VOA常速英语2008年-Anger Rises in Senegal, West Africa, Over Soari

By Uma Ramiah
Dakar
04 April 2008

Rising gas prices, demand for bio-fuels and poor harvests have all contributed to rocketing food prices around the world. In sub-Saharan Africa where most people spend a majority of their income on food, even the smallest rise in food prices puts a serious strain on African families. Uma Ramiah has more from Dakar.

 

A lively debate has sprung up between Abdou Ndoye and street-side vendors¹ hawking² green apples and spotty mangoes on a dusty street of the Senegalese capital.

When Ndoye suggests what he thinks is a fair price for four of the mangoes, the three women sitting behind a rough wooden table before him throw their hands in the air and laugh. They tell him the price is now twice what it was two months ago.

Abdou, a taxi driver in the beachside capital asks the women why they think life is becoming so expensive in the city. They say the government is not doing enough, and also blame bad harvests.

But they are convinced of one thing: if the price of food continues to climb at such rates, there will be trouble in Senegal.

Soaring food costs have prompted unrest across West Africa. In Dakar last week, police cracked down on rioters protesting the rising cost of staple³ goods including rice, oil and milk. Nearby Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Mauritania have each seen angry citizens take to the streets to protest mounting prices.

And though the rising food costs are a global trend, the effects are felt sharply in sub-Saharan Africa where most people survive on around two dollars a day.

Abdou, speaking of how far his money must stretch these days, spots a potential client walking on the side of the road. Sembou Diallo waves Abdou's taxi down.

While peering out the window at an enormous hotel construction project, he says what is happening to ordinary citizens is not fair. "If food prices rise while salaries remain paltry⁴, people will have no options," he explains.

The city has become too expensive, and frustration⁵ is growing, he goes on.

Diallo works a good job for a security company in Dakar, but says on his salary, which used to be more than enough, he is having trouble feeding his family.

The price of rice and cooking oil has doubled in the last three months.

Abdou's next client, Lamine Sonko, is a friend. He works at a school for handicapped children making $100 a month. Riding in the taxi, he agrees that while the government spends millions constructing shiny new buildings and roads, regular people struggle.

People are starting to think riots are the only way to get the government's attention now, he says.

Senegal's president Abdoulaye Wade⁶, in an Independence Day address to the nation this week, announced new measures meant to ease the pain of rising costs.

He says the government has set aside 500 million local CFA francs, or about $1.2 million, to open new food stores with controlled prices to protect consumers from vendors who would unfairly increase costs. He said the government will also cut taxes on civil servant salaries.

The Senegalese government imports almost all of its food. President Wade told his country that in a push towards self-sufficiency, Senegal also needs to start growing its own rice.

1 vendors   

n.摊贩( vendor的名词复数 )；小贩；（房屋等的）卖主；卖方

参考例句：

• The vendors were gazundered at the last minute. 卖主在最后一刻被要求降低房价。
• At the same time, interface standards also benefIt'software vendors. 同时，界面标准也有利于软件开发商。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

2 hawking   

利用鹰行猎

参考例句：

• He is hawking his goods everywhere. 他在到处兜售他的货物。
• We obtain the event horizon and the Hawking spectrumformula. 得到了黑洞的局部事件视界位置和Hawking温度以及Klein—Gordon粒子的Hawking辐射谱。

3 staple   

n.主要产物，常用品，主要要素，原料，订书钉，钩环；adj.主要的，重要的；vt.分类

参考例句：

• Tea is the staple crop here.本地产品以茶叶为大宗。
• Potatoes are the staple of their diet.土豆是他们的主要食品。

4 paltry   

adj.无价值的，微不足道的

参考例句：

• The parents had little interest in paltry domestic concerns.那些家长对家里鸡毛蒜皮的小事没什么兴趣。
• I'm getting angry;and if you don't command that paltry spirit of yours.我要生气了，如果你不能振作你那点元气。

5 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

6 wade   

v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉

参考例句：

• We had to wade through the river to the opposite bank.我们只好涉水过河到对岸。
• We cannot but wade across the river.我们只好趟水过去。