2007年VOA标准英语-Venezuela's Chavez Puts Expanded Powers to Work

By Michael Bowman
Washington
15 February 2007

In late January, Venezuela's national assembly voted to allow President Hugo Chavez to rule by decree for an 18-month period. Since then, Mr. Chavez has moved quickly to nationalize the country's electricity and telecommunications sectors¹, confirmed plans to strip foreign companies of majority stakes in oil projects, and threatened to seize control of supermarkets and other retail² outlets³. VOA's Michael Bowman reports, critics say the president's new powers are unprecedented⁴, and constitute a severe blow to democratic rule.

 
President Hugo Chavez is sworn in by Assembly President Cilia Flores for another six-year term in Caracas, 10 Jan 2007
In a unanimous vote, Venezuela's national assembly, in effect, temporarily disbanded itself. Assembly President Cilia Flores was jubilant afterwards.

"Long live the sovereign nation of Venezuela," she said. "Long live Hugo Chavez. Long live socialism. Fatherland, socialism or death!"

Venezuela is now under one-man rule. Christopher Sabatini, a policy director at the New York-based Council of the Americas, says Venezuela's democratic institutions have been eroded⁵ since Hugo Chavez came to power in 1998 - and his ability to rule by decree vastly accelerates that process.

"This is the most sweeping⁶ power that has ever been given an elected president in Venezuela's history," he said. "This is the dismantling⁷ of a democracy from within."

Venezuelan legal scholars say the country's constitution, like those of many democracies, does permit the president to rule by decree. But the mechanism⁸ is intended for emergency situations, such as natural disasters, and only for brief periods of time.

"The ability to authorize⁹ exceptional powers [to the executive] exists as a legal institution," said Venezuelan constitutional law expert Gerardo Fernandez. "What does not exist in our constitution, nor in any democratic constitution, is the abandonment of the legislative¹⁰ process."

 
Teodoro Petkoff (Apr 2006)
Is Mr. Chavez a de facto dictator? Not yet, according to Venezuelan opposition¹¹ leader and magazine editor Teodoro Petkoff, who nonetheless says he is profoundly troubled by the president's expanded power.

"It opens the door to consolidate¹² what is already a feature of the regime: autocracy," he said. "In practical terms, this is an autocratic regime. All public power is concentrated in the executive, in Chavez. It eliminates whatever vestiges¹³ may have existed of a counterweight to executive power."

For his part, Hugo Chavez downplays concerns, saying citizens can oppose any decree via a national referendum. Furthermore, he says strong measures are justified¹⁴ in the pursuit of a socialist¹⁵ future.

In a recent speech, he said, "History will absolve¹⁶ us. The people will absolve us. We are turning the people's dreams into reality."

In December, President Chavez easily won reelection with more than 60 percent of the vote. Observers say his popularity has been bolstered¹⁷ by heavy spending to provide medical care, educational opportunities, food and housing for the poor.

Yet some see trouble ahead for Venezuela - and Mr. Chavez.

 
An oil platform seen at Maracaibo lake in Cabimas, Venezuela (2005 file photo)
Massive oil revenues have sparked a consumer spending binge at a time of declining private investment and stagnant¹⁸ domestic production. The end result has been shortages of basic goods and runaway¹⁹ inflation.

President Chavez says his "21st Century socialism" program will bring prosperity to all Venezuelans. Christopher Sabatini is skeptical²⁰.

"What 21st Century socialism means, in the Venezuelan context, is basically the indiscriminate doling²¹ out of petroleum²² revenue," he said.

"That is what really lubricates this entire revolution. Socialism in the past was about the means of production - improving the means of production and sharing. There is very little being produced in Venezuela. What is happening is a grand program of state patronage²³ overseen²⁴ by Hugo Chavez," he continued.

Mr. Chavez is widely expected to press for constitutional reform eliminating presidential term limits. He has pledged to remain in power until the year 2030.

1 sectors   

n.部门( sector的名词复数 )；领域；防御地区；扇形

参考例句：

• Berlin was divided into four sectors after the war. 战后柏林分成了4 个区。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Industry and agriculture are the two important sectors of the national economy. 工业和农业是国民经济的两个重要部门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

3 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

5 eroded   

adj. 被侵蚀的，有蚀痕的 动词erode的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• The cliff face has been steadily eroded by the sea. 峭壁表面逐渐被海水侵蚀。
• The stream eroded a channel in the solid rock. 小溪在硬石中侵蚀成一条水道。

6 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

7 dismantling   

（枪支）分解

参考例句：

• The new government set about dismantling their predecessors' legislation. 新政府正着手废除其前任所制定的法律。
• The dismantling of a nuclear reprocessing plant caused a leak of radioactivity yesterday. 昨天拆除核后处理工厂引起了放射物泄漏。

8 mechanism   

n.机械装置；机构，结构

参考例句：

• The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
• The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。

9 authorize   

v.授权，委任；批准，认可

参考例句：

• He said that he needed to get his supervisor to authorize my refund.他说必须让主管人员批准我的退款。
• Only the President could authorize the use of the atomic bomb.只有总统才能授权使用原子弹。

10 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。

11 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。

12 consolidate   

v.使加固，使加强；(把...)联为一体，合并

参考例句：

• The two banks will consolidate in July next year. 这两家银行明年7月将合并。
• The government hoped to consolidate ten states to form three new ones.政府希望把十个州合并成三个新的州。

13 vestiges   

残余部分( vestige的名词复数 )； 遗迹； 痕迹； 毫不

参考例句：

• the last vestiges of the old colonial regime 旧殖民制度最后的残余
• These upright stones are the vestiges of some ancient religion. 这些竖立的石头是某种古代宗教的遗迹。

14 justified   

a.正当的，有理的

参考例句：

• She felt fully justified in asking for her money back. 她认为有充分的理由要求退款。
• The prisoner has certainly justified his claims by his actions. 那个囚犯确实已用自己的行动表明他的要求是正当的。

15 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。

16 absolve   

v.赦免，解除（责任等）

参考例句：

• I absolve you,on the ground of invincible ignorance.鉴于你不可救药的无知，我原谅你。
• They agree to absolve you from your obligation.他们同意免除你的责任。

17 bolstered   

v.支持( bolster的过去式和过去分词 )；支撑；给予必要的支持；援助

参考例句：

• He bolstered his plea with new evidence. 他举出新的证据来支持他的抗辩。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The data must be bolstered by inferences and indirect estimates of varying degrees of reliability. 这些资料必须借助于推理及可靠程度不同的间接估计。 来自辞典例句

18 stagnant   

adj.不流动的，停滞的，不景气的

参考例句：

• Due to low investment,industrial output has remained stagnant.由于投资少，工业生产一直停滞不前。
• Their national economy is stagnant.他们的国家经济停滞不前。

19 runaway   

n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的

参考例句：

• The police have not found the runaway to date.警察迄今没抓到逃犯。
• He was praised for bringing up the runaway horse.他勒住了脱缰之马受到了表扬。

20 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

21 doling   

救济物( dole的现在分词 )； 失业救济金

参考例句：

• "What are you doling?'she once demanded over the intercom. 有一次他母亲通过对讲机问他：“你在干什么？ 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史
• Many scrollbars are quite parsimonious in doling out information to users. 很多滚动条都很吝啬，给用户传递的信息太少。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

22 petroleum   

n.原油，石油

参考例句：

• The Government of Iran advanced the price of petroleum last week.上星期伊朗政府提高了石油价格。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。

23 patronage   

n.赞助，支援，援助；光顾，捧场

参考例句：

• Though it was not yet noon,there was considerable patronage.虽然时间未到中午，店中已有许多顾客惠顾。
• I am sorry to say that my patronage ends with this.很抱歉，我的赞助只能到此为止。

24 overseen   

v.监督，监视( oversee的过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was overseen stealing the letters. 他被人撞见在偷信件。 来自辞典例句
• It will be overseen by ThomasLi, director of IBM China Research Laboratory. 该实验室由IBM中国研究院院长李实恭(ThomasLi)引导。 来自互联网