2006年VOA标准英语-Food Security, Population Movements and Health

By William Eagle
Washington,DC
29 December 2006

The political scene in West Africa showed improvement last year with elections in Liberia, where a 14-year civil war had spread refugees and violence to surrounding countries. But tensions continued in Ivory Coast, which remains¹ divided between the rebel-held north and government-controlled south.

Economic, political and even environmental and climate-related issues like flooding have contributed to population movements in the region.

Over 900 thousand people in West Africa are internally displaced. Many countries also are host to a substantial number of refugees: The Gambia is has about 6,500 people fleeing violence in Senegal’s southern Casamance region. And Senegal itself has more than 20,000 refugees and 64,000 internally displaced.

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The population movements have led to malnourishment and increased vulnerability to diseases like yellow fever, meningitis, and cholera². UN official Maya Siblini says humanitarian³ efforts are focused on dealing⁴ with outbreaks that occur mainly in the rainy season, when the effects can be more deadly. “For example, cholera outbreaks in 2005/2006 resulted in more than 700 deaths; every year 10,000 to 20,000 people are affected⁵ by meningitis, mainly children under five years old.”

Siblini is the spokeswoman for the UN’s Office for the Coordination⁶ of Humanitarian Affairs in Dakar, Senegal.

In another health-related issue, she says more than 300,000 children die each year from malnutrition⁷: “Food could be available in the market but people, mainly for economic reasons, do not have the means to access food.”

She says UN humanitarian agencies are asking donors⁸ for $309 million over the next 12 months to help provide relief to all of West Africa, with a separate appeal of $56 million for Ivory Coast alone.

Siblini says, “There are 65 projects covering food security and nutrition in the Sahel, and rapid response to health crises because West Africa and Africa as a whole is very prone⁹ to epidemics¹⁰. A third sector¹¹ is protection of population movements ensuring that human rights for refugees and internally displaced people.”

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She said the appeals “give you a global overview¹², a global assessment¹³ of needs and above all, it allows coordination…. It remains the best way [of providing] humanitarian assistance and not [only] hope.”

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1 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

2 cholera   

n.霍乱

参考例句：

• The cholera outbreak has been contained.霍乱的发生已被控制住了。
• Cholera spread like wildfire through the camps.霍乱在营地里迅速传播。

3 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。

4 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。

5 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

6 coordination   

n.协调，协作

参考例句：

• Gymnastics is a sport that requires a considerable level of coordination.体操是一项需要高协调性的运动。
• The perfect coordination of the dancers and singers added a rhythmic charm to the performance.舞蹈演员和歌手们配合得很好，使演出更具魅力。

7 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。

8 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 prone   

adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的

参考例句：

• Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
• He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。

10 epidemics   

n．流行病

参考例句：

• Reliance upon natural epidemics may be both time-consuming and misleading. 依靠天然的流行既浪费时间，又会引入歧途。
• The antibiotic epidemics usually start stop when the summer rainy season begins. 传染病通常会在夏天的雨季停止传播。

11 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。

12 overview   

n.概观，概述

参考例句：

• The opening chapter gives a brief historical overview of transport.第一章是运输史的简要回顾。
• The seminar aims to provide an overview on new media publishing.研讨会旨在综览新兴的媒体出版。

13 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？