Aid Groups: Gaza, Haiti Are Facing Famine

Aid Groups: Gaza, Haiti Are Facing Famine

　　Aid groups warn that famine, a widespread lack of food, will soon strike two troubled places: Gaza and Haiti.

　　In Gaza

　　The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) is an organization that follows hunger worldwide.

　　On Monday, the group warned that more than one million Gazans could face famine if Israel expands its offensive in the southern city of Rafah. About half of the territory's people are crowded into the city. The report says almost all of them are struggling to get enough food already.

　　"This is the largest number of people facing imminent¹ famine in the world today, and it has only taken five months to occur," said Matthew Hollingworth, the acting² World Food Program country director for the Israeli-occupied territories.

　　The European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called the expected famine "entirely³ manmade," adding, "starvation is used as a weapon of war."

　　Aid groups say that international efforts to ship food by air and sea are too small and too few. The IPC reported that famine could happen in Gaza any time between now and May if fighting does not stop.

　　In Haiti

　　In Haiti, four million people need help with food and about 1.4 million others are on the edge of famine, reports the United Nations World Food Program.

　　Aids organizations compared the situation in Haiti to a war zone. Criminal groups, or gangs, control many parts of the country and prevent aid from reaching its people.

　　Only a few aid organizations have been able to restart operations shut down since February 29. That is when gangs began to attack. They burned police stations, shut down airports and raided prisons, freeing more than 4,000 prisoners.

　　Less than two weeks later, Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced that he would resign from office.

　　Haitian citizen Erigeunes Jeffrand spoke⁴ to the Associated Press about the conditions in his country. He said he used to make a living selling sugar but the recent gang activity ended that. Criminals forced Jeffrand and his four children to flee their neighborhood.

　　"My home was completely destroyed and robbed," he said. "They took everything I have. And now, they're not even letting me work."

　　Jean-Martin Bauer is the Haiti director for the World Food Program. He said last week, "We have supplies for weeks. I'm saying weeks, not months." Bauer added, "That has me terrified."

　　What is famine?

　　The IPC was developed in 2004 during the famine in Somalia. Worldwide, the group says nearly 158 million people face crisis hunger situations or worse.

　　The group says famine is when an entire population or a sub-group of a population is without food, possibly causing death in the short term.

　　In famine, 20 percent of households would have an extreme lack of food, 30 percent of children would suffer from severe malnutrition⁵ and at least two adults or four children per every 10,000 people would die each day because of starvation, malnutrition and disease.

　　While the depth of the food crises in Haiti and Gaza is new, the underlying⁶ conditions are not, said Tobias Stillman, a director of the aid group Action Against Hunger, via email.

　　Even before the war, 80 percent of Gazans depended on humanitarian⁷ aid and about half of all households did not have enough food, he said. In Haiti, millions were already dealing⁸ with emergency levels of hunger and crisis levels of food need.

　　Death from starvation can come "surprisingly quickly," Stillman said. Without food, the body uses carbohydrates⁹ and fats first. When those are gone, muscle and organs begin to break down. Body systems, including digestion¹⁰, start shutting down, which makes it harder to take in nutrients¹¹. Many times, people without food die of common infections. If that does not happen, organs shut down and the heart stops.

　　Children younger than five, pregnant and breastfeeding women, old people and people with underlying health problems are most at risk.

　　Words in This Story

　　imminent - adj. happening very soon

　　occur - v. happen

　　zone - n. an area that is different than other areas

　　disgestion - n. the process by which food is changed inside the body after it is eaten

1 imminent   

adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的

参考例句：

• The black clounds show that a storm is imminent.乌云预示暴风雨即将来临。
• The country is in imminent danger.国难当头。

2 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

3 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。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 malnutrition   

n.营养不良

参考例句：

• In Africa, there are a lot of children suffering from severe malnutrition.在非洲有大批严重营养不良的孩子。
• It is a classic case of malnutrition. 这是营养不良的典型病例。

6 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。

7 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。

8 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

9 carbohydrates   

n.碳水化合物，糖类( carbohydrate的名词复数 )；淀粉质或糖类食物

参考例句：

• The plant uses the carbohydrates to make cellulose. 植物用碳水化合物制造纤维素。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All carbohydrates originate from plants. 所有的碳水化合物均来自植物。 来自辞典例句

10 digestion   

n.消化，吸收

参考例句：

• This kind of tea acts as an aid to digestion.这种茶可助消化。
• This food is easy of digestion.这食物容易消化。

11 nutrients   

n.（食品或化学品）营养物，营养品( nutrient的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a lack of essential nutrients 基本营养的缺乏
• Nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream. 营养素被吸收进血液。 来自《简明英汉词典》