VOA双语新闻 UN Agency to Halt Food Aid to China（在线收听）

The United Nations food agency has announced it will terminate its assistance to increasingly prosperous China. China says it will increase its own foreign aid budget, as it shifts gears from aid recipient to aid donor.

联合国粮食计划署宣布，他们将停止对经济日益繁荣的中国提供粮食援助。中国表示他们将从粮食援助的受援者转变角色为捐献粮食的提供者，因此中国将增加对外国援助的预算。

The U.N. World Food Program says it will phase out its donations to China by the end of next year.

联合国世界粮食计划署说，他们将在明年年底前，逐步减少对中国的捐助。

Speaking in Beijing Friday, WFP chief executive James Morris said an increasingly affluent China should begin funding its own poverty assistance programs. "China is not a place that needs us in the extensive role we've played historically," said Mr. Morris.

世界粮食计划署执行主任詹姆斯. 莫里斯星期五在北京说，日渐富裕的中国应该开始自行负责援助贫穷项目的基金：“我们已经不需要再像从前那样在中国扮演广泛援助的角色。”

Friday's announcement followed a five-day visit to China by Mr. Morris, who inspected WFP-supported projects and met Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.

莫里斯星期五做出这个宣布之前，在中国进行了五天的访问，莫里斯审查了由世界粮食计划署援助的项目，并和中国总理温家宝会晤。

The WFP's decision reflects China's enormous progress over the past 10 years. The agency started work here in 1979, providing food to poor families and funding local road-improvement and water projects.

世界粮食计划署的决定反映了中国在过去十年内巨大的进步，世界粮食计划署从1979年开始在中国工作，向贫苦家庭提供粮食，以及为地方道路改进和饮水项目提供资金。

But since the mid-1990s, China's economic growth has lifted more than 300 million of its people from extreme poverty. Mr. Morris says China is now in a position to join the ranks of international aid donors."I'm hopeful that China will partner with the World Food Program to help us do more to take advantage of the strength they have, the experience, to address these tough issues elsewhere," added Mr. Morris. He asked China to help the WFP in sending food aid to China's impoverished communist neighbor, North Korea.

不过从1990年代中期开始，中国的经济成长已经让三亿多人脱贫，莫里斯说，中国现在已经有能力加入国际捐助者的行列：“我希望中国能与世界粮食计划署合作，借着他们的力量帮助我们作更多事，并透过在中国的经验，来处理其他地方费力艰难的问题。”莫里斯并要求中国协助世界粮食计划署提供粮食援助给中国赤贫的邻国北韩。

China contributed more than $20 million to the WFP last year, and said it will consider increasing support in the future. But the request puts Beijing in a difficult position - as it funds more international projects, other nations are likely to stop assisting China's own programs.Japanese officials said last month they are already considering major reductions in aid to Beijing. Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura cited China's economic growth as a primary cause for the proposed cuts.

中国在去年提供了两千多万美元给世界粮食计划署，并说将考虑在未来增加援助。不过，这些要求带给北京一个难题，就是当北京对更多国际项目提供资金的同时，其他国家可能会停止协助中国内部的项目。日本官员上个月说，他们已经考虑大幅度削减对北京的援助，日本外务大臣町村信孝说，中国的经济成长是削减援助的主要原因。

And earlier this year in Ottawa, opposition politicians tried to cut Canada's support for China. Critics there accused Beijing of accepting overseas contributions while spending billions of dollars to upgrade its military and expand its space program.

今年早些时候在渥太华，反对党领袖试图削减加拿大对中国的援助，加拿大的批评人士说，北京接受海外援助，但同时却花费数十亿美元更新中国的军备和发展宇航项目。

China is the world's second largest economy, but 20 percent of its people live in poverty.

中国目前是世界第二大经济体，但却有20%的人口生活在贫困中。