2006年VOA标准英语-Horn of Africa Facing Humanitarian Catastr

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
15 January 2006

The World Food Program is intensifying¹ its appeal on behalf of millions of people in drought-stricken Horn of Africa who are threatened with hunger. WFP says it is issuing its warning in advance of an African Union summit later this month, in hopes African leaders will take up this pressing issue.

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During its summit (Jan. 23-24), the African Union will be focusing on the problems of regional stability arising from the conflict in Sudan's province of Darfur. The World Food Program hopes to focus the leaders' attention on the humanitarian² catastrophe³ it says is coming to a head in the Horn of Africa.

World Food Program staff check the ration⁴ card of a woman waiting to receive food aid that had been trucked into the drought-stricken southern Somali town of Wajid from neighboring Kenya  
  
WFP says nearly $200 million is urgently needed to provide emergency food aid for an estimated 5.4 million drought victims in Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti and Ethiopia.

WFP Spokesman Simon Pluess says, the region is suffering the worst drought in a decade.

"We notice that children's health and nutritional⁵ situation is rapidly deteriorating⁶, because many of them are just eating one meal each day," he said. "And, what we also see is that there is a lot of livestock⁷ dying away in large numbers from exhaustion⁸, and because of lack of water and food. In northeastern Kenya, for example, it is a very arid⁹ region. Women and small children are begging at roadsides for drinking water and food from motorists."

The World Food Program currently is feeding 1.1 million people in Kenya. It fears that number will more than double in the coming months.

WFP says the emergency facing the Horn of Africa today is the result of successive seasons of failed rains.

Mr. Pluess says all four countries are in desperate need of help. But, Somalia's difficult situation is compounded by conflict.

"We have the southern regions of Somalia, where the situation is deteriorating rapidly, with an estimated 1.4 million people that are in urgent need of assistance," added Pluess. "That mainly comes because of the poor deyr rains in October and November. Somalia has the worst cereal harvest in a decade. And, we see many pastoralists in the south that are forced to concentrate along rivers and in the few remaining green pastures."

Making the situation even worse, Pluess says, piracy¹⁰ has hampered¹¹ WFP's efforts to provide food aid. Last year, two ships carrying relief food to Somalia were hijacked¹², forcing WFP to find alternative delivery routes. Pluess says the agency now uses road transport through northern Kenya, as well as Djibouti. He says both routes are more expensive and slower.

1 intensifying   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的现在分词 )；增辉

参考例句：

• The allies are intensifying their air campaign. 联军部队正加大他们的空战强度。 来自辞典例句
• The rest of the European powers were in a state of intensifying congestion. 其余的欧洲强国则处于越来越拥挤的状态。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史

2 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。

3 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。

4 ration   

n.定量(pl.)给养，口粮；vt.定量供应

参考例句：

• The country cut the bread ration last year.那个国家去年削减面包配给量。
• We have to ration the water.我们必须限量用水。

5 nutritional   

adj.营养的，滋养的

参考例句：

• A diet lacking in nutritional value will not keep a person healthy.缺乏营养价值的饮食不能维持人的健康。
• The labels on food products give a lot of information about their nutritional content.食品上的标签提供很多关于营养成分的信息。

6 deteriorating   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The weather conditions are deteriorating. 天气变得越来越糟。
• I was well aware of the bad morale and the deteriorating factories. 我很清楚，大家情绪低落，各个工厂越搞越坏。

7 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

8 exhaustion   

n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述

参考例句：

• She slept the sleep of exhaustion.她因疲劳而酣睡。
• His exhaustion was obvious when he fell asleep standing.他站着睡着了，显然是太累了。

9 arid   

adj.干旱的；(土地)贫瘠的

参考例句：

• These trees will shield off arid winds and protect the fields.这些树能挡住旱风,保护农田。
• 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。

10 piracy   

n.海盗行为，剽窃，著作权侵害

参考例句：

• The government has already adopted effective measures against piracy.政府已采取有效措施惩治盗版行为。
• They made the place a notorious centre of piracy.他们把这地方变成了臭名昭著的海盗中心。

11 hampered   

妨碍，束缚，限制( hamper的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The search was hampered by appalling weather conditions. 恶劣的天气妨碍了搜寻工作。
• So thought every harassed, hampered, respectable boy in St. Petersburg. 圣彼德堡镇的那些受折磨、受拘束的体面孩子们个个都是这么想的。

12 hijacked   

劫持( hijack的过去式和过去分词 )； 绑架； 拦路抢劫； 操纵（会议等，以推销自己的意图）

参考例句：

• The plane was hijacked by two armed men on a flight from London to Rome. 飞机在从伦敦飞往罗马途中遭到两名持械男子劫持。
• The plane was hijacked soon after it took off. 那架飞机起飞后不久被劫持了。