2007年VOA标准英语-Lesotho Facing Food Crisis

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
17 June 2007

Lesotho women draped in blankets walk to a voting station set in a school in the village of Machache (File Photo - 17 Feb 2007)

The World Food Program says the tiny South African country of Lesotho needs urgent international assistance to prevent a major food crisis this year. A report by WFP and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization finds cereal prices in Lesotho have skyrocketed after this year's main cereal harvest was ravaged¹ by one of the worst droughts in 30 years. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from Geneva.

The U.N. agencies say they expect the height of the food crisis to hit in the first three months of 2008. They say 400,000 people across Lesotho, or one fifth of the population, will face food shortages and need help.

The agencies say serious food shortages will begin in the next three months. This will affect about 140,000 of the most impoverished² people.

A World Food Program Spokeswoman, Christiane Berthiaume, says drought is the biggest problem facing Lesotho. It is responsible for this year's extremely poor harvest, but she says the high prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the country is making a bad situation even worse.

"Thirty-one percent is very, very high and it is obviously undermining the economic resources of the country, resulting in a lack of labor³ in rural areas," said Berthiaume. "A lot of people are either too weak to work because they are sick or many have died. Those are people that are young people that should be able to work."

Berthiaume notes Lesotho needs about 360,000 tons of food annually⁴. But, because of this year's bad harvest, she says farmers only produced 72,000 tons of cereal. This has resulted in soaring cereal prices that are unaffordable for many people.

She says the World Food Program is preparing an appeal for Lesotho. She says it is crucial that money is available so farmers can buy enough seeds and fertilizer in time for the next crop season. She says another bad harvest next year could be catastrophic.

1 ravaged   

毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 )； 蹂躏； 劫掠； 抢劫

参考例句：

• a country ravaged by civil war 遭受内战重创的国家
• The whole area was ravaged by forest fires. 森林火灾使整个地区荒废了。

2 impoverished   

adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化

参考例句：

• the impoverished areas of the city 这个城市的贫民区
• They were impoverished by a prolonged spell of unemployment. 他们因长期失业而一贫如洗。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

4 annually   

adv.一年一次，每年

参考例句：

• Many migratory birds visit this lake annually.许多候鸟每年到这个湖上作短期逗留。
• They celebrate their wedding anniversary annually.他们每年庆祝一番结婚纪念日。