农民寻求紧急空难援助

MARGIN⁵: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center; mso-pagination: widow-orphan" align=center>Farmers Seek Emergency Disaster Aid

农民寻求紧急空难援助

 

Legislation introduced this week in the U.S. Congress would provide emergency relief to American farmers in the hurricane-ravaged Gulf¹ Coast and in other parts of the country that are also suffering from extremes of weather.

 

Speaking to reporters on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol building, North Dakota Senator Kent Conrad explained why he's introducing the Emergency Agriculture Disaster Assistance Act of 2005:

 

Kent Conrad: This is a national crisis that requires a national response.

 

Senator Conrad says the bill addresses the enormous agricultural losses caused by Hurricane Katrina, and damage from both floods and severe drought in other key farming areas around the country.

 

The Senate bill would compensate² farmers for crop losses, help offset³ rising energy costs, and give grants to state governments to provide additional aid to growers.

 

North Dakota Congressman⁴ Earl Pomeroy has introduced similar legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives. He says the outlook for farmers in his state is grim unless the law is quickly adopted.

 

Earl Pomeroy: Without it we will see net farm income drop one third to one half in North Dakota. That is the margin between staying in business and leaving the farm for any number of family farmers. We have to pass this response and look forward to work moving this bicameral⁶ legislation. Thank you!

 

That statement brought applause from a group of farmers from all across the United States, who came to Washington to discuss farm policy with their elected officials. Among them, North Dakota farmers Bob and DeAnne Finken (said).

 

Bob: This year we did have some acreage that we were not able to plant because of the overly wet conditions that hit us at the end of our planting season.

 

DeAnne Finken: It definitely has impacted the income and how things are and not just on our farm. There are farmers in the area and each year you see another one dwindle⁷ away and it just affects the population. The schools are losing students. The churches are closing and it just affects everyone in rural America.

 

The farmers hope the proposed relief bill gets a fair hearing in Congress. Producer Bob Finken, whose farm business has suffered weather-related losses four years in a row, worries that the dire⁸ needs of Katrina victims might overshadow the plight⁹ of farmers elsewhere who are suffering from less dramatic but still disastrous¹⁰ extremes of weather.

 

Bob Finken: Just like in droughts in the Midwest, some of them went on for 4,5,6,7,8, years. They didn't have a name like they put on a hurricane. So, in some ways it is hard to compare disasters. Is one worse just because it's named?

 

Named or not, weather disasters last year prompted Congress to appropriate $3 billion in emergency disaster relief for American farmers. That figure is expected to rise dramatically in the wake of Katrina. A full assessment¹¹ of that hurricane's impact on the U.S. agriculture industry is not expected for weeks.

 

I’m Rosanne Skirble.

 

注释：

North Dakota 北达科他州

drought [draut] n. 干旱

compensate [5kCmpEnseit] v. 补偿

grim [^rim] adj. 严酷的

bicameral [bai5kAmErEl] adj. 两院制的，有两个议院的

acreage [5eikEridV] n. 英亩数，面积

overly [5EuvEli] adv. 过度地，极度地

dwindle away 减少，缩小

plight [plait] n. 状态，困境

disastrous [di5zB:strEs] adj. 损失惨重的

1 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

2 compensate   

vt.补偿，赔偿；酬报 vi.弥补；补偿；抵消

参考例句：

• She used her good looks to compensate her lack of intelligence. 她利用她漂亮的外表来弥补智力的不足。
• Nothing can compensate for the loss of one's health. 一个人失去了键康是不可弥补的。

3 offset   

n.分支，补偿；v.抵消，补偿

参考例句：

• Their wage increases would be offset by higher prices.他们增加的工资会被物价上涨所抵消。
• He put up his prices to offset the increased cost of materials.他提高了售价以补偿材料成本的增加。

4 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

5 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

6 bicameral   

adj.两院制的

参考例句：

• The United States Congress is a bicameral body.美国国会由两个议院组成。
• The Upper House is usually the smaller branch of a bicameral legislature.上议院通常是两院制议会中较小的一个。

7 dwindle   

v.逐渐变小（或减少）

参考例句：

• The factory's workforce has dwindled from over 4,000 to a few hundred.工厂雇员总数已经从4,000多人减少到几百人。
• He is struggling to come to terms with his dwindling authority.他正努力适应自己权力被削弱这一局面。

8 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

9 plight   

n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定

参考例句：

• The leader was much concerned over the plight of the refugees.那位领袖对难民的困境很担忧。
• She was in a most helpless plight.她真不知如何是好。

10 disastrous   

adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的

参考例句：

• The heavy rainstorm caused a disastrous flood.暴雨成灾。
• Her investment had disastrous consequences.She lost everything she owned.她的投资结果很惨，血本无归。

11 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？