VOA标准英语2014--埃博拉威胁利比亚粮食安全

 

Ebola Weakens Liberia Food Security

Liberia has been the hardest hit country in West Africa’s Ebola outbreak with more than three-thousand cases. Fourteen of the country’s fifteen counties have been affected¹. Some of the first cases in Liberia were reported in northern Lofa County. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said the outbreak has had a big effect on food security there.

The FAO has just completed a four-day assessment² of Lofa County, where a three-man team visited the towns of Foya and Barkedu. The far northern area is close to the border with Guinea. That’s where the World Health Organization reports the Ebola outbreak probably began last December with the case of a two year old boy.

FAO representative Alexis Bonte said that Lofa County residents are “terrified at how fast the disease is spreading.” He says that “neighbors, friends and family members are dying within just a few days of exhibiting shocking symptoms.”

They often don’t understand what’s happening and blame the symptoms on bad water or food. And they’re too afraid to work the fields.

Bonte, who was part of the assessment team in Lofa, said, “It’s an area where you had a lot of traffic coming from the other countries -- and specifically for Barkedu, a city where MSF told me that 100-percent of the population has been in contact with an affected person.”

MSF is the French acronym³ for the medical aid group Doctors Without Borders.

Bonte said people were not able to get food at many markets in Lofa County, where food production had fallen from 10 to 25 percent depending on the area.

“All the markets had been closed by the local authorities with good reason to avoid that people will meet and take risk of shaking hands and hugging and so on. So, it’s empty markets with a lot of grass where normally you don’t have grass because people are walking there,” he said.

The food that was available cost much more. The price of fuel rose sharply, too.

The FAO assessment in northern Liberia found the Ebola outbreak was “washing away years of progress and hard work.” The disease brought livelihoods⁴ to a halt, so any savings⁵ local residents had were quickly depleted⁶.

For example, many women were not able to repay their loans used to start small farming-related businesses. What’s more, the FAO reports women have borne the brunt of the disease “in terms of infections and deaths”  They are on the “frontline” providing care to relatives at home and in health clinics.

What’s happening in Lofa County today could impact food security next year. The FAO said residents need immediate⁷ assistance, including rice and vegetable seeds and cash transfers.”

However, he said there is some good news. In the crossroads town of Voinjama – which serves as the county capital – authorities have approved the first weekly markets.

“So now we go back to a normal kind of life and maybe the trade and the markets will reopen progressively. And that will facilitate the movement of cash and also for the women to make sure they can buy and sell the food for their families,” he said.

The Food and Agriculture Organization will enlist⁸ the help of Liberian women’s associations to try to restart the local economies. The groups will be offered financial agreements to help raise awareness⁹ about Ebola and manage food and seed production.

Bonte said, “So the income that they will earn through these financial agreements will be used first to cover basic needs – the food, health, etc. But also will be invested to replenish¹⁰ the capital of their savings and loan schemes.”

Bonte said one of the biggest challenges will be to convince donors¹¹ that ensuring food security is a major part of the fight against Ebola. He added there will be no good health without food security. 

The World Health Organization said “the true number” of Ebola deaths in Liberia will likely never be known. For example, it says the bodies of many who have died from the disease in the very poor West Pointe area of Monrovia have been thrown into two nearby rivers.

The WHO also warns that the number of malaria¹² deaths this year in Liberia may soon surpass Ebola. It said stocks of anti-malarial bednets and medicines have been depleted.

To end on a more positive note, the new 120-bed Island Clinic has opened with the support of the WHO, UNICEF, the World Food Program and USAID. And soon, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention opens a new diagnostic lab. It would be able to confirm a case of Ebola within four hours of taking a blood sample. 

1 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。

2 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

3 acronym   

n.首字母简略词，简称

参考例句：

• That's a mouthful of an acronym for a very simple technology.对于一项非常简单的技术来说，这是一个很绕口的缩写词。
• TSDF is an acronym for Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities.TSDF是处理，储存和处置设施的一个缩写。

4 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。

5 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

6 depleted   

adj. 枯竭的, 废弃的 动词deplete的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Food supplies were severely depleted. 食物供应已严重不足。
• Both teams were severely depleted by injuries. 两个队都因队员受伤而实力大减。

7 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

8 enlist   

vt.谋取(支持等)，赢得；征募；vi.入伍

参考例句：

• They come here to enlist men for the army.他们来这儿是为了召兵。
• The conference will make further efforts to enlist the support of the international community for their just struggle. 会议必将进一步动员国际社会，支持他们的正义斗争。

9 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。

10 replenish   

vt.补充；(把…)装满；(再)填满

参考例句：

• I always replenish my food supply before it is depleted.我总是在我的食物吃完之前加以补充。
• We have to import an extra 4 million tons of wheat to replenish our reserves.我们不得不额外进口四百万吨小麦以补充我们的储备。

11 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》

12 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。