2006年VOA标准英语-UN: West and Central Africa Need Investment, Co

By Nico Colombant
Dakar
16 October 2006
 
Rains have been better than in previous years in West and Central Africa, meaning food shortages in the coming months will be lessened¹. But as the region marks World Food Day, U.N experts say more private investment is needed in agriculture, as well as better contingency² planning. Conflict areas also still pose a problem.

-----

U.N. officials say hunger kills more than AIDS, malaria³ and tuberculosis⁴ combined.

They also say the world produces enough food to provide everyone in the world with at least 2,700 calories a day, enough to be healthy.

 
West African Farmers  
  
This year, an official for the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization, Michael Wales, says increased attention should be put on increasing private investment in local agriculture.

He said, "Normally, when talking about investments, everyone thinks about official development, that is the World Bank, the bilateral⁵ donors⁶, USAID, and so on, whereas if you look at all the figures you see that clearly these official development assistance figures are really rather small."

Wales says African governments must also help in making sure more focus is given to the private sector⁷, rather than repeating programs of the past, or just saying they will develop the private sector and never actually doing it efficiently⁸.

"In quite a lot of countries, there has been a long history of state control, even state production . And, they are reluctant to give up all these things and to allow the private sector to have its own initiative to promote entrepreneurship to facilitate access to credit for example. All these things are very long and very difficult to encourage and yet this is the only way that private sector investment will be able to take off," he said.

In terms of emergency situations, an official with the World Food Program, Paul Ares, says better local preparedness is crucial. Poor rains in 2004 and 2005 led to food shortages, leaving certain countries, like Niger, much worse off than others.

Food distribution in Niger  
  
He said, "What we may have learned from the crisis in Niger is that had there been better management of stockpiles, better management of a contingency plan, when that drought did hit, maybe a lot more people would have been less affected⁹. Other countries in West Africa who did manage their contingency stocks or did have some were able to cope better than other countries."

In the region, the World Food Program is examining the situation in northwestern Central African Republic where a state of lawlessness and the presence of rebels is leading to recurrent movements of population, as well as apparent food shortages.

The U.N. body recently rolled out nearly 600 tons of food to isolated¹⁰ parts of the southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo to help more than 200,000 people get food aid there in a region also wracked by violence.

1 lessened   

减少的，减弱的

参考例句：

• Listening to the speech through an interpreter lessened its impact somewhat. 演讲辞通过翻译的嘴说出来，多少削弱了演讲的力量。
• The flight to suburbia lessened the number of middle-class families living within the city. 随着迁往郊外的风行，住在城内的中产家庭减少了。

2 contingency   

n.意外事件，可能性

参考例句：

• We should be prepared for any contingency.我们应该对任何应急情况有所准备。
• A fire in our warehouse was a contingency that we had not expected.库房的一场大火是我们始料未及的。

3 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

4 tuberculosis   

n.结核病，肺结核

参考例句：

• People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。
• Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。

5 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。

6 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》

7 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。

8 efficiently   

adv.高效率地，有能力地

参考例句：

• The worker oils the machine to operate it more efficiently.工人给机器上油以使机器运转更有效。
• Local authorities have to learn to allocate resources efficiently.地方政府必须学会有效地分配资源。

9 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。

10 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。