VOA标准英语2008年-WFP to Provide Food to Displaced In Kenya

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
04 January 2008

The World Food Program says it plans to provide through the Kenyan Red Cross urgently needed food for 100,000 people displaced by violence in the Northern Rift¹ Valley. The WFP warns the crisis in Kenya also hampers² humanitarian³ operations throughout the region. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from Geneva.

A World Food Program Spokeswoman, Christiane Berthiaume, tells VOA a WFP team left Nairobi by road on Friday to bring food for 100,000 displaced people to the Kenya Red Cross. She says this food is meant to supplement that which is being provided by the Kenyan government.

She says the government is distributing 1,800 tons of cereals, enough to feed 120,000 people for one month.

She says it is difficult for trucks carrying WFP food to reach areas in western Kenya. She notes virtually all movements of WFP food in Kenya have been frozen for days because of insecurity.

"We have 200 trucks in Mombasa that are loaded with food for 1.5  million people - not only for Kenya, but also for the region," said Berthiaume. "And, some are blocked in Mombasa right now."

Mombasa is a very important port of entry. Berthiaume says the food which is unloaded there assists well over 1.5 million needy⁴ people in Kenya, Uganda, southern Sudan, Somalia and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

"It is very, very difficult to reach them right now by land," said Berthiaume. "Some of the food that we have received in Mombasa will go to Somalia by the sea. But, for the other ones, we really need to get those trucks underway to the neighboring countries as well as inside Kenya."

Berthiaume says dozens of trucks loaded with WFP food are stranded⁵ in Nairobi, in Mombasa and in Eldoret, a town in the Rift Valley. Some of those trucks, she says were stranded because of insecurity on main roads and checkpoints set up by vigilantes in western Kenya.

She says WFP is holding urgent talks with the government to resolve this issue and get the aid to those who need it in Kenya and elsewhere.

1 rift   

n.裂口，隙缝，切口；v.裂开，割开，渗入

参考例句：

• He was anxious to mend the rift between the two men.他急于弥合这两个人之间的裂痕。
• The sun appeared through a rift in the clouds.太阳从云层间隙中冒出来。

2 hampers   

妨碍，束缚，限制( hamper的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Prejudice sometimes hampers a person from doing the right thing. 有时候，偏见会妨碍人正确行事。
• This behavior is the opposite of modeless feedback, and it hampers flow. 这个行为有悖于非模态的反馈，它阻碍了流。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

3 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。

4 needy   

adj.贫穷的，贫困的，生活艰苦的

参考例句：

• Although he was poor,he was quite generous to his needy friends.他虽穷，但对贫苦的朋友很慷慨。
• They awarded scholarships to needy students.他们给贫苦学生颁发奖学金。

5 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。