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Scourge of Power Outages Holding Business Back in Africa

Power outages are a fact of life across much of Africa, with the near-daily blackouts affecting rich and poor countries alike.

A small business in Nairobi that began as a party supply outfit has expanded to serve restaurants and supermarkets - moving more than a ton of ice a day, while their custom-made ice sculptures decorate State House events.

It's an entrepreneurial success story. But Betty Mbithe, office manager of The Ice Man company, said the limits of the country's power supply puts the business in jeopardy.

“Sometime last year when we had three days without power, and we couldn't operate at all, because the machines need power, the cold room needs power, and no work can go on without any power,” she said.

To keep their swans cold and to keep their customers happy, the Ice Man needs a 24-hour supply of power, but relying on Kenya's grid is proving costly, said Mbithe.

“It is a difficult business, especially if the power is high, because everything you make goes to the power, we pay back to the government for power,” Mbithe said.

Africa is facing enormous power challenges. Some 600 million Africans have no access to electricity at all. That is 60% of the population.

Africa consumes less power than any other region in the world, but pays nearly the same average tariffs as the United States, and about twice as much as East Asia.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland this year, African Development Bank President Donald Kaberuka said energy shortages are holding countries back.

“At this moment, every single African country is experiencing energy shortages and power outages. That is costing the continent 2% of GDP. In fact, an African leader says that we are a continent of miracles. If we are growing at 5% without enough electricity, think about what we could do if we had enough electricity,” said Kaberuka.

The African Development Bank says weak infrastructure is the biggest challenge to electricity distribution.

Even richer nations like South Africa and Nigeria have fallen behind because of a lack of investment in power generation.

While each nation presents its own challenges, Kaberuka said increasing the trade of energy across borders may help to create more consistent supplies and bring down prices.

“It is not possible for our individual 54 countries to have energy security from their own domestic resources. We have to create viable regional markets for power. And that is possible,” he said.

Investors are pouring money into renewable energy projects in Africa to help lessen the energy gap, but much more is needed.

Africa's booming population, expected to double by 2050, will continue to put pressure on power supplies.

And failure to improve generation could mean a lot of lost opportunity.

詞匯解析

community

難度：4星核心詞匯，屬常用3000詞

英漢解釋

n.社區(qū)；社會(huì)；公眾；共同體；團(tuán)體；共享；共有；[生]群落

參考例句

用作名詞 (n.)

Community colleges have become popular and their enrollments have increased rapidly.

社區(qū)大學(xué)日漸增多，報(bào)名人數(shù)迅速增長(zhǎng)。

The political community is composed of a number of diverse economic and functional groups.

政治共同體由一系列在經(jīng)濟(jì)上和功能上不同的團(tuán)體組成。

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private

難度：5星基本詞匯，屬常用1000詞

英漢解釋

adj.私人的；個(gè)人的；私下的；私有的；緘默的

n.士兵；列兵

參考例句

用作形容詞 (adj.)

The public is fascinated by the private lives of public figures.

公眾對(duì)社會(huì)名流的私生活具有濃厚的興趣。

用作名詞 (n.)

Soldiers are classified as Private, Specialist Sergeant and Master Sergeant.

士兵分為列兵、專(zhuān)業(yè)軍士、軍士長(zhǎng)。

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competition

難度：4星核心詞匯，屬常用3000詞

英漢解釋

n.競(jìng)爭(zhēng)；比賽

參考例句

用作名詞 (n.)

Everyone in modern society faces keen competitions.

現(xiàn)代社會(huì)的每個(gè)人都面臨著激烈的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。

To our satisfaction, he had got the first prize in the diving competition.

我們滿意的是,他在跳水比賽中獲得了一等獎(jiǎng)。

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so-called

pinlv: hanyin:

英漢解釋

adj.<貶>號(hào)稱的；所謂的

參考例句

用作形容詞 (adj.)

There is no so-called "recipe for success".

所謂“成功的訣竅”是不存在的。

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provided

難度：5星基本詞匯，屬常用1000詞

英漢解釋

conj.假如；若是

adj.預(yù)備好的；提供的

動(dòng)詞provide的過(guò)去式和過(guò)去分詞.

參考例句

用作連詞 (conj.)

Provided that circumstances permit, we shall hold the meeting next week.

只要情況允許，我們下周將舉行會(huì)議。

用作形容詞 (adj.)

To get these features working you first have to install the software provided.

獲得這些功能的工作,你首先必須安裝該軟件提供的。

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patience

難度：4星核心詞匯，屬常用3000詞

英漢解釋

n.耐心；忍耐；毅力

參考例句

用作名詞 (n.)

Her endless patience made her the best nurse in the hospital.

無(wú)限的耐心使她成為這個(gè)醫(yī)院最好的護(hù)士。

Learning to walk again after his accident required great patience.

他出事后重新學(xué)習(xí)走路要有極大的毅力。

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flee

難度：4星核心詞匯，屬常用3000詞

英漢解釋

vi.逃走；消失；逃避；(時(shí)間)飛逝

vt.逃離

參考例句

用作不及物動(dòng)詞 (vi.)

He tried to flee from the police in a stolen car.

他企圖駕駛一輛偷來(lái)的車(chē)從警察局逃走。

He should not flee from responsibility.

他不應(yīng)逃避責(zé)任。

用作及物動(dòng)詞 (vt.)

Many refugees have been forced to flee their homeland.

很多難民被迫逃離了祖國(guó)。

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