商业报道(Business Channel)12-06:美食品价格上涨

Scripts:

Felicia Padley and her youngest daughter Jenny Ella are picking up free helpings¹ of pasta, vegetables and other essentials at a Food Bank in Brooklyn, New York . Padley holds down a fulltime government job but still finds it hard to feed her family of four. She needs the pantry’s help now more than ever as her weekly food bill soars

A year ago it's like about 50 or 60 dollars I would spend at a grocery store and that would include meats, that would include vegetables, fruits, cereals stuff like that. But now I’m spending like a hundred dollars.

Rising food prices are hitting families across the United States hard. Over the past year, egg prices have risen almost 44 percent, fresh milk 21 percent, and poultry² and beef more than 6 percent.

Economists³ say severe weather in the southern US and Australia is partly to blame for the jump in prices at food stores like this one behind me. But many are pointing to another culprit, energy, in particular the rising production of ethanol, a bio-fuel made from corn.

There are some 130 ethanol plants now in operation across the US churning out billions of gallons of this stuff each year. The US hopes ethanol will slash⁴ demand for oil, but to make all that ethanol you need a lot of corn that has sent prices soaring 50 percent in the past year and a half. On top of ethanol there’s also the spike⁵ in the price of crude oil which makes it more expensive to transport and package foods. Some say demand for food and fuel are on a collision course that could have disastrous⁶ consequences.

What we are looking at in a sense is direct competition between the 860 million people in the world who own automobiles⁷ and who want to maintain their mobility⁸ and the 2 billion poorest people in the world who simply want to survive. Others say demand may be outpacing supply now but the market will eventually adjust.

We’ll continue to grow and really that’s a good thing. But people will also produce more. There’s an old saying at economics says the solution to high prices is high prices. What’s going to happen is that people are going to be provided an economic incentive⁹ to plant more.

That should help solve the increase in prices. For now though, families struggle. 30 new families are walking into this Brooklyn pantry each day in need of help. This upcoming winter could be a bitter one indeed for many across the United States finding it hard to afford the food basics.

Maggie Lake, CNN New York.

Notes:

collision course: A course, such as that of moving objects or opposing philosophies, that will end in impact or conflict if permitted to continue unchanged or unabated

1 helpings   

n.（食物）的一份( helping的名词复数 )；帮助，支持

参考例句：

• You greedy pig! You've already had two helpings! 你这个馋嘴！你已经吃了两份了！
• He had two helpings of pudding. 他吃了两客布丁。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 poultry   

n.家禽，禽肉

参考例句：

• There is not much poultry in the shops. 商店里禽肉不太多。
• What do you feed the poultry on? 你们用什么饲料喂养家禽?

3 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 slash   

vi.大幅度削减；vt.猛砍，尖锐抨击，大幅减少；n.猛砍，斜线，长切口，衣衩

参考例句：

• The shop plans to slash fur prices after Spring Festival.该店计划在春节之后把皮货降价。
• Don't slash your horse in that cruel way.不要那样残忍地鞭打你的马。

5 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

6 disastrous   

adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的

参考例句：

• The heavy rainstorm caused a disastrous flood.暴雨成灾。
• Her investment had disastrous consequences.She lost everything she owned.她的投资结果很惨，血本无归。

7 automobiles   

n.汽车( automobile的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• When automobiles become popular,the use of the horse and buggy passed away. 汽车普及后，就不再使用马和马车了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Automobiles speed in an endless stream along the boulevard. 宽阔的林荫道上，汽车川流不息。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 mobility   

n.可动性，变动性，情感不定

参考例句：

• The difference in regional house prices acts as an obstacle to mobility of labour.不同地区房价的差异阻碍了劳动力的流动。
• Mobility is very important in guerrilla warfare.机动性在游击战中至关重要。

9 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。