VOA标准英语10月-UN: Zimbabwe Experiencing Worst Ever Food Crisis

The U.N. World Food Program says that nearly half the population of Zimbabwe will need food aid by early next year. Peta Thornycroft reports that WFP says two million people in Zimbabwe need aid immediately.
　

Zimbabwean woman puts maize2 into bag in Domboshawa, 23 Apr 2008

The World Food Program says it needs $140 million to cover mass emergency feeding for millions of Zimbabweans before the harvest next April.

The U.N. agency warned that without additional contributions it will run out of stocks in January, "at the very peak of the crisis."

A statement from WFP regional director Mustapha Darboe said, "millions of Zimbabweans have run out of food or are surviving on just one meal a day, and the crisis is going to get much worse in the coming months."

Zimbabwe was self sufficient in food until President Robert Mugabe started evicting³ white commercial farmers in 2000 and gave their land to members of his ZANU-PF party who had few farming skills.

Every year since then food production has decreased and the economy has shrunk, producing record-breaking inflation of more than 300 million percent, a worthless currency, and the lowest life expectancy⁴ in the world.

The World Food Program says 28 percent of children under five in Zimbabwe are now malnourished and 45 percent of the population will depend on emergency food aid early next year.

The United States is by far the biggest donor⁵ and has given $108 million this year.

Veteran human rights campaigner, Paul Themba Nyathi says WFP statistics appear too low for southern Zimbabwe. He said he has never seen such a food deficit⁶ before. He said every person he sees in rural areas in the south is starving.

Another human rights activist⁷ said this food crisis was not only the worst ever, but was more complicated than before because urban shops had no essential food items available for sale.

Meanwhile, the bad news in Zimbabwe compounded when Prime Minister Designate Morgan Tsvangirai announced he had deadlocked⁸ with Mr. Mugabe over allocation of Cabinet positions under the power-sharing agreement signed on September 15.

He called for former South African president Thabo Mbeki, appointed by the Southern African Development Community last year to mediate¹ the Zimbabwe political and humanitarian⁹ crisis to return to Harare to help unblock the negotiations¹⁰.

1 mediate   

vi.调解，斡旋；vt.经调解解决；经斡旋促成

参考例句：

• The state must mediate the struggle for water resources.政府必须通过调解来解决对水资源的争夺。
• They may be able to mediate between parties with different interests.他们也许能在不同利益政党之间进行斡旋。

2 maize   

n.玉米

参考例句：

• There's a field planted with maize behind the house.房子后面有一块玉米地。
• We can grow sorghum or maize on this plot.这块地可以种高粱或玉米。

3 evicting   

v.（依法从房屋里或土地上）驱逐，赶出( evict的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Money spent on evicting sex offenders cannot be spent on treating them. 花在打击性侵犯者上的钱并不能花在治疗这一社会问题上。 来自互联网
• Money spent on evicting sex offenders cannot be spent on treating them. Does this matter? 钱被花费在驱逐性犯罪者而不是用做教育他们，这样做真的好么？ 来自互联网

4 expectancy   

n.期望，预期，（根据概率统计求得）预期数额

参考例句：

• Japanese people have a very high life expectancy.日本人的平均寿命非常长。
• The atomosphere of tense expectancy sobered everyone.这种期望的紧张气氛使每个人变得严肃起来。

5 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。

6 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

7 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

8 deadlocked   

陷入僵局的；僵持不下的

参考例句：

• The plan deadlocked over the funds. 这个计划由于经费问题而搁浅了。
• The meeting deadlocked over the wage issue. 会议因工资问题而停顿下来。

9 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。

10 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。