VOA标准英语2014--粮农组织称南苏丹粮食危机加深

 

FAO: South Sudan Food Insecurity Deepens 粮农组织称南苏丹粮食危机加深

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization says it has less than half the funding it needs to help ensure food security in parts of South Sudan. The agency wants to send emergency livelihood¹ kits² to farmers, fishers and pastoralists as the risk of famine grows.

The FAO has appealed for $108-million for its revised Crisis Response Plan. But so far it’s received just $42-million.

Jeff Tschirley, who’s in charge of the agency’s Emergency and Rehabilitation³ Division, said conflict is complicating⁴ the humanitarian⁵ crisis.

“The situation started off badly in December when the violence started. But in the last six weeks we’ve seen a very sharp deterioration⁶ in the food security situation. More than a third of the population is at level four or level five in the index that we use to measure food security. And there’s a significant risk of an impending⁷ food crisis.”

The conflict has taken a severe toll⁸ on South Sudan.

”Reserves are exhausted⁹. Infrastructure’s been damaged. Assets have been abandoned. Agricultural cycles and such [have] been disrupted. And there’s a major problem with access due to the security situation,” he said.

The areas hardest hit by fighting between government forces and rebels are Jonglei, Upper Nile and Unity¹⁰ States. There are many displaced people there.

Tschirley said, “[You’ve] got camps set up nearly spontaneously by people where they think they might be able to find some security. But it still involves women going out into the countryside to fetch firewood, or for other things, that really exposes them to significant risk. The other states – the ones that are more calm – those are less impacted. In those cases we are actually focusing on boosting food production by providing quality seed and planting materials, veterinary services and things like this.”

The FAO’s emergency livelihood kits contain seeds, fishing hooks and—what it calls – fundamental survival tools.

Tschirley said the FAO would be able to help many more people if it receives the full $108 milliion requested.

“If we are able to get the additional resources to come up to 108 million, we’ll be able to support another two-million people with these livelihood kits. So far, we’re supporting a little over 200,000 vulnerable households. That’s about [1.2 million] people. In this case we’ve targeted the riverine areas. These areas also are in their rainy period. And access becomes more problematic the longer we go into the period,” he said.

The FAO says time is of the essence. The rains could cause floods and further displacement¹¹, as well as a greater lack of access for aid groups. And then there’s the time it takes to grow crops with the seeds in the emergency kits. Tschirley said at least six weeks are needed to grow vegetables big enough to eat.

1 livelihood   

n.生计，谋生之道

参考例句：

• Appropriate arrangements will be made for their work and livelihood.他们的工作和生活会得到妥善安排。
• My father gained a bare livelihood of family by his own hands.父亲靠自己的双手勉强维持家计。

2 kits   

衣物和装备( kit的名词复数 )； 成套用品； 配套元件

参考例句：

• Keep your kits closed and locked when not in use. 不用的话把你的装备都锁好放好。
• Gifts Articles, Toy and Games, Wooden Toys, Puzzles, Craft Kits. 采购产品礼品，玩具和游戏，木制的玩具，智力玩具，手艺装备。

3 rehabilitation   

n.康复，悔过自新，修复，复兴，复职，复位

参考例句：

• He's booked himself into a rehabilitation clinic.他自己联系了一家康复诊所。
• No one can really make me rehabilitation of injuries.已经没有人可以真正令我的伤康复了。

4 complicating   

使复杂化( complicate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• High spiking fever with chills is suggestive of a complicating pylephlebitis. 伴有寒战的高热，暗示合并门静脉炎。
• In America these actions become executive puberty rites, complicating relationships that are already complicated enough. 在美国，这些行动成了行政青春期的惯例，使本来已经够复杂的关系变得更复杂了。

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 deterioration   

n.退化；恶化；变坏

参考例句：

• Mental and physical deterioration both occur naturally with age. 随着年龄的增长，心智和体力自然衰退。
• The car's bodywork was already showing signs of deterioration. 这辆车的车身已经显示出了劣化迹象。

7 impending   

a.imminent, about to come or happen

参考例句：

• Against a background of impending famine, heavy fighting took place. 即将发生饥荒之时，严重的战乱爆发了。
• The king convoke parliament to cope with the impending danger. 国王召开国会以应付迫近眉睫的危险。

8 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

9 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

10 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

11 displacement   

n.移置，取代，位移，排水量

参考例句：

• They said that time is the feeling of spatial displacement.他们说时间是空间位移的感觉。
• The displacement of all my energy into caring for the baby.我所有精力都放在了照顾宝宝上。