VOA慢速英语 2008 1013a

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

The United Nations says more than nine hundred million people worldwide do not have enough to eat. Officials say one hundred million more could go hungry this year because of the food, fuel and financial crises.

To deal with the situation, the U.N. World Food Program has launched a project to help small farmers. These farmers are mainly women. Many cannot produce enough food even to feed and support their own families.
　

World Food Program's Josette Sheeran, in Ghana, says P4P will help fight hunger across Africa

The new effort is called Purchase for Progress, or P4P. It aims to connect local farmers with dependable markets. That way, they could get a chance to sell their surplus at competitive prices. P4P will be tested in as many as twenty-one countries during the next five years.

The biggest contributor to the project is Bill Gates, through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Another donor¹ is the Howard Buffett Foundation, led by a son of American investor² Warren Buffett. And the government of Belgium is supporting the project in a former colony, now the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Together these donors³ have provided more than seventy-six million dollars for projects in Africa and Central America.

Purchase for Progress will work with United Nations agencies, governments and nongovernmental organizations to help increase crop production. The World Bank Group and other partners are to help train farmers in better crop management and marketing⁴ skills.

The World Food Program says it expects to buy forty thousand tons of food in the first year using methods launched by the project. That will be enough to feed two hundred fifty thousand people.

P4P is expected to develop food cooperatives and long-term agreements for buying corn, wheat and other food crops. About three hundred fifty thousand farmers could be assisted.

Officials say the project will change the way the World Food Program buys food in developing countries. Executive Director Josette Sheeran says this is the first time her agency will buy a large amount of food from small-scale farmers. The agency has traditionally bought most of its food from developing countries, but through larger trading organizations.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jerilyn Watson. Transcripts⁵, MP3s and podcasts of our reports are at voaspecialenglish.com.

1 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

2 investor   

n.投资者，投资人

参考例句：

• My nephew is a cautious investor.我侄子是个小心谨慎的投资者。
• The investor believes that his investment will pay off handsomely soon.这个投资者相信他的投资不久会有相当大的收益。

3 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》

4 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

5 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句