78 非洲需要更多援助以战胜饥荒

78 非洲需要更多援助以战胜饥荒

Conference Finds Africa Needs Increased Assistance to Fight Hunger
David Gollust
State Department
28 Jun 2001 00:08 UTC

A three-day conference on the problem of hunger in Africa has ended in Washington with appeals for increased aid to the continent, focused on rural agriculture. The meeting at the State Department included several African leaders and U.S. 1)delegates from government, the private sector¹ and 2)charitable groups.
At the World Food Summit in 1996, leaders resolved to reduce hunger around the globe by half by the year 2015. But at the conference here of "The Partnership² to Cut Hunger in Africa" there was little 3)optimism that the goal can be met on the African continent - in large part because of the AIDS 4)epidemic.
In the keynote speech of the final session, the partnership's African co-chairman, President Alpha Konare of Mali, said there could be more than 400 million hungry people in Africa within a 5)decade, or twice as many as there were during the food summit five years ago.
Mr. Konare said it is 6)pointless to 7)cast blame for the 8)deterioration, but said what is needed is a "head-on" attack of the problem by foreign donor³ countries and the African states themselves. He said outside aid should focus on developing African agriculture but also opening markets to African goods and reducing the continent's debt burden.
Mr. Konare said African leaders should realize that the fight against hunger will require both political and economic reform, 9)eliminating corruption⁴, respect for human and minority rights, and what he called "peace-seeking" policies to end African 10)conflicts.
There was a similar 11)appeal from the conference's U.S. co-chairman, former House International Affairs Committee chairman Lee Hamilton, now head of Washington's Woodrow Wilson Center.
He said open politics and economies are necessary 12)prerequisites for tackling African hunger and poverty. "African nations are the ones who must make the hard choices to reform their political and economic systems, steps that are essential if we are to achieve lasting⁵ progress," he said. "Without good governance, aid of any kind, of any amount, will be largely wasted. Second, we must promote broad-based economic growth strongly grounded in agricultural development as the best 13)vehicle to reduce hunger and poverty. Economic development - not emergency food aid - is the key to cutting hunger over the long term."
Mr. Hamilton said the United States should do more to help reduce African hunger and that actual U.S. aid to Africa is far less than what most Americans think it is.
He also said the many Americans are 14)unaware their country has important security interests in Africa. He added the United States is already "paying heavily" for the spill-over effects of African problems including refugee flows, environmental degradation⁶ and the drug trade.
As the conference was coming to a close, the State Department announced a new $12 million U.S. grant to the World Food Program for 15)refugees in nine African countries. It brought the overall U.S. 16)contribution to the United Nations agency this year to $424 million - nearly 60 per cent of its total 17)receipts.
Mali's President Konare is expected to raise African development issues again Thursday when he joins the leaders of Senegal and Ghana in a meeting with President Bush at the White House.

(1) delegate[5delI^Et]n.代表vt.委派...为代表
(2) charitable[5tFArItEb(E)l]adj.仁慈的, (为)慈善事业的,宽恕的
(3) optimism[5RptImIz(E)m]n.乐观, 乐观主义
(4) epidemic[epI5demIk]adj.流行的, 传染的, 流行性n.(风尚等的)流行, 流行病
(5) decade[5dekeId]n.十年, 十
(6) pointless[5pCIntlIs]adj.无意义的
(7) cast blame for 指责
(8) deterioration n.变坏, 退化, 堕落
(9) eliminate[I5lImIneIt]vt.排除, 消除v.除去
(10) conflict[5kRnflIkt]n.斗争, 冲突vi.抵触, 冲突
(11) appeal[E5pi:l]n.请求, 呼吁vi.求助, 诉请, 要求
(12) prerequisite[pri:5rekwIzIt]n.先决条件adj.首要必备的
(13) vehicle[5vi:Ik(E)l; (?@) 5vi:hIkl]n.交通工具,媒介物, 传达手段
(14) unaware[QnE5weE(r)]adj.不知道的, 没觉察到的
(15) refugee[refjJ:5dVi:; (?@) 5refjJdVi:]n.难民, 流亡者
(16) contribution[kRn5trIbju:t]n.捐献, 贡献, 投稿
(17) receipt[rI5si:t]n.收条, 收据, 收到v.收到

 

1 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

2 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

3 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

4 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。

5 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

6 degradation   

n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变

参考例句：

• There are serious problems of land degradation in some arid zones.在一些干旱地带存在严重的土地退化问题。
• Gambling is always coupled with degradation.赌博总是与堕落相联系。