2006年VOA标准英语-World Food Program Calls 2005 a Disastrous

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
01 January 2006

An elderly woman carries part of the food ration¹ she received from the World Food Program in the drought-stricken southern Somali town of Wajid   
  
The World Food Program describes 2005 as the most challenging year the humanitarian² aid world has faced since World War II. The U.N. agency says millions of people were in need of emergency assistance due to an exceptionally large number of disasters.

-------------------------------------

The World Food Program says 2005 began with the devastating³ Indian Ocean tsunami⁴ that claimed more than 200,000 lives and ended with the Pakistan earthquake that killed about 80,000 people. In between, it says humanitarian aid agencies struggled with crises such as drought and locust⁵ in Niger, the ongoing⁶ conflict in Sudan's province of Darfur and Hurricanes Katrina and Stan.

WFP spokeswoman Christiane Berthiaume says there was a huge outpouring of generosity⁷ to the victims of the tsunami. But, this, she says, had the effect of diverting attention away from other emergencies. She says the World Food Program raised most of the money it needed. But, it took a great deal of time and energy.

"The crises that make the headlines, that you see on your TV screens are much easier to fund. But, the crises that we call the forgotten ones-those more than 850 million people that are simply hungry, it is much more difficult to get the funds, the money for those kinds of, what we call, the forgotten crises," she said.

Ms. Berthiaume says many WFP operations remain dangerously under-funded. For example, she notes its appeal for $100 million to provide air support for U.N. relief operations in Pakistan is less than half funded. She also says the WFP's $317 million appeal for 10 million people in southern Africa is short $100 million.

Ms. Berthiaume says the World Food Program fed 130 million people last year. This is the largest number of beneficiaries since the agency was founded in 1963.

The international community has pledged to cut world hunger in half by 2015. Despite of this, Ms. Berthiaume says the number of hungry people around the world is increasing.

"Hunger is still the number one cause of death in the world today. It kills more than malaria⁸, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis⁹ combined. Every day it kills 25,000 people. Every day. It is an unnoticed tsunami every 10 days," she added.

The World Food Program says it faces many challenges in the year ahead. These include Sudan, where six million people are in need of food assistance, and southern Africa where nearly 10 million people are threatened by drought and HIV/AIDS.

In addition, the World Food Program reports more than one million quake victims in Pakistan and 1.5 million victims of the tsunami will continue to need support throughout the year.

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 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 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

4 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

5 locust   

n.蝗虫；洋槐，刺槐

参考例句：

• A locust is a kind of destructive insect.蝗虫是一种害虫。
• This illustration shows a vertical section through the locust.本图所示为蝗虫的纵剖面。

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 generosity   

n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为

参考例句：

• We should match their generosity with our own.我们应该像他们一样慷慨大方。
• We adore them for their generosity.我们钦佩他们的慷慨。

8 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

9 tuberculosis   

n.结核病，肺结核

参考例句：

• People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。
• Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。