPEZ: (Speaking Spanish).

REEVES: "But," she says, "I'm scared. Everyone's scared."

Philip Reeves, NPR News, Caracas.

1 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。

2 engulfs   

v.吞没，包住( engulf的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Hemingway suppresses emtion, Wolfe engulfs the reader in feeling. 海明威感情压抑，沃尔夫却把读者卷进感情的漩涡。 来自辞典例句
• Consumption ideological trend engulfs the entire world at present age. 当今时代，消费主义呈现席卷全球之势。 来自互联网

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 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

5 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

6 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

7 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。

8 boycotting   

抵制，拒绝参加( boycott的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• They're boycotting the shop because the people there are on strike. 他们抵制那家商店，因为那里的店员在罢工。
• The main opposition parties are boycotting the elections. 主要反对党都抵制此次选举。

9 coma   

n.昏迷，昏迷状态

参考例句：

• The patient rallied from the coma.病人从昏迷中苏醒过来。
• She went into a coma after swallowing a whole bottle of sleeping pills.她吃了一整瓶安眠药后就昏迷过去了。

10 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。

11 bribe   

n.贿赂；v.向…行贿，买通

参考例句：

• He tried to bribe the policeman not to arrest him.他企图贿赂警察不逮捕他。
• He resolutely refused their bribe.他坚决不接受他们的贿赂。

12 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

13 falcon   

n.隼，猎鹰

参考例句：

• The falcon was twice his size with pouted feathers.鹰张开羽毛比两只鹰还大。
• The boys went hunting with their falcon.男孩子们带着猎鹰出去打猎了。

14 socialist   

n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的

参考例句：

• China is a socialist country,and a developing country as well.中国是一个社会主义国家，也是一个发展中国家。
• His father was an ardent socialist.他父亲是一个热情的社会主义者。

15 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

16 farce   

n.闹剧，笑剧，滑稽戏；胡闹

参考例句：

• They played a shameful role in this farce.他们在这场闹剧中扮演了可耻的角色。
• The audience roared at the farce.闹剧使观众哄堂大笑。

17 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。

18 deter   

vt.阻止，使不敢，吓住

参考例句：

• Failure did not deter us from trying it again.失败并没有能阻挡我们再次进行试验。
• Dogs can deter unwelcome intruders.狗能够阻拦不受欢迎的闯入者。

19 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。