VOA标准英语2015--“种植”和平

Planting for Peace “种植”和平

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said farmers in Central African Republic are in urgent need of seeds and tools. Several years of conflict and violence have disrupted agriculture and created widespread food insecurity. The FAO has made an urgent appeal for more than six million dollars to help rebuild the agricultural sector¹.

The planting season begins next month in Central African Republic. The rains have started and the soil is rich and plentiful² – perfect conditions to produce a bountiful harvest. The problem is over 440,000 people have been displaced in CAR’s conflict. About half are displaced within the country, the rest are refugees in Cameroon, Chad and DRC. Many of them are farmers.

The FAO estimates about one and a half million people are currently food insecure in the country – a figure, it says, is “likely to rise without immediate³ support.”

Jean-Alexandre Scaglia --FAO’s representative in CAR – is in the capital, Bangui. He said, “The main, main help farmers need is really seeds. We identify more than 150,000 families, households, in need of seeds.”

Many farmers have had their seeds and tools looted.

“Farmers just don’t have even a single seed to plant for the next cropping season. When I say seed it means mainly ground nuts, sorghum⁴, maize⁵, staple⁶ foods – and hoping that they will harvest enough in November / December for the family, which is something absolutely possible,” he said.

Of the150,000 families identified as needing immediate assistance, funding has been received for more than 86,000 of them. But the FAO said more than $6 million is needed to assist the remaining 63,000 for the upcoming planting season.

Scaglia said pastoralists in northern CAR also need help.

“They need veterinary drugs and vaccination⁷ for their animals and mainly cattle.”

In March 2013, Seleka rebels toppled longtime President Francoise Bozizé. Rebel leader Michel Djotodia declared himself president. From there the situation deteriorated⁸ with former rebels attacking mainly Christian⁹ communities. That led to revenge attacks by anti-balaka militias¹⁰. Djotodia was forced to resign and Catherine Samba-Panza became interim¹¹ president in January of 2014. But insecurity and violence remain in many parts of the country, despite the presence of peacekeeping troops.

Scaglia said, “People have no hope because they have no job, no work. How we can help this population to go back, get some livelihood¹², get some money, will be probably the main contribution – more than anything else – to the peace process in the Central African Republic.”

This year’s agricultural campaign in CAR was planned by the Food Security Cluster. It’s led by the FAO and World Food Program and includes about 70 other organizations.

1 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。

2 plentiful   

adj.富裕的，丰富的

参考例句：

• Their family has a plentiful harvest this year.他们家今年又丰收了。
• Rainfall is plentiful in the area.这个地区雨量充足。

3 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

4 sorghum   

n.高粱属的植物，高粱糖浆，甜得发腻的东西

参考例句：

• We can grow sorghum or maize on this plot.这块地可以种高粱或玉米。
• They made sorghum into pig feed.他们把高粱做成了猪饲料。

5 maize   

n.玉米

参考例句：

• There's a field planted with maize behind the house.房子后面有一块玉米地。
• We can grow sorghum or maize on this plot.这块地可以种高粱或玉米。

6 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。

7 vaccination   

n.接种疫苗，种痘

参考例句：

• Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.种痘是预防天花的方法。
• Doctors suggest getting a tetanus vaccination every ten years.医生建议每十年注射一次破伤风疫苗。

8 deteriorated   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Her health deteriorated rapidly, and she died shortly afterwards. 她的健康状况急剧恶化，不久便去世了。
• His condition steadily deteriorated. 他的病情恶化，日甚一日。

9 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

10 militias   

n.民兵组织，民兵( militia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The troops will not attempt to disarm the warring militias. 部队并不打算解除战斗中的民兵武装。 来自辞典例句
• The neighborhood was a battleground for Shiite and Sunni militias. 那里曾是什叶派和逊尼派武装分子的战场。 来自互联网

11 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

12 livelihood   

n.生计，谋生之道

参考例句：

• Appropriate arrangements will be made for their work and livelihood.他们的工作和生活会得到妥善安排。
• My father gained a bare livelihood of family by his own hands.父亲靠自己的双手勉强维持家计。