VOA常速英语2008年-WFP Revises Appeal in Response to Food Crisis

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
19 April 2008

The World Food Program (WFP) has issued a new appeal for financial aid to respond to a growing worldwide food crisis.  The agency says soaring fuel and food prices have rendered its original budget of nearly $3 billion inadequate¹ to feed millions of hungry people in the world.  It is hoping to raise an additional $750 million to meet the rising costs. Lisa Schlein reports from Geneva.

The World Food Program says it has received $900 million so far this year.  This represents only 20 percent of what it needs to feed 73 million hungry people in 80 countries. 

WFP spokeswoman Christiane Berthiaume says it is urgent that donors² come up with more cash quickly.

"Otherwise, we will have to take heartbreaking decisions by this summer," she said.  "We will have to decide either to reduce the number of people that we are feeding or cut rations³. You know those 73 million are really the most vulnerable among the vulnerable.  Those people do not have access to food. They are in camps because they are refugees, because they may be in Chad or because they are displaced people in Darfur or in northern Uganda, because they are caught in fighting in Somalia."

And, the list goes on. WFP warns it will have to cut at least 400,000 children from school feeding programs in the next couple of weeks if it does not get more money.

World prices for rice, wheat and other staple⁴ crops have soared to unprecedented⁵ heights in recent months. The World Food Program says the price it pays for rice has jumped 70 percent in the last six weeks. 

And these skyrocketing prices are hitting the world's poor the hardest.  WFP notes poor people spend up to 80 percent of their budgets on food. Higher food prices are causing social unrest around the world. Riots have broken out in a number of countries including Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Haiti, Ivory Coast, Egypt and Senegal.

The U.N. organization that coordinates⁶ humanitarian⁷ assistance says rising food prices in Kenya are adding to the country's political tensions. WFP spokeswoman Elizabeth Byrs says fungi⁸ have wiped out five thousand, 600 hectares of rice in the Central Province.

She says this area produces the bulk of Kenya's rice.

Brys says rice cultivation⁹ in this region represents about 10 to 20 percent of Kenya's annual production. She says Kenya is a net importer of rice, even during good years, and the fungi problem will increase the amount of rice it has to import.

Global leaders including the U.N. secretary-general and president of the World Bank are calling for urgent action to address the food crisis.

1 inadequate   

adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的

参考例句：

• The supply is inadequate to meet the demand.供不应求。
• She was inadequate to the demands that were made on her.她还无力满足对她提出的各项要求。

2 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》

3 rations   

定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量

参考例句：

• They are provisioned with seven days' rations. 他们得到了7天的给养。
• The soldiers complained that they were getting short rations. 士兵们抱怨他们得到的配给不够数。

4 staple   

n.主要产物，常用品，主要要素，原料，订书钉，钩环；adj.主要的，重要的；vt.分类

参考例句：

• Tea is the staple crop here.本地产品以茶叶为大宗。
• Potatoes are the staple of their diet.土豆是他们的主要食品。

5 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

6 coordinates   

n.相配之衣物；坐标( coordinate的名词复数 )；（颜色协调的）配套服装；[复数]女套服；同等重要的人（或物）v.使协调，使调和( coordinate的第三人称单数 )；协调；协同；成为同等

参考例句：

• The town coordinates on this map are 695037. 该镇在这幅地图上的坐标是695037。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

8 fungi   

n.真菌，霉菌

参考例句：

• Students practice to apply the study of genetics to multicellular plants and fungi.学生们练习把基因学应用到多细胞植物和真菌中。
• The lawn was covered with fungi.草地上到处都是蘑菇。

9 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。