คืนค่าการตั้งค่าทั้งหมด
คุณแน่ใจว่าต้องการคืนค่าการตั้งค่าทั้งหมด ?
ลำดับตอนที่ #110 : Venezuelans lose sleep to save electricity
The time change was ordered by President Nicolas Maduro as part
of a package of measures to cope with a severe electricity shortage.
The government already ordered rolling blackouts and reduced the working week for
public sector workers to two days.
Mr Maduro has blamed the energy crisis on a severe drought.
He says the drought has drained the country's hydroelectric dams and its capacity to
generate power. His critics say the crisis is due to mismanagement of the
energy sector.
The government has also ordered schools to close on Fridays and
shopping malls to open only half time and generate their own energy.
When he announced the time change, Science and Technology
Minister Jorge Arreaza said the night-time use of lighting and air conditioning
was especially draining for the national power grid.
"It will be simple to move the clock forward a half hour -
this will allow us to enjoy more daylight, and it wont get dark so early,"
he said.
Oil-rich Venezuela is in the middle of a deep economic crisis
caused by a drop in global oil prices. The country is suffering from a shortage
of basic goods and food.
Mr Maduro has said the situation has been caused by an
"economic war" against his socialist government driven by the
country's business elite
and the United States.
The
opposition in Congress
which took over the legislature
in December has accused Mr Maduro and his government of economic mismanagement
and incompetence.
They have sworn
to drive him from office and have begun gathering the signatures needed to
begin organising a referendum
to remove him from the presidency.
On Saturday they said they had gathered nearly two million
signatures - 10 times the amount required by the country's electoral board.
If the board verifies the signatures, the government's opponents
will then have to collect four million more - to total 20% of voters - for the
board to organise a referendum vote.
For the referendum to be successful, an equal or greater number
of voters than those who elected Mr Maduro would have to cast their vote in
favour of the recall.
Mr Maduro won the 2013 election with 7,587,579 votes.
Meanwhile,
Venezuela's economic crisis has claimed another victim as the country's largest
brewer, Polar,
suspended its operations.
Polar, the largest private company in the country, brews about
70% of the country's beer and Venezuela is one of the highest consumers of the
beverage in Latin America.
Polar has argued that the government has not released enough
dollars to allow it to import malted barley, which Venezuela does not produce.
The government has accused Polar of exaggerating its dollar
requirements and of hoarding.
The stoppage,
which Polar says is temporary, will affect about 10,000 employees.
grapples (v.)
to fight, especially in order to win something
rolling (adj.)
gradual:
blackouts
(n.)
a time when all lights must be hidden by law, or when there is no light or power because of an electricityfailure:
the action taken to make certain that information about something is not reported to the public:
drought (n.)
a long period when there is little or no rain:
grid (n.)
a pattern or structure made from horizontal and vertical linescrossing each other to form squares:
a system of
wires through
which electricity is connected to different power stations across a
region:
a pattern of squares with
numbers or letters used
to findplaces on
a map
elite (n.)
the richest, most powerful, best-educated, or best-trained group in a society:
Congress (n)
a large formal meeting of representatives from countries or societies at which ideas are discussed and information is exchanged:
legislature (n.)
the group of people in a country or part of a country who have the power to make and change laws
incompetent.
(adj.)
not having the ability to do something as it should be done:
sworn (adj.)
formally and officially stated as being true:
referendum (n.)
a vote in which all the people in a country or an area are asked to give their opinion about or decide an importantpolitical or social question:
brewer (n.)
a person or company that makes beer
hoarding (n.)
a very large board on which advertisements are shown, especially at the side of a road:
a temporary fence, usually made of boards, put around an area, especially one where people are building
stoppage
a time when work is stopped because of a disagreementbetween workers and employers
an amount that is taken away from the money that you are paid before you officially receive it:
ความคิดเห็น