美国有线新闻 CNN 供电还未完全恢复 委内瑞拉又遇供水危机

 

From the South Pacific, we're taking you to South America. Last week, we reported on a rare widespread blackout in Venezuela that added to the country's economic and political problems. Electricity went out in 19 of Venezuela's 23 states.

And while the government's information minister says the outage has been completely restored, CNN teams on the ground there say this is true for a lot of the capital, Caracas, but the lights aren't on everywhere.

Another issue all this created was a water shortage. 70% of Caracas now has drinking water, and 80% of the rest of the country-- again, according to its information minister.

But while the Venezuelan government accuses the United States and Venezuela's opposition¹ leader for trying to b?ring down the electrical grid², the priority for many residents is getting their taps to run clean.

PAULA NEWTON: At its worst, the blackout triggered a water crisis so severe, there was a degrading scramble³ for water — any water, even dirty water, whatever the drainage pipes in the stream could offer up.

The water shortage has e?ased up a bit, but not the indignity⁴ of finding water wherever and however you can, even coming from inside a highway tunnel and an open pipe.

I mean, look at this water. It is not clean. There is debris⁵ in the water. There is garbage. There are insects. And yet people are very desperate, and they're happy to have this water right now, telling me that they are using it for bathing and for anything else that they need to be doing. They know they can't drink it, but right now this is all they have.

(SPEAKING SPANISH)

PAULA NEWTON: It's tough, it's very tough, he tells me, we need water for everything. If we don't have water, we can't do anything. Black goop, instead of water, ran through these faucets⁶ when the power did come back on. Residents posted on social media of a water system rarely maintained or repaired.

Ana Ramirez says she's afraid that now the water system will never recover. She's done without in her tiny apartment in the barrio of Petare since the blackouts started last week. And Venezuela is still running out of water.

Unthinkable in a country once blessed with vast water resources, years of neglect and now drought have left many struggling and scavenging to get water, as it too has now become a luxury.

Paula Newton, CNN, Caracas.

1 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。

2 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。

3 scramble   

v.爬行，攀爬，杂乱蔓延，碎片，片段，废料

参考例句：

• He broke his leg in his scramble down the wall.他爬墙摔断了腿。
• It was a long scramble to the top of the hill.到山顶须要爬登一段长路。

4 indignity   

n.侮辱，伤害尊严，轻蔑

参考例句：

• For more than a year we have suffered the indignity.在一年多的时间里,我们丢尽了丑。
• She was subjected to indignity and humiliation.她受到侮辱和羞辱。

5 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

6 faucets   

n.水龙头( faucet的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Water faucets shall be chrome-plated type with ball valve. 水龙头外表为铬镀层。 来自互联网
• The plumber came that afternoon and fixed the faucets in some minutes. 当天下午，管子工来了，几分钟内便把水龙头安装好。 来自互联网