VOA慢速英语 2007 1015a

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

October sixteenth is World Food Day. The campaign chosen for this year by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization is "The Right to Food." The aim is to demonstrate that human rights are increasingly recognized as an important part of ending hunger and poverty.

Worldwide, the United Nations says more than eight hundred fifty million people do not have enough food. Every year an estimated five million children under the age of five die of nutrition-related causes.

 
Ready-to-use-food helps prevent malnutrition¹ in children
When it comes to food aid, quantity is important but so is quality.

To help children at risk, the international humanitarian² group Doctors Without Borders has launched a worldwide appeal. The group is calling for the expanded use of what is known as therapeutic³ ready-to-use food to treat severely⁴ malnourished children.

It also wants this kind of food added to children's diets to prevent malnutrition from ever happening.

Ready-to-use-food is usually a sweet spread made with peanuts, dry milk, sugar, vegetable fat, minerals and vitamins. The food does not have to be mixed with water, which in many countries may be dirty. And families do not have to go to feeding centers. Individual servings come ready to eat.

Doctor Milton Tectonidis is a nutrition expert with Doctors Without Borders. He tells us that traditional methods of fighting hunger in children are not meeting their needs.

Enriched flour or a mixture of corn and soy are commonly used to improve children's diets. But he says this kind of food aid lacks enough calories and nutrients⁵ to prevent malnutrition.

The group is doing research in Niger. Doctor Tectonidis says this research has shown that ready-to-use food is more effective in keeping children from becoming severely malnourished.

The World Health Organization estimates that twenty million children at any given time suffer from severe malnutrition. Doctor Tectonidis says only three percent of them will receive ready-to-use-food this year. Doctors Without Borders is urging donors⁶, United Nations agencies and governments to increase support for ready-to-use food.

In addition, Doctor Tectonidis says more research is needed to create new forms of it. And not just to help children survive and grow, he says, but even to support the diets of pregnant women.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jill Moss⁷.

1 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。

2 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。

3 therapeutic   

adj.治疗的，起治疗作用的；对身心健康有益的

参考例句：

• Therapeutic measures were selected to fit the patient.选择治疗措施以适应病人的需要。
• When I was sad,music had a therapeutic effect.我悲伤的时候，音乐有治疗效力。

4 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

5 nutrients   

n.（食品或化学品）营养物，营养品( nutrient的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a lack of essential nutrients 基本营养的缺乏
• Nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream. 营养素被吸收进血液。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 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》

7 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。