也门饥荒：食物不足，责任重大

Yemen's Famine: Not Enough Food, and Plenty of Blame

The World Food Program’s decision to suspend parts of its food aid program in Yemen has caused concerns.

Until recently, many Yemeni families received a monthly amount of food from the World Food Program. It included 75 kilograms of wheat, two bottles of cooking oil, sugar, and lentils. The aid stopped because of an argument between the agency and the Houthi officials over who would be in charge of the food distribution system.

U.N. officials now say the Houthi's have agreed to use a new biometric registration¹ system to prevent the theft of food aid. The WFP hopes to restart providing food aid to 850,000 people in Sana’a, Yemen’s capital, soon. But for many of the people suffering hunger during Yemen’s six-year civil war, that is not soon enough.

Mohammed Qaid worries about his four-day-old boy Nazeh. Qaid has seven other children. But he has little hope that he can feed his family.

Qaid is among the thousands of people in Sana’a, a Houthi stronghold, who is dependent on international food aid. His family now survives on leftover² food from Sana’a’s few restaurants.

"We're now sort of dependent on…leftover rice,” he told VOA. “We pay dishwashers $0.80 for collecting leftover rice."

Qaid tells VOA his young sons were crying the morning of the interview because he did not have the money for two eggs. Instead, they just drank tea.

The war in Yemen began in 2014 when the corrupt³, but legitimate⁴, government of President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi was attacked by Iranian–supported Houthi rebels. The internationally recognized government quickly collapsed⁵, and the rebels took the capital. Since then, they have been fighting a coalition⁶ led by Saudi Arabia, which wants to restore the Hadi government.

The conflict has left 13 million Yemeni civilians⁷ without food. U.N. officials say the situation in Yemen is now the world’s largest humanitarian⁸ crisis. It is also one of the largest man-made famines in history.

Both sides in the war are to blame. The Houthi rebels have been accused of unlawfully taking food and reselling it to pay for the war. They often attack supply lines. And Saudi Arabia’s campaign of air strikes has made it nearly impossible for Yemen to produce food. The strikes have also made it very difficult to distribute food aid. The international rights group Human Rights Watch says the Saudi air strikes are “illegal.”

The food shipments that manage to get through often do not make it to those who need it.

Last year, WFP director David Beasley told the U.N. Security Council there is “serious evidence that food was being (stolen) and going to the wrong people.” As many as 60 percent of residents of the capital, he said, were not receiving food.

WFP officials say using a biometric registration will help identify those who need aid the most and limit corruption⁹.

I’m Susan Shand.

Words in this Story

distribution - n. the act of giving things out

biometric – adj. a system of identification that examines eyes, fingerprints¹⁰ and faces

legitimate – adj. true, acknowledged as real

famine - n. a time of little food when people starve

1 registration   

n.登记，注册，挂号

参考例句：

• Marriage without registration is not recognized by law.法律不承认未登记的婚姻。
• What's your registration number?你挂的是几号？

2 leftover   

n.剩货，残留物，剩饭；adj.残余的

参考例句：

• These narrow roads are a leftover from the days of horse-drawn carriages.这些小道是从马车时代沿用下来的。
• Wonder if that bakery lets us take leftover home.不知道那家糕饼店会不会让我们把卖剩的带回家。

3 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

4 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

5 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

6 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

7 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

8 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

9 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

10 fingerprints   

n.指纹( fingerprint的名词复数 )v.指纹( fingerprint的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Everyone's fingerprints are unique. 每个人的指纹都是独一无二的。
• They wore gloves so as not to leave any fingerprints behind (them). 他们戴着手套，以免留下指纹。 来自《简明英汉词典》