介绍： U.S. Oil Blockade of Venezuela Pushes Cuba Toward Collapse
Cubans are going hungry, suffering from spreading disease and sleeping outdoors with no electricity to power fans through the sweltering nights. A quarter of the population has fled during the island's most prolonged economic crisis.
And it's about to...

介绍： U.S. Oil Blockade of Venezuela Pushes Cuba Toward Collapse
Cubans are going hungry, suffering from spreading disease and sleeping outdoors with no electricity to power fans through the sweltering nights. A quarter of the population has fled during the island's most prolonged economic crisis.
And it's about to get worse.
The U.S. is ratcheting up pressure on Havana's key benefactor, Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro's regime. Now Venezuelan oil exports are at risk thanks to a partial blockade targeting sanctioned tankers—the kind that carry about 70% of the country's crude.
One tanker that the U.S. has already seized was en route with almost two million barrels of Venezuelan oil.
The blockade adds to a U.S. pressure campaign on Maduro that also includes a major military buildup in the Caribbean, airstrikes on boats allegedly connected to Venezuelan drug trafficking and threats of bombing the country itself.
Were Venezuela's oil shipments to stop, or sharply decline, the Cubans know it would be devastating.
The Cuban government can do little to deter the military might of the U.S., but it has railed against the American buildup in the Caribbean and in particular the tanker seizure.
"Reminiscent of the times of Drake and Morgan, Donald Trump has just unleashed his pirates on a Venezuelan oil tanker, shamelessly seizing the cargo like a vulgar thief," Cuba's President Miguel Díaz-Canel said on a recent day. "The enemy's rules are that there are no rules."
生词好句
oil blockade 石油封锁
block v. 拦截，阻拦
blockade n. 封锁
economic blockade 经济封锁
naval blockade 海上封锁
sweltering 英 [ˈsweltərɪŋ] 美 [ˈsweltərɪŋ] adj. 热到让人难受的，酷热耐热的（extremely hot and makes you feel uncomfortable）
ratchet up 层层加码，逐步升级（形容一种不断拧紧、加重的状态）
ratchet n. 棘轮 v. 使......逐渐变化（增加或减少）
ratchet something up/down 不断增加或降低......
ratchet up sanctions 不断升级制裁
ratchet up confrontation 对抗不断升级
thanks to 由于，因为（due to）；拜……所赐（带反讽意味）
tanker 英 [ˈtæŋkə] 美 [ˈtæŋkər] n. 油轮（用于海上运输石油的巨型油轮）
crude 英 [kruːd] 美 [kruːd] （本文）n. 原油（未经加工的石油）；adj. 粗糙简陋的；粗俗的
a crude comment 粗俗的评论
barrel 英 [ˈbærəl] 美 [ˈbærəl] （本文）n.（石油计量单位） 桶（a unit of measurement for oil, equal to 159 litres）
deter 英 [dɪˈtɜː(r)] 美 [dɪˈtɜːr] v. 阻止，遏制
nuclear deterrence 核威慑
might 英 [maɪt] 美 [maɪt] n. 霸权；力量（power or force）
rail 英 [reɪl] 美 [reɪl] v. 强烈谴责
rail against injustice 谴责不公
unleash 英 [ʌnˈliːʃ] 美 [ʌnˈliːʃ] v. 释放，放出
unleash his passion 突然释放难以抑制的热情