VOA标准英语2009年-Hunger Casts Dark Cloud Over World Food Da

By Sabina Castelfranco
Rome
16 October 2009
 
School children eat free lunch at government school in Hyderabad on World Food Day,16 Oct 2009
Despite a goal set by world leaders nine years ago to cut the number of hungry people in half by 2015, the number of hungry people continues to rise. World Food Day celebrations are being held Friday to raise awareness¹ to the plight² of the world's hungry.

"World Food Weekend, World Food Day 2009, with their various activities, are serving as a milestone³ in the preparations leading to the World Summit on Food Security to be opened exactly one month from today," said Jacques Diouf, director general of the United Nations food agency based in Rome. Diouf welcomed participants to celebrations for World Food Day - the anniversary of the founding, back in 1945, of the Food and Agriculture Organization.

Each year FAO chooses a theme for World Food Day. This year it's: "Achieving Food Security In Times Of Crisis". Diouf said that at a time when the fallout from the global economic crisis still dominates the news, it is important to remind the international community that the crisis is stalking the small-scale farms and rural areas of the world, where 70 percent of the world's hungry live and work.

"For the first time in history, more than one billion people are undernourished worldwide," he said. "This is 105 million more than last year and it means that one in every six persons in the world suffers from hunger every day."

The world's most populous⁴ region, Asia and the Pacific, has the largest number of hungry people - 642 million - followed by sub-Saharan Africa with 265 million.

The FAO's director general said the recent increase in hunger is not the consequence of a poor global harvest. He said it is caused by the current world economic crisis, which has reduced incomes and employment opportunities of the poor and significantly lowered their access to food.

Diouf added that the current food crisis is historically unprecedented⁵. It follows the global and sharp increase in staple⁶ food prices in 2007-2008. He said world leaders are starting to understand that investment in agriculture must be increased.

The director general also said that it is of utmost importance to resolve how aid is channeled and how it is made to reach small farmers effectively. The FAO has said that global food output will have to increase by 70 percent to feed a projected population of 9.1 billion in 2050. The report calls for greater investment in agriculture to tackle long and short-term hunger by making farmers productive and more resilient to crises.

The report calls for greater investment in agriculture to tackle long and short-term hunger by making farmers productive and more resilient to crises.

1 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

2 plight   

n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定

参考例句：

• The leader was much concerned over the plight of the refugees.那位领袖对难民的困境很担忧。
• She was in a most helpless plight.她真不知如何是好。

3 milestone   

n.里程碑；划时代的事件

参考例句：

• The film proved to be a milestone in the history of cinema.事实证明这部影片是电影史上的一个里程碑。
• I think this is a very important milestone in the relations between our two countries.我认为这是我们两国关系中一个十分重要的里程碑。

4 populous   

adj.人口稠密的，人口众多的

参考例句：

• London is the most populous area of Britain.伦敦是英国人口最稠密的地区。
• China is the most populous developing country in the world.中国是世界上人口最多的发展中国家。

5 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

6 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。