VOA标准英语2011-South Sudan Aid Agencies Continue Food Ai

As voting in southern Sudan's independence referendum enters its final days, relief officials say at least 1 million people will continue to need food assistance despite an improvement in food security over the past year.

It is midday at a large sports field in a suburb of Juba. World Food Program workers are unloading sacks of cereal and boxes containing tins of cooking oil.

Family representatives gather in the shade of a large mango tree and wait for their ration² cards to be processed.

Some 900 people in this neighborhood are to receive three months of food assistance. which includes about 50 kilograms of a grain, beans, cooking oil and salt. The families must supplement these rations³ as best they can.

The United Nations announced Wednesday that the number of people needing food assistance this year is expected to fall to one-half the level of last year.

They credit a six year-old agreement between north and south that has brought peace and this past week's referendum on independence.

WFP Spokesman Peter Smerdon said if the referendum and its aftermath go smoothly⁴, the number of people in need is expected to peak at 1.4 million in the middle of this year.

"The worst-case scenario⁵ is that the number will increase gradually from now until April or May or June, and we'll see the number go as high as 2.7 million," said Smerdon. "But that is still lower than the 3 million people who needed assistance in 2010."

Smerdon said aid agencies also are distributing 15 days of traveling rations to returning southern Sudanese to help them reach their final destinations.

They and the government hope to avoid seeing large returnee camps develop near urban centers because these tend to perpetuate⁶ aid dependence¹ and strain local communities.

There are fears, though, that the food situation could worsen due to rising food prices. Already, some foreign traders have left the region fearing violence after the referendum. And this comes as the returning southern Sudanese are increasing demand for food.

Smerdon said, however, the biggest worry is a return to war.

"Conflict's the biggest one (concern). If there are new displacements⁷, if there are places we can't deliver assistance to because of conflict, obviously, the situation could deteriorate⁸ quite quickly," said Smerdon.

Officials say nearly 150,000 southern Sudanese of an estimated 2 million have returned from the north in the past two months. They have pre-positioned enough food to help feed 1 million returnees over six months, if need-be.

1 dependence   

n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属

参考例句：

• Doctors keep trying to break her dependence of the drug.医生们尽力使她戒除毒瘾。
• He was freed from financial dependence on his parents.他在经济上摆脱了对父母的依赖。

2 ration   

n.定量(pl.)给养，口粮；vt.定量供应

参考例句：

• The country cut the bread ration last year.那个国家去年削减面包配给量。
• We have to ration the water.我们必须限量用水。

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 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

5 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

6 perpetuate   

v.使永存，使永记不忘

参考例句：

• This monument was built to perpetuate the memory of the national hero.这个纪念碑建造的意义在于纪念民族英雄永垂不朽。
• We must perpetuate the system.我们必须将此制度永久保持。

7 displacements   

n.取代( displacement的名词复数 )；替代；移位；免职

参考例句：

• The laws of physics are symmetrical for translational displacements. 物理定律对平移是对称的。 来自辞典例句
• We encounter only displacements of the first type. 我们只遇到第一类的驱替。 来自辞典例句

8 deteriorate   

v.变坏；恶化；退化

参考例句：

• Do you think relations between China and Japan will continue to deteriorate?你认为中日关系会继续恶化吗？
• He held that this would only cause the situation to deteriorate further.他认为，这只会使局势更加恶化。