干旱加剧叙利亚粮食危机

 　　TESS VIGELAND, HOST: It's ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR West. I'm Tess Vigeland. The war in Syria has created a massive humanitarian¹ crisis, rippling² out from the conflict zones inside Syria to the refugee camps across the country's borders. Now, an additional threat is looming³. The United Nations World Food Programme reported this past week that a bad drought in the area might significantly lower the harvest in Syria.

　　We reached out to Dina El-Kassaby. She a public information officer for the World Food Programme. She's based in Amman, Jordan. And she described the already difficult process of getting food to the millions of people in refugee camps and behind battle lines.

　　DINA EL-KASSABY: The World Food Programme moves around 40,000 tons of food each month across Syria. So this involves over 3,000 trucks navigating⁴ through checkpoints controlled by the government, controlled by armed groups. So insecurity is definitely our greatest challenge inside the country and access to people in areas that are besieged⁵ or cut off.

　　干旱加剧叙利亚粮食危机

　　We need access to people on a constant basis to be able to assess the ongoing⁶ needs and to be able to reach them every month and deliver food, because food, unlike other things like blankets or mattresses⁷, needs to be replenished⁸ every month once it's consumed.

　　VIGELAND: As if things weren't bad enough, there is a report out this week from the U.N. warning that a bad drought could significantly reduce how much food will be grown inside Syria this year. If the situation is already dire⁹, how much worse could it get?

　　EL-KASSABY: The impact of a looming drought hitting particularly the northwest of the country, which is mainly Aleppo and Hama, which are some of the main agricultural areas in the country, could potentially push thousands more or millions more into food insecurity. The signs that we're seeing now are very similar to what we saw in 2008 when a major drought hit Syria. And many people that were affected¹⁰ by that drought actually didn't have time to recover before they were hit by the impact of fighting.

　　VIGELAND: You know, Dina, this conflict in Syria is so immense, it can be really hard to wrap your head around it. Could you put a human face on what people are going through there?

　　EL-KASSABY: Actually just about a month ago I was in Qamishli in northeast Syria where food needs are massive. Displacement¹¹ is beyond what you can imagine. And I actually visited a shelter which was once a school. And I visited a woman called Hassna(ph) who was living in a classroom with five other families. She has ten children of her own. She's lost her husband. And she was telling me that the last time she received food assistance was eight months ago. So I asked her, OK, so without food assistance how do you survive and how do you feed your children? And she told me that she has to wake up in the morning and decide, do I feed my children today or do I save this food for tomorrow?

　　The luxury that we have in the West as privileged people who take the fact that we have a meal every day for granted is something that really puts into perspective the suffering of people who have been displaced, who have lost everything and are really just surviving day to day.

　　VIGELAND: I know the World Food Programme relies on voluntary donations from the international community. Do you have enough support to provide all this aid that's needed there?

　　EL-KASSABY: This is the largest operation that the World Food Programme is running today. It is the most complex. It costs $41 million a week to meet the food needs of people affected by the conflict in Syria. We, of course, are running basically a hand-to-mouth operation. The minute that funds come in, they're immediately spent on food and spent on the operation.

　　We rely on valuable donors¹² like, you know, the United States, Canada, Europe. But this is a massive crisis and it requires a global response. So we hope that nontraditional donors will come forward and provide assistance and support. And including individuals like you and me. We can donate online and help alleviate¹³ the suffering of Syrians who have lost everything.

　　VIGELAND: Dina El Kassaby is a public information officer for the U.N.'s World Food Programme and she spoke¹⁴ with us from Amman, Jordan. Dina, thank you so much and best wishes.

　　EL-KASSABY: Thank you.

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1 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。

2 rippling   

起涟漪的，潺潺流水般声音的

参考例句：

• I could see the dawn breeze rippling the shining water. 我能看见黎明的微风在波光粼粼的水面上吹出道道涟漪。
• The pool rippling was caused by the waving of the reeds. 池塘里的潺潺声是芦苇摇动时引起的。

3 looming   

n.上现蜃景（光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼）v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• The foothills were looming ahead through the haze. 丘陵地带透过薄雾朦胧地出现在眼前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Then they looked up. Looming above them was Mount Proteome. 接着他们往上看，在其上隐约看到的是蛋白质组山。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 回顾与展望

4 navigating   

v.给（船舶、飞机等）引航，导航( navigate的现在分词 )；（从海上、空中等）横越；横渡；飞跃

参考例句：

• These can also be very useful when navigating time-based documents, such as video and audio. 它对于和时间有关的文档非常有用，比如视频和音频文档。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Vehicles slowed to a crawl on city roads, navigating slushy snow. 汽车在市区路上行驶缓慢，穿越泥泞的雪地。 来自互联网

5 besieged   

包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Paris was besieged for four months and forced to surrender. 巴黎被围困了四个月后被迫投降。
• The community besieged the newspaper with letters about its recent editorial. 公众纷纷来信对报社新近发表的社论提出诘问，弄得报社应接不暇。

6 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

7 mattresses   

褥垫，床垫( mattress的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The straw mattresses are airing there. 草垫子正在那里晾着。
• The researchers tested more than 20 mattresses of various materials. 研究人员试验了二十多个不同材料的床垫。

8 replenished   

补充( replenish的过去式和过去分词 )； 重新装满

参考例句：

• She replenished her wardrobe. 她添置了衣服。
• She has replenished a leather [fur] coat recently. 她最近添置了一件皮袄。

9 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

10 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。

11 displacement   

n.移置，取代，位移，排水量

参考例句：

• They said that time is the feeling of spatial displacement.他们说时间是空间位移的感觉。
• The displacement of all my energy into caring for the baby.我所有精力都放在了照顾宝宝上。

12 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》

13 alleviate   

v.减轻，缓和，缓解(痛苦等)

参考例句：

• The doctor gave her an injection to alleviate the pain.医生给她注射以减轻疼痛。
• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。

14 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。