时间:2019-01-13 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2012年(七月)


英语课

 



FAO Warns of Locust 1 Threat in Mali and Niger


Heavy rains have fallen over the past three weeks in northern Mali and Niger and that’s resulted in growing swarms 3 of Desert locusts 4. Efforts are underway to contain the insects in a region that’s already food insecure.


They may be called Desert locusts, but they like rain. Keith Cressman is a Senior Locust Forecasting Officer for the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.


“Locusts exist normally at most times of the year in desert areas anywhere between West Africa and western India. Now they require rainfall in order to reproduce and increase in numbers. So the rains provide the sandy soil with moisture for their eggs, and those eggs hatch after about two weeks. And then after about another six weeks, the wingless nymphs -- juvenile 5 locusts -- get wings and become adults,” he said.


And when the rain is heavy – as it has been in northern Mali and Niger – the stage is set for swarms.


“They have the ability to take advantage of unusually good conditions. And when they do that it’s at this point that they can increase in large numbers very rapidly. And then they can threaten agricultural production zones in that country,” said Cressman.


The locusts arrived in Mali and Niger last month from Algeria and Libya, where infestations 6 were first reported in January. The FAO says insecurity in Algeria and Libya hampered 7 control operations, allowing the locusts to migrate across the Sahara.


Cressman said that the heavy rains not only provide good conditions for breeding, but may result in a second generation of locusts in another month or two. Those swarms could pose new threats to Algeria and Libya and threaten harvests in West Africa’s Sahel region.


“If you can imagine that a locust swarm 2 – a cloud of locusts – has billions of insects, this means that a small part of a single swarm can eat the same amount of food in one day as about 2,500 people. So imagine if we have a number of swarms around in a particular country, it can have a very significant impact on not only the agricultural production in that country, but on that country’s food security,” he said.


While ground control operations have been underway in Niger since early June, political conflict has prevented similar efforts in northern Mali. More than 30 pickup 8 trucks and other locust control equipment were looted.


The FAO is asking for $10 million to expand control operations. This is in addition to country-level spending. Cressman said if the $10 million dollars is spent before a plague develops, it can save up to half a billion dollars a year or two later in trying to control and contain it.


The FAO is also closely monitoring locusts that have been seen in eastern Chad and Sudan’s Darfur region.




n.蝗虫;洋槐,刺槐
  • A locust is a kind of destructive insect.蝗虫是一种害虫。
  • This illustration shows a vertical section through the locust.本图所示为蝗虫的纵剖面。
n.(昆虫)等一大群;vi.成群飞舞;蜂拥而入
  • There is a swarm of bees in the tree.这树上有一窝蜜蜂。
  • A swarm of ants are moving busily.一群蚂蚁正在忙碌地搬家。
蜂群,一大群( swarm的名词复数 )
  • They came to town in swarms. 他们蜂拥来到城里。
  • On June the first there were swarms of children playing in the park. 6月1日那一天,这个公园里有一群群的孩子玩耍。
n.蝗虫( locust的名词复数 );贪吃的人;破坏者;槐树
  • a swarm of locusts 一大群蝗虫
  • In no time the locusts came down and started eating everything. 很快蝗虫就飞落下来开始吃东西,什么都吃。 来自《简明英汉词典》
n.青少年,少年读物;adj.青少年的,幼稚的
  • For a grown man he acted in a very juvenile manner.身为成年人,他的行为举止显得十分幼稚。
  • Juvenile crime is increasing at a terrifying rate.青少年犯罪正在以惊人的速度增长。
n.(害虫、盗贼等)群袭,出没,横行( infestation的名词复数 )
  • The arrival of warm weather raises the specter of disease and increased rat infestations caused by rotting garbage. 天气转暖使人们担心垃圾腐烂会引起疾病传播和鼠群猖獗。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Piperazine citrate is the drug of choice in the treatment of Ascaris infestations. 枸橼酸哌嗪治疗蛔虫感染是最好的药物。 来自辞典例句
妨碍,束缚,限制( hamper的过去式和过去分词 )
  • The search was hampered by appalling weather conditions. 恶劣的天气妨碍了搜寻工作。
  • So thought every harassed, hampered, respectable boy in St. Petersburg. 圣彼德堡镇的那些受折磨、受拘束的体面孩子们个个都是这么想的。
n.拾起,获得
  • I would love to trade this car for a pickup truck.我愿意用这辆汽车换一辆小型轻便卡车。||The luck guy is a choice pickup for the girls.那位幸运的男孩是女孩子们想勾搭上的人。
学英语单词
a basin of
a big fish
Arnoldson
ashwood
attachent
auto index register
axial length
back fill
bank cable
be one's own master
bearing cup inserter
binocle
blades of grass
brick works
cash sale
cell drying machine
chirruper
concrete of dry consistency
contact emf
corporate-income
Cratoxylum ligustrinum
deglovings
demines
digestive system
distribution information
district sublevel
dowtherm boiler
electrode plate
end instrument
farm planning survey
finished warehouse
flicker principle
flocculant solution
foramina of Bochdalek
Fégréac
glease
Godofelassi
gone poof
Great Lakes
greek capitals
harmonic pencil
hartzler
hawaiites
helical reinforcement
hexacyclic
horizontal flight
hyperbaric oxygen therapy
identifier protection
implosion guard
inboard ventilation exhaust valve
indefinability
indolepopionic acid
input/output parity interrupt
keyless tin
Kherba
know sth from sth
linen-armourer
Longido
lynchet
map-slip
middle-road
multiregion gun
MusBac
nervus glossopharyngeuss
Niltubin
Nimen'ga
nitweeds
no longer supported
non-olfactory
noncoherent
one-eighth-ounce
open a can of whoop ass
operating differential subsidy
overmixed
paim wax
peace-and-justice
period-style
radial mixing model
recently-arriveds
rectipetality
rhinopathia
roseate
sagandipine
satguru
serializer/deserializer
shrimp-and-crab
single-station analysis
spotted hyena
strook
supermodular game
swash pool
thalers
theater light
three-points
trampolins
trencher-friend
trierarchs
Vinh Yen
wantaways
waveconnect
Wenceslas III
yarwhelps