VOA标准英语2009年-UK Aid Agency Calls for Emergency Relief i

By Selah Hennessy
London
29 September 2009

An international aid group says East Africa is facing the worst humanitarian¹ crisis in 10 years. The Britain-based agency, Oxfam, says climate change is leading to extreme drought, killing² cattle and threatening lives throughout the region. The agency is appealing for millions of dollars for emergency relief.

Speaking to VOA from Nairobi, Oxfam's East Africa Director Paul Smith Lomas says in some regions adequate rainfall has not come for three years. The worst affected³ countries, he says, are Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Uganda.

"There are very distressing⁴ levels of malnutrition⁵," he said. "We know that in northern Kenya, for example, the level of malnutrition amongst children is beyond what is defined as an emergency level. In Somalia almost one in six children are seen to be acutely malnourished."

 
A malnourished boy waits for treatment at a Medecins Sans Frontieres clinic in Lankien in southern Sudan (File)
He says hundreds of thousands of cattle are dying, destroying a big source of income. Herders on the hunt for grassland⁶, he says, are roaming outside their normal pastures, leading to fierce competition for resources. Oxfam says this has led to 65 deaths in northern Kenya since June.

Lomas says rains are expected this month.

"We are predicting that these could be rains better than average which of course would be incredibly welcome," he added. "The fear is that those rains could be destructive so we could see flooding and flooding could bring new forms of destruction and new forms of suffering."

Oxfam is calling on the public to donate around $15 million to bring emergency relief to the area. But Lomas says long-term plans are also needed. He says the weather in East Africa has become unpredictable and plans need to be made to prevent humanitarian crises in the future.

"Droughts used to happen something like once every 10 years or so. Now we're in a position where droughts appear to be happening every year, every second year, every third year, so far more frequent," said Lomas. "So it's very clear that we can't rely on the predictability of the weather anything like as much as people use to be able to do."
 
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said last week that a total of 20 million people are dependent on international aid in East Africa. This is almost double the number affected by a similar food crisis in 2006.

The United Nations World Food Program announced last week that its services in Kenya will be cut by half in October because of insufficient⁷ funds.

1 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。

2 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

3 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

4 distressing   

a.使人痛苦的

参考例句：

• All who saw the distressing scene revolted against it. 所有看到这种悲惨景象的人都对此感到难过。
• It is distressing to see food being wasted like this. 这样浪费粮食令人痛心。

5 malnutrition   

n.营养不良

参考例句：

• In Africa, there are a lot of children suffering from severe malnutrition.在非洲有大批严重营养不良的孩子。
• It is a classic case of malnutrition. 这是营养不良的典型病例。

6 grassland   

n.牧场，草地，草原

参考例句：

• There is a reach of grassland in the distance.远处是连绵一片的草原。
• The snowstorm swept the vast expanse of grassland.暴风雪袭击了辽阔的草原。

7 insufficient   

adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的

参考例句：

• There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。
• In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代，科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。