VOA标准英语2011--Clinton: Famine Aid Must Prevent Future

Clinton: Famine Aid Must Prevent Future Crises

The United States has pledged an additional $17 million to nations in the Horn of Africa coping with severe drought. That includes $12 million for Somalia, where tens of thousands of people have died of starvation and disease. In a speech here in Washington Thursday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the response to the famine must look beyond the current crisis and that now is the time to focus on ensuring it does not happen again.
More than two million people have fled their homes in Somalia in the wake of the worst drought in decades.
At a camp near Mogadishu, this woman is one of the lucky ones whose family survived the long and difficult walk.
"None of us died. We are farmers and herders. We lost all our livestock¹ and the children survived. Thanks to Allah," she said.
Dead livestock, withered² crops and hunger are the story across a broad swath of the Horn of Africa.
This is not the first time this story has played out in the region, said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
"Every few decades the cycle repeats. And it would be easy to throw up our hands and blame it all on forces beyond our control. But this cycle is not inevitable," Clinton said.
Clinton said the world has the knowledge, tools and resources to make hunger a memory, if there is the will to do so. "Right now when the effects of food security are the most extreme, we must rededicate ourselves to breaking this cycle," she said.
Speaking at the International Food Policy Research Institute, Clinton said Somalia's neighbors Kenya and Ethiopia are better off today than in previous droughts because they invested in their small-scale farmers and herders. Ethiopia's social safety net program puts people to work on projects that improve food security.
"More than 7.6 million farmers and herders have been helped by this program, people who are not in need of emergency aid today," she said.
But critics say this program has made many people dependent on food aid. And Ethiopian political analyst³ Jawar Mohammed says it has become a political tool as well.
"The government used this network of food aid delivery to force people to become members and supporters of the ruling party," Mohammed said.
But for countries that commit to helping⁴ their own farmers and herders improve food security, the United States has pledged $3.5 billion in aid. Kenya and Ethiopia already are receiving help from this program. Clinton called on other donor⁵ nations to follow through on pledges they made to help boost developing world food security. Otherwise, she added, the world might soon face another crisis in the Horn of Africa.

1 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

2 withered   

adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• The grass had withered in the warm sun. 这些草在温暖的阳光下枯死了。
• The leaves of this tree have become dry and withered. 这棵树下的叶子干枯了。

3 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

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。