VOA慢速英语2010-Agriculture Report - In Haiti, a Struggle

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Spring is the time when farmers in Haiti plant about sixty percent of their crops. But this spring is a struggle with disaster.

The January twelfth earthquake flattened¹ much of Haiti's capital and surrounding areas. It left more than two hundred thousand people dead and about a million homeless.

International recovery plans include helping² Haiti expand food production. But many farmers lost their tools in the quake. Landslides³ buried equipment.

And now seasonal⁴ rains do not make the situation any easier. The rains continue through May and June.

Many farmers need money for seeds and fertilizer. Sabine Wilke of the aid group CARE says many also lack the money to hire help to prepare the land.

SABINE WILKE: "For the planting, they also need local labor⁵. And since they do not have enough money to hire people, the work will simply not be done."

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says it has delivered tools and seeds to thousands of families in the earthquake area.

A Haitian woman selling rice and dry products in Port-au-Prince.

The quake was centered near Port-au-Prince. An estimated six hundred thousand people left for the countryside. Experts say it will be difficult to feed them. Food prices are high, and many people fled the capital with only the clothes they were wearing.

Gerald Murray at the University of Florida is an expert on Haiti. Professor Murray says many rural families have taken in relatives and friends who lost homes and jobs. "There may be enough to eat for a while," he says, "but before too long there may be hunger."

Farming is about sixty percent of Haiti's economy. But most food comes from imports.

Before the earthquake, the Haitian government and private groups were working to improve agriculture.

Deforestation has traditionally been a major problem for farmers. Few trees remain to protect soil from floods, droughts and severe storms.

In the sixteen hundreds Haiti’s French colonizers cleared forests to plant sugar cane⁶. In the nineteen fifties, forests were cut down for wood and other products.

Poor technology and poor roads also reduced agricultural production. So did animal and plant diseases. Farmers moved to cities to do other work.

Professor Murray says the average farm in Haiti measures about one or one and a half hectares. And the fields are commonly divided between level ground and a mountainside.

And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report, written by Jerilyn Watson with additional reporting by Steve Baragona. I’m Bob Doughty⁷.

 

1 flattened   

[医]（水）平扁的，弄平的

参考例句：

• She flattened her nose and lips against the window. 她把鼻子和嘴唇紧贴着窗户。
• I flattened myself against the wall to let them pass. 我身体紧靠着墙让他们通过。

2 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。

3 landslides   

山崩( landslide的名词复数 )； （山坡、悬崖等的）崩塌； 滑坡； （竞选中）一方选票占压倒性多数

参考例句：

• Landslides have cut off many villages in remote areas. 滑坡使边远地区的许多村庄与外界隔绝。
• The storm caused landslides and flooding in Savona. 风暴致使萨沃纳发生塌方和洪灾。

4 seasonal   

adj.季节的，季节性的

参考例句：

• The town relies on the seasonal tourist industry for jobs.这个城镇依靠季节性旅游业提供就业机会。
• The hors d'oeuvre is seasonal vegetables.餐前小吃是应时蔬菜。

5 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

6 cane   

n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的

参考例句：

• This sugar cane is quite a sweet and juicy.这甘蔗既甜又多汁。
• English schoolmasters used to cane the boys as a punishment.英国小学老师过去常用教鞭打男学生作为惩罚。

7 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。