VOA常速英语2008年-Leftists Shut Down Mexican Congress to Block En

By Greg Flakus
Houston
11 April 2008

This has been a turbulent week in Mexico, where leftist militants¹ continue to hold both houses of Congress in protest of an energy reform bill sent to the legislative² body by President Felipe Calderon. As VOA's Greg Flakus reports from Houston, both sides in the conflict say they are fighting for the country's energy future.

On Thursday militants from the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, along with representatives of other leftist parties took to the streets outside the Mexican Congress building while elected members from those parties went inside and staged a takeover.

The disruption of normal legislative routine was not unprecedented³. The same groups had tried to block the inauguration⁴ oath of President Felipe Calderon when he took office in December, 2006. Such disruption is beyond the authority of the police and security guards who protect the Congress because the action is being carried out by elected members of the legislative body.

Former PRD presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who is widely seen as the intellectual author of the takeover, spoke⁵ to the Mexican people in a radio address to explain his position.

He says it is vital to stop the energy reform bill sent to Congress by President Calderon because it is merely a veiled attempt to privatize the state-owned energy sector⁶. He says the future of Mexico depends on keeping the nation's oil and gas reserves out of the hands of private investors⁷, especially foreign investors.

President Calderon, in presenting his reform package Tuesday, argued that the future of Mexico depends on just such an opening to private companies.

He says Mexico's state-owned oil company, PEMEX, does not have the resources or technology to exploit known reserves in the Gulf⁸ of Mexico and that production from current wells is declining. Mexico, which is currently ranked as the world's fifth largest oil producer, nationalized its energy industry in 1938.

Experts say in ten years time Mexico will not be producing enough oil to meet its own needs, let alone have oil to export, unless new production can be brought online soon. The energy reform bill would allow a limited opening to private companies to share in oil revenues with PEMEX in exchange for developing new fields. The proposal would also allow foreign participation⁹ in building refineries¹⁰. Mexico currently relies on imports of some gasoline from the United States because of its lack of refinery¹¹ capacity.

Calderon also argues that his proposal would create hundreds of new jobs and sources of revenue for the country that would help reduce poverty. With backing from his own National Action Party and members of the Institutional Revolutionary Party that once ruled Mexico for seven decades, Calderon saw an opportunity to get the measure passed in the legislature, but the minority leftist parties, led by Lopez Obrador are planning major disruptions all over the country to block any progress on the bill.

A top Mexico expert in the United States, George Grayson of the College of William and Mary, who is also author of a book about Lopez Obrador, says the firebrand leftist leader is unlikely to engage in dialogue to resolve the dispute.

Lopez Obrador lives in his own world. He is completely out of touch with the global economy and he claims that, somehow, by taxing the rich money can be developed so that PEMEX can do the drilling and build the refineries and construct the pipelines¹² that will be necessary to keep Mexico from transforming from an exporter nation to an importer nation.

Lopez Obrador and his defenders¹³ argue that no plan involving the nation's oil and gas resources should be considered partly because of the scandalous outcome of privatizations in the early 1990's, which most Mexicans view as having been disadvantageous to the country.

But leading political commentators¹⁴ and intellectuals like historian Enrique Krauze have called on Lopez Obrador and his followers¹⁵ to end their takeover of the Congress. They say that is the forum¹⁶ where democratically elected officials should discuss and debate the reform proposal in all its aspects. Ruling party officials say they will not bow to pressure and threats of violence in order to end the standoff.

1 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

2 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。

3 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。

4 inauguration   

n.开幕、就职典礼

参考例句：

• The inauguration of a President of the United States takes place on January 20.美国总统的就职典礼于一月二十日举行。
• Three celebrated tenors sang at the president's inauguration.3位著名的男高音歌手在总统就职仪式上演唱。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

7 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

8 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

9 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

10 refineries   

精炼厂( refinery的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The efforts on closedown and suspension of small sugar refineries, small saccharin refineries and small paper mills are also being carried out in steps. 关停小糖厂、小糖精厂、小造纸厂的工作也已逐步展开。
• Hence the sitting of refineries is at a distance from population centres. 所以，炼油厂的厂址总在远离人口集中的地方。

11 refinery   

n.精炼厂，提炼厂

参考例句：

• They built a sugar refinery.他们建起了一座榨糖厂。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。

12 pipelines   

管道( pipeline的名词复数 )； 输油管道； 在考虑（或规划、准备） 中； 在酿中

参考例句：

• The oil is carried to the oil refinery by pipelines. 石油通过输油管输送到炼油厂。
• The oil carried in pipelines. 石油用管道输送。

13 defenders   

n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者

参考例句：

• The defenders were outnumbered and had to give in. 抵抗者寡不敌众，只能投降。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• After hard fighting,the defenders were still masters of the city. 守军经过奋战仍然控制着城市。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 commentators   

n.评论员( commentator的名词复数 )；时事评论员；注释者；实况广播员

参考例句：

• Sports commentators repeat the same phrases ad nauseam. 体育解说员翻来覆去说着同样的词语，真叫人腻烦。
• Television sports commentators repeat the same phrases ad nauseam. 电视体育解说员说来说去就是那么几句话，令人厌烦。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

16 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。