VOA慢速英语2020--在新冠病毒期间 农民和供应商为世界提供食物

From Asia to America, the spread of coronavirus has caused huge problems for the systems that usually bring food to people's tables.

For example, the health crisis¹ has closed factories and threatened the meat supply in the United States. People cannot not go to restaurants and markets under stay-at-home orders. Foreign laborers² cannot cross borders to help gather fruits and vegetables at harvest time. And crops are left to die in the fields as workers cannot reach them.

It is forcing suppliers to change their normal processes to deal with harvesting, transporting and distributing food. But many farms and companies are making needed changes quickly.

Cutting out middlemen

Didier Lenoble operates a family farm near Paris. He is now using the internet to sell vegetables. The usual street shops he supplies are temporarily closed because of the coronavirus crisis. "It is a whole new business," he said.

Rungis International Market, Europe's biggest food market, sits just south of Paris. Its online service has increased home deliveries from 250 a month to 6,500 a week in and around the French capital.

In India, Sahyadri Farms now makes daily deliveries to 3,000 city customers. Sahyadri is a cooperative³ in the western state of Maharashtra that processes fruit and vegetables for export.

Customers order online, after India's stay-at-home orders hurt the supply system and left some farmers feeding their crops to animals. A head of the cooperative said Sahyadri is cutting out people in the middle of the supply system and farmers and customers are happy.

In the U.S., restaurant owners and suppliers are trying new ways to reach people. Chicago-based Park and Field sells grocery and meal boxes to families at home. Gunthorp Farms in Lagrange, Indiana is selling chicken directly to customers. That chicken used to only be sold to restaurants.

For some suppliers, the issue has been keeping up with demand for fast-selling basic foods such as eggs, flour and pasta. Pasta and flour makers⁴ in North America and Europe are running some production lines 24 hours a day.

Other suppliers are turning to new groups of workers.

Finding new workers

U.S. fruit company Driscoll's has given jobs to restaurant and hotel workers that lost their jobs during the crisis.

Omar Cortes Arteaga lost his job at an automobile⁵ factory. He now works at Green Gold Farms, a supplier to Driscoll's. Arteaga, and other workers wear masks and have temperature checks before going into the fields. "The job is helping⁶ me with my bills," he said.

Finding seasonal⁷ workers is critical in Europe, where spring harvests are at risk because the usually huge number of migrant laborers cannot leave home.

Spain is the European Union's biggest fruit and vegetable exporter. The country has responded by letting unemployed⁸ people take farm jobs while keeping government aid payments. And it has extended work permits for the foreign laborers already in the country.

In France, 15,000 workers who lost other jobs will help avoid the possible shortage⁹ of foreign laborers this spring. Germany, Britain and Ireland are permitting companies to bring in trained workers from other European Union states on special flights with quarantine measures. And Russia might use prisoners to help out with farming.

The U.S. has exempted¹¹ foreign laborers from a temporary ban on immigration during the crisis to help farms and businesses. And an Iraq official said farm workers were exempted from curfew measures and farmers were permitted to move harvesting machinery¹² around the country.

I'm Alice Bryant.

Words in This Story

delivery - n. the act of taking something to a person or place

distribute - v. to give or deliver something to a store or business

customer - n. someone who buys goods or services from a business

grocery (store) - n. A store that sells food and household supplies

mask - n. a covering used to protect your face or cover your mouth

migrant - n. a person who goes from one place to another especially to find work

quarantine - n. the situation of being kept away from others to prevent a disease from spreading

exempt¹⁰ - adj. not required to do something that others are required to do

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 laborers   

n.体力劳动者，工人( laborer的名词复数 )；（熟练工人的）辅助工

参考例句：

• Laborers were trained to handle 50-ton compactors and giant cranes. 工人们接受操作五十吨压土机和巨型起重机的训练。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Wage-labour rests exclusively on competition between the laborers. 雇佣劳动完全是建立在工人的自相竞争之上的。 来自英汉非文学 - 共产党宣言

3 cooperative   

adj.有合作意向的，合作的；n.合作社（企业）等

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• We decided to set up a cooperative.我们决定开办一家合作社。

4 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 automobile   

n.汽车，机动车

参考例句：

• He is repairing the brake lever of an automobile.他正在修理汽车的刹车杆。
• The automobile slowed down to go around the curves in the road.汽车在路上转弯时放慢了速度。

6 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。

7 seasonal   

adj.季节的，季节性的

参考例句：

• The town relies on the seasonal tourist industry for jobs.这个城镇依靠季节性旅游业提供就业机会。
• The hors d'oeuvre is seasonal vegetables.餐前小吃是应时蔬菜。

8 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。

9 shortage   

n.缺少，缺乏，不足

参考例句：

• The city is suffering a desperate shortage of water.这个城市严重缺水。
• The heart of the problem is a shortage of funds.问题的关键是缺乏经费。

10 exempt   

adj.免除的；v.使免除；n.免税者，被免除义务者

参考例句：

• These goods are exempt from customs duties.这些货物免征关税。
• He is exempt from punishment about this thing.关于此事对他已免于处分。

11 exempted   

使免除[豁免]( exempt的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• His bad eyesight exempted him from military service. 他因视力不好而免服兵役。
• Her illness exempted her from the examination. 她因病而免试。

12 machinery   

n.(总称)机械，机器；机构

参考例句：

• Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗？
• Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。