VOA常速英语2008年-France to Double Food Aid

By Lisa Bryant
Paris
18 April 2008

French President Nicolas Sarkozy says his country will double emergency food aid to meet a crisis sparked in several developing countries over sharply rising food prices. Lisa Bryant has more on Mr. Sarkozy's remarks made at a major international conference in Paris.

President Sarkozy said he would double emergency food aid to roughly $100 million this year for poor countries. He also called for a global partnership¹ between governments, the private sector² and international financial institutions to fight soaring food prices that have sparked riots and protests in about half a dozen developing countries.

Mr. Sarkozy said the international community needs to think about helping³ developing countries develop their food-based agriculture so their populations can live off their production - rather than condemn⁴ them, he said, to producing crops for export.

The French president spoke⁵ at a key climate change conference in Paris. Experts say the rising food prices are partly due to climate change - and because fields once used to grow food crops are now used to cultivate crops for cleaner-burning biofuels. Food prices have surged 40 percent since midyear last year.

In an interview on France's Europe 1 radio Friday, International Monetary⁶ Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn said cultivating biofuels instead of food posed a moral problem - and suggested a moratorium⁷ on biofuel cultivation⁸.

Strauss-Kahn warned there would be more food riots to come, characterizing the situation as very serious. He said hundreds of millions of people would be affected⁹ by malnutrition¹⁰ and hunger. He said the world must find a response.

The two-day Paris conference, which ended Friday, aimed to reach agreement among 17 major carbon-dioxide emitting countries on drafting a new climate change treaty by 2009.

1 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

2 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。

3 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。

4 condemn   

vt.谴责，指责；宣判(罪犯)，判刑

参考例句：

• Some praise him,whereas others condemn him.有些人赞扬他，而有些人谴责他。
• We mustn't condemn him on mere suppositions.我们不可全凭臆测来指责他。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

7 moratorium   

n.(行动、活动的)暂停(期)，延期偿付

参考例句：

• The government has called for a moratorium on weapons testing.政府已要求暂停武器试验。
• We recommended a moratorium on two particular kinds of experiments.我们建议暂禁两种特殊的实验。

8 cultivation   

n.耕作，培养，栽培（法），养成

参考例句：

• The cultivation in good taste is our main objective.培养高雅情趣是我们的主要目标。
• The land is not fertile enough to repay cultivation.这块土地不够肥沃，不值得耕种。

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 malnutrition   

n.营养不良

参考例句：

• In Africa, there are a lot of children suffering from severe malnutrition.在非洲有大批严重营养不良的孩子。
• It is a classic case of malnutrition. 这是营养不良的典型病例。