美国国家公共电台 NPR Food Assistance Payments Came Early But Have To Last Until March

 

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

People who get grocery money through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are getting their benefits for next month now. The federal program that used to be called food stamps, now called SNAP¹, has issued its last payment to states until at least March while the government is shut down. People who use that money are spending it without knowing when the next payment will come. Montana Public Radio's Nick Mott reports.

NICK MOTT: Sabrina Rubich is shopping for milk, bananas and other basics with her 9-month-old son, Kenny.

KENNY: (Crying).

SABRINA RUBICH: I get it. You're, like, full of stranger danger. I get it. It's all good.

MOTT: She's one of about 39 million people who depend on SNAP each month. Rubich works full-time² at an AT&T call center, and her wife stays at home with their two kids. SNAP benefits vary based on income. The four of them get $158 a month. She says it's helping³ them afford groceries while they climb out of debt. But when she first heard SNAP benefits were coming two weeks early and would have to last until at least the end of next month, she thought...

RUBICH: No. They can't be doing that. And then I got a text today and, sure enough, checked my balance on the app. And I was, like, oh, my God. This is real.

MOTT: She says her family's making extra food bank trips to save the money that just dropped until the beginning of February, especially because she doesn't know if the money for March will come in time.

RUBICH: I am losing sleep over this, man.

MOTT: The Department of Agriculture funding for SNAP expires⁴ this weekend. Lorianne Burhop, chief policy officer at Montana Food Bank Network, says her biggest concern right now is making sure recipients⁵ understand their benefits are early and not extra. Many families depend entirely⁶ on SNAP for their food and, even in a normal month, the money doesn't always last long.

LORIANNE BURHOP: A lot of people end up skipping meals, going without in those last couple weeks of the month.

MOTT: She says Montana food banks are doing more to fill some gaps. And the state's calling recipients and sending out fliers to make sure they know the payment they just got has to last. With the government shut down, what's next?

JAMIE PALAGI: I think that's the question on everybody's mind, and I don't have an answer for it.

MOTT: That's Jamie Palagi of the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services.

PALAGI: If the shutdown continues, we all have questions about what will happen in March and potential months beyond that.

MOTT: Palagi says the USDA advised the state to keep taking applications for SNAP. If the government reopens soon enough, the next payment would be issued for the first week of March.

For NPR News, I'm Nick Mott in Missoula.

1 snap   

n.啪地移动，突然断掉；v.猛咬，咬断，谩骂，砰然关上

参考例句：

• He broke off the twig with a snap.他啪地一声把那根树枝折断了。
• These earrings snap on with special fasteners.这副耳环是用特制的按扣扣上去的。

2 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

3 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

4 expires   

期满( expire的第三人称单数 )； 文件、协议等（因到期而）失效； 断气； 逝世

参考例句：

• Copyright expires 50 years after the death of the author. 版权在作者死后50年即行终止。
• You must obtain a new automobile license when your old one expires. 当旧的汽车牌照满期，你得领取新的。

5 recipients   

adj.接受的；受领的；容纳的；愿意接受的n.收件人；接受者；受领者；接受器

参考例句：

• The recipients of the prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者的姓名登在报上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The recipients of prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者名单登在报上。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

6 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。