VOA标准英语2009年-WFP to Supply Food Aid to Gaza Strip

The U.N. World Food Program says it is launching an operation to increase the distribution of food to people caught in the conflict in the Gaza Strip. The World Food Program says the number of Palestinians needing food aid has escalated² substantially since Israel began its military incursion into Gaza at the end of last year.

In more or less normal times, the World Food Program assists 265,000 non-refugee Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. But, these are not normal times and the U.N. food agency says it has had great difficulty providing aid to its beneficiaries.
　
Palestinian children looking for belongings³ stand on the remains⁴ of their destroyed house in the heavily hit eastern area of Jebaliya, in the northern Gaza strip, 18 Jan 2009

The World Food Program says it has distributed a two- to three-month supply of rations⁵ to more than half of its caseload in Gaza. But WFP spokeswoman Emilia Casella says the number of hungry people needing assistance in the Palestinian territory has gone up.

She says the World Food Program will have to provide food aid to a further 100,000 people, raising the caseload to 365,000.

"We are also launching an Operation Lifeline Gaza aimed to raise funds and obtain and bring in more ready to eat style foods. And, we are hoping in the coming days to be able to distribute 23,000 MRE's or Meals-Ready-To-Eat. There would be 16,000 of them for people in UNRWA [UN Relief and Works Agency] shelters and 7,000 people in hospitals for up to 12 days."

Gaza has a population of 1.5 million people. The U.N. Relief and Works Agency takes care of the refugee population and is feeding more than one-million Palestinian refugees in Gaza. The World Food Program is helping⁶ 80 percent of the resident non-refugee population.

Aid agencies have had great difficulty providing food and non-food assistance to the inhabitants of Gaza during the fighting during the past three weeks. While they welcome Israel's unilateral ceasefire, they say they expect delivery problems to persist.

WFP spokeswoman Casella says shipments of goods between Israel and Gaza are erratic⁷ because of the frequent closure of crossing points along the border. So, she says, the World Food Program is planning ahead.

"We will be providing a higher ration¹. We are increasing our ration to 2,100 kilocalories per person, per day," she added.

It was 1,400 kilocalories per person, per day. And, we are going to be doing that for the next two to three months to make up for the fact that basically many of the people who would have been receiving food have not been receiving it. If they are able to get it, we also want to make sure that we give them as much as we can at this time because we are not sure when and if they will be able to come back to get replenishments."

The U.N. Children's Fund says it believes the incidence of severe malnutrition⁸ among children has probably increased because of the current violence in Gaza. It says it anticipates an increased caseload in the coming weeks due to deteriorating⁹ conditions.

UNICEF says it will be working with the World Food Program and other partners to monitor the situation to get early and effective treatment to children suffering from acute malnutrition.

1 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。

2 escalated   

v.（使）逐步升级( escalate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）逐步扩大；（使）更高；（使）更大

参考例句：

• The fighting escalated into a full-scale war. 这场交战逐步扩大为全面战争。
• The demonstration escalated into a pitched battle with the police. 示威逐步升级，演变成了一场同警察的混战。

3 belongings   

n.私人物品，私人财物

参考例句：

• I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
• Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。

4 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

5 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。

6 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。

7 erratic   

adj.古怪的，反复无常的，不稳定的

参考例句：

• The old man had always been cranky and erratic.那老头儿性情古怪,反复无常。
• The erratic fluctuation of market prices is in consequence of unstable economy.经济波动致使市场物价忽起忽落。

8 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。

9 deteriorating   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The weather conditions are deteriorating. 天气变得越来越糟。
• I was well aware of the bad morale and the deteriorating factories. 我很清楚，大家情绪低落，各个工厂越搞越坏。