2006年VOA标准英语-Cactus Hailed as Viable Food Source in Nor

By Cathy Majtenyi
Mekele, Ethiopia
22 March 2006

The prickly pear cactus¹ grows abundantly in many parts of northern Ethiopia's Tigray region. Sometimes known as a "hearty² weed," the cactus is gaining new respect as a potential food source in an area plagued with inconsistent rainfall, environmental degradation³, poor quality soils and other problems.

------------------------------------------------------

 It is lunchtime at Yordanos Bright restaurant in downtown Mekele, the region's capital.

A few diners start tricking into the restaurant on Saturday afternoon to order dishes made of what would have been considered highly unpalatable about six months ago: the prickly pear cactus's broad, oval leaf, called nepolitos.

Today's menu includes nepolitos soup, nepolitos bread, cactus juice and nepolitos curry⁴ stew⁵.

VOA language services stringer Girmay Gebru tastes cactus curry at Yordanos Bright restaurant in Tigray's regional capital Mekele   
  
Diner Tsegazeab Gebrelibanos is eating the curry stew for the very first time.

"It's really wonderful," he says. "This is really nice and delicious. I'm going to be a regular diner here. I didn't think cactus would be food. Now I taste it. It's really nice. We should have used this before."

The Saturday afternoon offerings at Yordanos restaurant is part of an initiative to get people to eat and use the whole prickly pear cactus plant, not just its fruit, which people have been consuming for decades.

Although the last June to August rainy season was good, Tigray overall is considered to be a dry, water-stressed area. Soil fertility and moisture is generally low and wind and water erosion is a big problem.

Tesfay Alemseged, project manager at Swiss aid agency Helvetas Ethiopia, proudly displays cactus plant he keeps in his office   
  
Tesfay Alemseged is manager of a cactus promotion⁶ project coordinated⁷ by the Swiss agency Helvetas Ethiopia. He says cactus is one of very few plants that can survive the harsh conditions found in parts of Tigray, making it a reliable, ready and highly nutritious⁸ food source. He says it even puts nutrients⁹ back into the soil.

"Cactus is highly tolerant. It can survive with even two or three years of mild or extremely low rainfall," explains Tesfay, "while the other plants dry up, and every stream dried up, the groundwater is going extremely down. So cactus is the only survivor¹⁰ in those areas. It can survive even on the roof of a house."

But convincing people to eat parts of the prickly pear cactus other than its fruit is another matter. Tesfay says Ethiopian cuisine¹¹ has been around for centuries and most people are reluctant to try something new.

Cactus grows abundantly in many parts of northern Ethiopia's Tigray region, where officials are trying to convince people to include the highly nutritious plant in their diets  
  
To that end, Helvetas Ethiopia and its partners have embarked¹² on a massive publicity¹³ campaign. Borrowing from cactus experiences in Mexico, the United States and other countries, they are trying to educate people on the nutritional¹⁴ value of the prickly pear cactus, how to cook it and the plant's other uses.

Last year, the organization held a week-long seminar for 150 elders, religious officials and other opinion leaders from villages all across Tigray. Seminar participants were shocked to discover that every dish served during the event was made with cactus.

Some 865 people to date have undergone five-day training sessions about the nutritional value of cactus and how to cook it. Each trainer, in turn, has committed to teaching at least 15 friends, neighbors and others in villages across Tigray how to prepare cactus dishes.

As well, about 130 urban restaurant owners in the region have been trained. Cooking demonstrations¹⁵ are also held in school clubs and cactus is prepared and served at religious ceremonies and traditional gatherings¹⁶.

Tesfay says the campaign's results have been encouraging overall, with more and more people starting to accept cactus on their dinner plates.

He explains that food is not the only byproduct of the prickly pear cactus.

"It is a storehouse of virtues¹⁷ that have been commercially unexploited so far because of the lack of knowledge and technology," Tesfay says. "Different parts of the cactus can be used as fruit, as a vegetable for human consumption, as a fodder¹⁸ for cattle, as a raw material for various industries to prepare natural dyes, adhesives¹⁹, and glues, products for treating blood sugar and various other disorders²⁰, and cosmetics²¹ also, like shampoo and cream, soap and body lotions²²."

The government plans to integrate cactus into its food security programs. The acting²³ head of the Tigray Food Security Coordination²⁴ Project office, Assefa Tewodros, says the government is in the process of offering cactus growing and production as one of the activities that low-income farmers can choose to increase their food security.

Assefa says that the prickly pear cactus has great potential for the program's low-income families, both as food and as a source of income.

"They are now involved in a variety of products from cactus: juice, marmalade, and even salad; they are preparing and selling," explains Assefa. "In some parts, they already started packing and selling the products of the cactus. It diversifies²⁵ the income of these beneficiaries; they have also now familiarized the other people with the other products of the cactus. They are also using it as additional supplementary²⁶ feed for their livestock²⁷."

He says households can make almost $350 a year from the sale of cactus products, a large amount of money among Ethiopia's farmers.

1 cactus   

n.仙人掌

参考例句：

• It was the first year that the cactus had produced flowers.这是这棵仙人掌第一年开花。
• The giant cactus is the vegetable skycraper.高大的仙人掌是植物界巨人。

2 hearty   

adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的

参考例句：

• After work they made a hearty meal in the worker's canteen.工作完了，他们在工人食堂饱餐了一顿。
• We accorded him a hearty welcome.我们给他热忱的欢迎。

3 degradation   

n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变

参考例句：

• There are serious problems of land degradation in some arid zones.在一些干旱地带存在严重的土地退化问题。
• Gambling is always coupled with degradation.赌博总是与堕落相联系。

4 curry   

n.咖哩粉，咖哩饭菜；v.用咖哩粉调味，用马栉梳，制革

参考例句：

• Rice makes an excellent complement to a curry dish.有咖喱的菜配米饭最棒。
• Add a teaspoonful of curry powder.加一茶匙咖喱粉。

5 stew   

n.炖汤，焖，烦恼；v.炖汤，焖，忧虑

参考例句：

• The stew must be boiled up before serving.炖肉必须煮熟才能上桌。
• There's no need to get in a stew.没有必要烦恼。

6 promotion   

n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传

参考例句：

• The teacher conferred with the principal about Dick's promotion.教师与校长商谈了迪克的升级问题。
• The clerk was given a promotion and an increase in salary.那个职员升了级，加了薪。

7 coordinated   

adj.协调的

参考例句：

• The sound has to be coordinated with the picture. 声音必须和画面协调一致。
• The numerous existing statutes are complicated and poorly coordinated. 目前繁多的法令既十分复杂又缺乏快调。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

8 nutritious   

adj.有营养的，营养价值高的

参考例句：

• Fresh vegetables are very nutritious.新鲜蔬菜富于营养。
• Hummingbirds have discovered that nectar and pollen are very nutritious.蜂鸟发现花蜜和花粉是很有营养的。

9 nutrients   

n.（食品或化学品）营养物，营养品( nutrient的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a lack of essential nutrients 基本营养的缺乏
• Nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream. 营养素被吸收进血液。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 survivor   

n.生存者，残存者，幸存者

参考例句：

• The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
• There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。

11 cuisine   

n.烹调，烹饪法

参考例句：

• This book is the definitive guide to world cuisine.这本书是世界美食的权威指南。
• This restaurant is renowned for its cuisine.这家餐馆以其精美的饭菜而闻名。

12 embarked   

乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 )； 装载； 从事

参考例句：

• We stood on the pier and watched as they embarked. 我们站在突码头上目送他们登船。
• She embarked on a discourse about the town's origins. 她开始讲本市的起源。

13 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。

14 nutritional   

adj.营养的，滋养的

参考例句：

• A diet lacking in nutritional value will not keep a person healthy.缺乏营养价值的饮食不能维持人的健康。
• The labels on food products give a lot of information about their nutritional content.食品上的标签提供很多关于营养成分的信息。

15 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

16 gatherings   

聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集

参考例句：

• His conduct at social gatherings created a lot of comment. 他在社交聚会上的表现引起许多闲话。
• During one of these gatherings a pupil caught stealing. 有一次，其中一名弟子偷窃被抓住。

17 virtues   

美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处

参考例句：

• Doctors often extol the virtues of eating less fat. 医生常常宣扬少吃脂肪的好处。
• She delivered a homily on the virtues of family life. 她进行了一场家庭生活美德方面的说教。

18 fodder   

n.草料；炮灰

参考例句：

• Grass mowed and cured for use as fodder.割下来晒干用作饲料的草。
• Guaranteed salt intake, no matter which normal fodder.不管是那一种正常的草料，保证盐的摄取。

19 adhesives   

黏合剂( adhesive的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• These include dyes, adhesives, solvents, detergents, metals, and other foreign materials. 其中包括染料，粘合剂，溶剂，洗涤剂、金属等外界物质。
• Preparation, properties and kinds of polyurethane adhesives were described. 综述了聚氨酯胶粘剂的合成、特性和种类。

20 disorders   

n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调

参考例句：

• Reports of anorexia and other eating disorders are on the increase. 据报告，厌食症和其他饮食方面的功能紊乱发生率正在不断增长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The announcement led to violent civil disorders. 这项宣布引起剧烈的骚乱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 cosmetics   

n.化妆品

参考例句：

• We sell a wide range of cosmetics at a very reasonable price. 我们以公道的价格出售各种化妆品。
• Cosmetics do not always cover up the deficiencies of nature. 化妆品未能掩饰天生的缺陷。

22 lotions   

n.洗液，洗剂，护肤液( lotion的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Do not use lotions or oils to lubricate the skin. 不要用润肤剂或油类来润滑皮肤。 来自辞典例句
• They were experts at preserving the bodies of the dead by embalming them with special lotions. 他们具有采用特种药物洗剂防止尸体腐烂的专门知识。 来自辞典例句

23 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。

24 coordination   

n.协调，协作

参考例句：

• Gymnastics is a sport that requires a considerable level of coordination.体操是一项需要高协调性的运动。
• The perfect coordination of the dancers and singers added a rhythmic charm to the performance.舞蹈演员和歌手们配合得很好，使演出更具魅力。

25 diversifies   

v.使多样化，多样化( diversify的第三人称单数 )；进入新的商业领域

参考例句：

• As the population diversifies the number of consumers with specialized needs grows. 由于人口多样化，需要特定商品的消费者也愈来愈多了。 来自互联网
• The maturity-oriented strategy used by adolescences of different sex diversifies significantly. 不同性别的青少年情绪调节的策略（成熟型）存在显著差异。 来自互联网

26 supplementary   

adj.补充的，附加的

参考例句：

• There is a supplementary water supply in case the rain supply fails.万一主水源断了，我们另外有供水的地方。
• A supplementary volume has been published containing the index.附有索引的增补卷已经出版。

27 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。