2007年VOA标准英语-Sierra Leone's Electricity Shortage Charges Up

By Naomi Schwarz
Freetown
30 August 2007

In Sierra Leone's presidential election, electricity has become an important campaign issue. In the crowded capital Freetown residents can go weeks without power, but some of the city's youth, faced also with unemployment that exceeds 70 percent, have turned adversity into opportunity. For VOA, Naomi Schwarz reports the city is full of little shops that offer to cut your hair, charge your phone, and let you play video games, all powered by inexpensive generators².

Electricity shop runs with these low-cost generators

Four or five boys crowd on wooden benches and plastic chairs in a tiny, ramshackle shop on a busy construction-filled road in downtown Freetown. More push up to the window to watch what is going on inside.

The boys are playing video game soccer on a small television.

Less than 20 cents gets you four minutes of playtime.

Shops like these dot every neighborhood. They offer a range of services, from haircuts with electric shavers to pay phone calls.

And for about 35 cents at almost any of the shops, you can charge your cell phone.

Although video games, haircuts, and cell phone charging do not seem related, there is one thing they have in common: they all require electricity. And that is something in short supply in Freetown.

Alvin Williams, who owns and operates the video-game, telephone, and cell phone-charging shop, says it has been more than a week since he has had electricity at home.

"From last Saturday to Sunday and at night, it is gone, so up until now," he said.

But the 22-year-old electrical engineering student turned entrepreneur has been able to turn his city's lack of power into an opportunity for himself. He will use the profits from his shop to pay for school.

"I just decided⁴ to do that because I am a student, so I have no facilities to pay my fees. So I can get the money to pay my fees," he said. "That is why."

The electricity shops operate with small generators.

Williams' Tiger-brand generator¹ sits several feet away, the noise buffered⁵ by the concrete wall of an unfinished building. It cost him about $100.

Williams has been operating his shop for about two months. He said opening it was difficult and expensive, and he has not yet fully⁶ repaid the money he borrowed. But he said he could not find employment any other way.

"I have tried, but some of my friends have jobs, but me, I do not know. But I know that is the law. It is the will of God. Everything has time," he added.

The Bobo Penn Center offers video games and cell phone charging

Unemployment estimates in Sierra Leone top 70 percent and are even higher among youth. This, combined with the poor electricity and severe water shortages, have led many young Sierra Leoneans to say they want the upcoming run-off presidential election to result in a change in government.

Albert Thompson, who operates a generator-powered barber and cell-phone charging shop around the corner says this is why he will not vote for Solomon Berewa, the current vice³ president and candidate for the Sierra Leone People's Party.

"We are looking for a candidate [to bring] the immediate⁷ development we need right now," said Thompson.

In the first round, the candidate from the main opposition⁸ party, Ernest Koroma, garnered⁹ the highest number of votes, about 44 percent.

On September 8, Koroma will face Berewa in the second round.

Political arguing among the players and bystanders in Williams' shop shows that not everyone agrees the ruling party is to blame for the problems in Sierra Leone.

A fervent¹⁰ Berewa supporter, Suma Solo, says the electricity problems are not the fault of the president or his party.

"The president is not the one that did that," said Solo. "We, the Sierra Leoneans, have the problem."

In the meantime, entrepreneurs like Williams will continue to fill the gap. Williams says the name of his shop, Bobo Penn Center, reflects the hardships of living in Freetown that require such shops to exist.

"It is exactly how 'bobo penn' life goes. The hard life. So a really hard life. So that is why we call this place, that is the Bobo Penn Center. That is why," added Williams.

He says bobo penn is a slang phrase that means life his hard, and he says, in Freetown, 'we are all bobo penn.'

1 generator   

n.发电机，发生器

参考例句：

• All the while the giant generator poured out its power.巨大的发电机一刻不停地发出电力。
• This is an alternating current generator.这是一台交流发电机。

2 generators   

n.发电机，发生器( generator的名词复数 )；电力公司

参考例句：

• The factory's emergency generators were used during the power cut. 工厂应急发电机在停电期间用上了。
• Power can be fed from wind generators into the electricity grid system. 电力可以从风力发电机流入输电网。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 buffered   

[医]缓冲的

参考例句：

• The drug buffered his pain. 药物减轻了他的病痛。
• The reaction should be buffered to a pH of between 6 and 11. 应使反应缓冲到pH值为6～11。

6 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

7 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

8 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。

9 garnered   

v.收集并（通常）贮藏（某物），取得，获得( garner的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Mr. Smith gradually garnered a national reputation as a financial expert. 史密斯先生逐渐赢得全国金融专家的声誉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He has garnered extensive support for his proposals. 他的提议得到了广泛的支持。 来自辞典例句

10 fervent   

adj.热的，热烈的，热情的

参考例句：

• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。
• Austria was among the most fervent supporters of adolf hitler.奥地利是阿道夫希特勒最狂热的支持者之一。