VOA标准英语2014--粮农组织扩大南苏丹援助工作规模

 

FAO Scales Up South Sudan Aid Efforts 粮农组织扩大南苏丹援助工作规模

In this photo taken from Video provided by Associated Press on Tuesday, May 13, 2014, a malnourished child is fed by her mother, in a Medecins Sans Frontiers (Doctors Without Borders) hospital, in Leer, South Sudan. Bodies stuffed in wells. Houses burn

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization is scaling-up and extending its emergency operations in South Sudan. However, humanitarian¹ efforts are being slowed by heavy rains. FAO Special Adviser² Marjolaine Greentree said conditions are going from bad to worse.

“The humanitarian situation in South Sudan is really very dire," she said. "And we have just a few days left before the end of the planting season for the crops. [At] the same time the rains have started very, very strongly and making the few roads quite impassable.”

With the roads washed out or too muddy to use, the FAO is using other means to deliver aid.

Greentree said, “We have gone from road convoys³ to airlifts – and now for some places you cannot even land. So we have gone to the last resort solution, which is organizing air drops. This is a first for FAO, by the way, but the conditions here are quite extreme.”

Airdrops are much more complex and expensive than airlifts. And special precautions need to be taken to ensure aid packages hit the ground in one piece, even seed packages.

“Usually when we do an airlift or we transport by truck the seeds are in one bag. In order to be sure that they would not explode on landing we had to wrap them six times,” she said.

Wrapping them in six bags instead of one, means aid deliveries take a lot more time to prepare and take up a lot more space on the plane.

The seeds are part of 110,000 emergency livelihood⁴ kits⁵ that contain not only crop and vegetable seeds, but farming tools, fishing gear and livestock⁶ health products. Those kits will support 1.3 million people.

Greentree said current efforts can help ensure South Sudanese simply have enough to eat.

“The food security situation is worsening. We have more than 3.5 million people who are currently suffering from crisis of all emergency levels of food insecurity. And that means they are not able to meet their basic survival needs.”

When that happens, there’s the risk people will use – what’s called – extreme coping measures. That is, they sell their property to buy food, including what seeds they may have along with farming tools. And they may also sell their livestock, which is of critical importance to livelihoods⁷ in South Sudan.

The FAO is scaling-up operations over the next three months, but it says it needs more funding. The U.N. agency has received $42million from donors⁸, but needs $108 million to continue its Crisis Response Plan through next March. It said if it does receive full funding, the number of people it’s able to support could increase from 1.3 million to 2.7 million next year.

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 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

3 convoys   

n.（有护航的）船队( convoy的名词复数 )；车队；护航（队）；护送队

参考例句：

• Truck convoys often stop over for lunch here. 车队经常在这里停下来吃午饭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A UN official said aid programs will be suspended until there's adequate protection for relief convoys. 一名联合国官员说将会暂停援助项目，直到援助车队能够得到充分的保护为止。 来自辞典例句

4 livelihood   

n.生计，谋生之道

参考例句：

• Appropriate arrangements will be made for their work and livelihood.他们的工作和生活会得到妥善安排。
• My father gained a bare livelihood of family by his own hands.父亲靠自己的双手勉强维持家计。

5 kits   

衣物和装备( kit的名词复数 )； 成套用品； 配套元件

参考例句：

• Keep your kits closed and locked when not in use. 不用的话把你的装备都锁好放好。
• Gifts Articles, Toy and Games, Wooden Toys, Puzzles, Craft Kits. 采购产品礼品，玩具和游戏，木制的玩具，智力玩具，手艺装备。

6 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。

7 livelihoods   

生计，谋生之道( livelihood的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• First came the earliest individualistic pioneers who depended on hunting and fishing for their livelihoods. 走在最前面的是早期的个人主义先驱者，他们靠狩猎捕鱼为生。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• With little influence over policies, their traditional livelihoods are threatened. 因为马赛族人对政策的影响力太小，他们的传统生计受到了威胁。

8 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》