VOA标准英语2014--洪水威胁索马里食物安全

 

Floods Threaten Somali Food Security 洪水威胁索马里食物安全

After a poor rainy season early this year, parts of southern Somalia now are being hit with severe floods. The rainy season that began in October has caused flooding along the Shebelle and Juba Rivers. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization warns that’s making ongoing¹ food insecurity even worse.

The U.N. estimates more than one-million people in Somalia are in urgent need of assistance – a 20-perent increase in the past six months. What’s more, it says another two-million people are facing threats to their food security.

Much of Somalia’s farming takes place along the Shabelle and Juba Rivers. Along the Shabelle, the town of Belet Weyne is the worst hit. Along the Juba, flooding is reported in Dollow, Jilib and Jamame.

The FAO’s Acting² Head of Office for Somalia Luca Alinovi said the embankments have not been maintained – making it much easier for the rivers to overflow³ and inundate⁴ agricultural land.

“So that has implications directly for the people in the town. But also it has a lot of implications for both the people in the rural area and their capacity of producing crops, but also sustaining animals,” he said.

The Gu rainy season runs from April to June in Somalia.  But this year, it was a poor one, causing agricultural production to drop 35-percent below the average.

Memories of the 2011 famine are still fresh. Hundreds of thousands of people died. Humanitarian⁵ officials are worried it could happen again. Alinovi said food security indicators⁶ are warning of problems ahead.

“What happened in 2011, which eventually led to the famine situation, was that we had those bad indicators – and had a very poorly funded humanitarian appeal, which is exactly what is happening today.”

Alinovi said only 34-percent of the 2014 humanitarian appeal for Somalia has been received.

“If we don’t support the people who produce the food where they are, what is happening is that they move out and they become displaced and refugees as it happened several times during crises. We don’t want this happening again. And more over, we have a double effect because the people displaced become people in need of support,” he said.

The current rainy season – the Dayr – is the shortest and usually ends in December. But it’s just begun. So it’s not known when heavy rains will subside⁷ and allow the flood waters to recede⁸.

The Food and Agriculture Organization said the Somalis in rural areas are still not resilient enough to withstand constant shocks to the food system. Alinovi said that takes years to accomplish.

“If we don’t continue to provide consistent support to the farmers where they are – to the pastoralists where they are – to the fisherman where they are – helping⁹ them to manage this variability of risk which happens every few minutes – we will end up to have people with their capacity more and more eroded¹⁰.”

The FAO said the combination of poor rains and floods have hurt both cereal and livestock¹¹ production. At the same time, conflict involving the al-Shabab militant¹² group has disrupted trade routes. As a result food prices have soared in some areas.

The U.N. agency estimated with current donor¹³ funds it can assist about 210,000 people through December. It said an additional $49-million dollars is needed to extend assistance to another 140,000 people through the first half of 2015. 

1 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

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 overflow   

v.(使)外溢，(使)溢出；溢出，流出，漫出

参考例句：

• The overflow from the bath ran on to the floor.浴缸里的水溢到了地板上。
• After a long period of rain,the river may overflow its banks.长时间的下雨天后，河水可能溢出岸来。

4 inundate   

vt.淹没，泛滥，压倒

参考例句：

• If the dam breaks,it will inundate large parts of the town.如果水坝坍塌，该城的大部分将被淹没。
• The course changes frequently,and the area is so flat that a small change in the level of the river may inundate a considerable area.河道变化多端，下游地区却很平坦，水位少许上涨河流就会淹没一大片土地。

5 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。

6 indicators   

（仪器上显示温度、压力、耗油量等的）指针( indicator的名词复数 )； 指示物； （车辆上的）转弯指示灯； 指示信号

参考例句：

• The economic indicators are better than expected. 经济指标比预期的好。
• It is still difficult to develop indicators for many concepts used in social science. 为社会科学领域的许多概念确立一个指标仍然很难。

7 subside   

vi.平静，平息；下沉，塌陷，沉降

参考例句：

• The emotional reaction which results from a serious accident takes time to subside.严重事故所引起的情绪化的反应需要时间来平息。
• The controversies surrounding population growth are unlikely to subside soon.围绕着人口增长问题的争论看来不会很快平息。

8 recede   

vi.退(去)，渐渐远去；向后倾斜，缩进

参考例句：

• The colleges would recede in importance.大学的重要性会降低。
• He saw that the dirty water had begun to recede.他发现那污浊的水开始往下退了。

9 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。

10 eroded   

adj. 被侵蚀的，有蚀痕的 动词erode的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• The cliff face has been steadily eroded by the sea. 峭壁表面逐渐被海水侵蚀。
• The stream eroded a channel in the solid rock. 小溪在硬石中侵蚀成一条水道。

11 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。

12 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

13 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。