VOA慢速英语--养活休斯顿的饥民需要每天100万英镑

Feeding Houston’s Hungry: One Million Pounds a Day

The line of cars waiting to receive boxes of food from the Houston Food Bank can be up to a kilometer long.

Based in the state of Texas, the organization is the country's largest food bank. It is offering huge amounts of food to workers who have lost their jobs because of the coronavirus crisis¹, as well as other people in need.

Herman Henton, an unemployed² construction worker, is among those receiving food. His wife works at a home improvement store. She is now the only person in their family of five who has a job. The family tried to get food stamps. But they were told they could only have $25 of federal food assistance each month.

"As a man, as a father, as a provider, I felt at a low point. I felt low," Henton said. He was waiting in his car near West Houston Assistance Ministries³, which gets food from the Houston Food Bank for its care packages.

Food provided by the Houston Food Bank now averages about 800,000 pounds each day. Two pounds is a little less than one kilogram. The organization reached the one-million-pound mark for the first time in the spring, a level it still sometimes reaches.

Before the coronavirus crisis, the group's average daily distribution was 450,000 pounds. That information comes from Brian Greene, president of the Houston Food Bank.

Then, workers in Houston and millions around the country suddenly lost work and were forced to depend on the free food.

"It had that feeling of a disaster, like the hurricanes," Greene said. It was shocking how the lines grew so quickly, he added.

Houston is known as one of America's most ethnically⁴ and racially diverse cities. But it soon became known for something else: being in serious need. The food bank hurried to gather enough milk, bread, vegetables and meat from a lot of places to feed the hungry.

Many people in Houston and around the country do not make a livable wage. Their money is gone by the time they get their next paycheck. Twenty-two million people across the country lost jobs when the coronavirus first hit. Close to 11 million of those jobs have not yet been restored.

Forty percent of American families have less than $400 to pay for unexpected costs, Greene said. The information comes from a study by the U.S. Federal Reserve System. "So, when this crisis hit, the number of families who needed assistance was immediate⁵ and very large," Greene said.

After Henton lost his job, he and his wife ate one meal each day so that their three children could eat all three meals.

His family is one of around 126,500 area families that the Houston Food Bank has helped with boxes of food every week since March. Workers and volunteers separate, load and pack the food onto trucks. The trucks then bring the loads to distribution centers around the city and towns outside the city.

Nationally, free food distribution has risen sharply⁶ and continues to stay high, noted⁷ Katie Fitzgerald. She heads the organization Feeding America, which runs a national network of 200 food banks.

Her group increased the amount of food it distributes to two billion pounds from April through June. During the January-March period, it distributed 1.3 billion pounds.

The federal government has helped meet the demand with programs such as Farmers to Families. The program buys farm goods such as vegetables, meat and diary that had been produced for restaurants that are now closed. It gives these goods to food banks and the distribution groups they work with.

But the money for the U.S. Agriculture Department's Farmers to Families program runs out at the end of October.

Individual food banks also get 20 percent to 40 percent of food they distribute from other government programs. That includes one that helps farmers who were hurt by foreign tariffs⁹. The government buys their vegetables and meats and makes sure that producers get paid and the food does not go to waste. That program is funded so far through 2020.

The food banks get the rest of what they distribute from food markets or farmer donations or buy it with donated money.

Fitzgerald said the nation's food banks have enough food to meet U.S. demand -- for now. But she said distributors "are concerned about the future" as winter nears.

Words in This Story

food stamps – n. federal aid program that helps low-income Americans add to their grocery budgets

care package – n. a package of useful or enjoyable items sent or given as a gift to someone

pound – n. a unit of weight that is equal 0.45 kilograms

distribution – n. the act of giving or delivering something to people

hurricane - n. an extremely large, powerful, and destructive¹⁰ storm with very strong winds that occurs especially in the western part of the Atlantic Ocean

diverse – adj. made up of people or things that are different from each other

tariff⁸ – n. a tax on goods coming into or leaving a country

1 crisis   

n.危机，危急关头，决定性时刻，关键阶段

参考例句：

• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
• The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。

2 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

3 ministries   

（政府的）部( ministry的名词复数 )； 神职； 牧师职位； 神职任期

参考例句：

• Local authorities must refer everything to the central ministries. 地方管理机构应请示中央主管部门。
• The number of Ministries has been pared down by a third. 部委的数量已经减少了1/3。

4 ethnically   

adv.人种上，民族上

参考例句：

• Ethnically, the Yuan Empire comprised most of modern China's ethnic groups. 元朝的民族成分包括现今中国绝大多数民族。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• Russia is ethnically relatively homogeneous. 俄罗斯是个民族成分相对单一的国家。 来自辞典例句

5 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

6 sharply   

adj.锐利地，急速；adv.严厉地，鲜明地

参考例句：

• The plane dived sharply and rose again.飞机猛然俯冲而后又拉了起来。
• Demand for personal computers has risen sharply.对个人电脑的需求急剧增长。

7 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

8 tariff   

n.关税，税率；(旅馆、饭店等)价目表，收费表

参考例句：

• There is a very high tariff on jewelry.宝石类的关税率很高。
• The government is going to lower the tariff on importing cars.政府打算降低进口汽车的关税。

9 tariffs   

关税制度； 关税( tariff的名词复数 )； 关税表； （旅馆或饭店等的）收费表； 量刑标准

参考例句：

• British industry was sheltered from foreign competition by protective tariffs. 保护性关税使英国工业免受国际竞争影响。
• The new tariffs have put a stranglehold on trade. 新的关税制对开展贸易极为不利。

10 destructive   

adj.破坏（性）的，毁灭（性）的

参考例句：

• In the end,it will be destructive of our whole society.它最终会毁灭我们整个社会。
• It is the most destructive storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的一次风暴。