VOA标准英语2011--East Africa Food Shortages Expected to A

East Africa Food Shortages Expected to Affect More People

In East Africa, millions people are in need of emergency food assistance because of the prolonged, severe drought. Now a U.N. agency warns that things could get worse.
Steady rain is hard to come by in many parts of East Africa. The Food and Agriculture Organization, the FAO, says the region has been hit with two consecutive¹ seasons with "significantly below-average rainfall."
"In the last several years, we're seeing that there are these recurrent droughts, which used to take several years to reoccur. But now that reoccurrence is becoming more frequent," said Shukri Ahmed, senior economist² at the FAO's Global Information and Early Warning System.
Little rain, a lot of hunger
The drought has destroyed crops and killed livestock³, bringing high levels of malnutrition⁴ to the region.
"Most parts now of Somalia, parts of Kenya, parts of Ethiopia specifically, and even parts of northern Tanzania and some parts of Uganda to the northeast have been affected⁵ by less rainfall, infrequent rainfall and a late start of the rainfall. So, this compounded an already problematic region in terms of food security," he said.
The FAO said Somalia has some of the worst malnutrition rates in the world, with one in four children in the southern part of the country malnourished. Two and a half million people in the country need humanitarian⁶ assistance.
In Kenya, nearly two and a half million people in the north and northeast are said to be unable to "meet their basic food and water needs." These are mainly pastoralist and agro-pastoralist areas.
In Ethiopia, the U.N. agency said millions more require emergency food assistance. What's more, the lack of rain is blamed for the deaths of 220,000 cattle in the Borena Zone along the southern border with Kenya.
The FAO also said water shortages are expected in the coming months in Djibouti's capital.
Worse?
Making matters worse, Ahmed said, are rising food and fuel prices in East Africa.
Ahmed said following the high prices for food and fuel in 2007 / 2008, the region made a good recovery by 2009. Also the price of fuel stabilized⁷.
"But now what we are seeing is that the region now is hit by this drought and now the fuel prices are going up. Given that the international prices of food commodities are also high, it actually is a lot of burden for the countries' economies, which are already reeling from the effects of earlier years, to take on," said Ahmed.
The FAO official said even if it started to rain steadily⁸ today, it would not solve the problems immediately. In fact, it could actually make things worse.
For example, he says there are good signs of rain in parts of Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya that could replenish⁹ water supplies and pastures. While that sounds like good news, it could cause even more problems for pastoralists.
"Pastoralists are the ones which are really affected from this drought. Some already have lost their livestock. And now the rains that came actually started killing¹⁰ more livestock because they're so weak they couldn't take it," he said.
Ahmed added that while East African countries are implementing¹¹ their own short term solutions to the drought, long range planning is needed to deal with the uncertainty¹² of climate change.
The FAO recommended additional funds to protect and rebuild livestock herds¹³ and the distribution of drought-tolerant seeds. It also called for increased animal and plant disease surveillance and control.
It said in the short term, farmers should be taught new technologies to grow crops on dry land and better ways to conserve¹⁴ and use water.

1 consecutive   

adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的

参考例句：

• It has rained for four consecutive days.已连续下了四天雨。
• The policy of our Party is consecutive.我党的政策始终如一。

2 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

3 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。

4 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。

5 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。

6 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。

7 stabilized   

v.（使）稳定， （使）稳固( stabilize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The patient's condition stabilized. 患者的病情稳定下来。
• His blood pressure has stabilized. 他的血压已经稳定下来了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

8 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

9 replenish   

vt.补充；(把…)装满；(再)填满

参考例句：

• I always replenish my food supply before it is depleted.我总是在我的食物吃完之前加以补充。
• We have to import an extra 4 million tons of wheat to replenish our reserves.我们不得不额外进口四百万吨小麦以补充我们的储备。

10 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

11 implementing   

v.实现( implement的现在分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• -- Implementing a comprehensive drug control strategy. ――实行综合治理的禁毒战略。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• He was in no hurry about implementing his unshakable principle. 他并不急于实行他那不可动摇的原则。 来自辞典例句

12 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

13 herds   

兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众

参考例句：

• Regularly at daybreak they drive their herds to the pasture. 每天天一亮他们就把牲畜赶到草场上去。
• There we saw herds of cows grazing on the pasture. 我们在那里看到一群群的牛在草地上吃草。

14 conserve   

vt.保存，保护，节约，节省，守恒，不灭

参考例句：

• He writes on both sides of the sheet to conserve paper.他在纸张的两面都写字以节省用纸。
• Conserve your energy,you'll need it!保存你的精力，你会用得着的！