时间:2019-01-08 作者:英语课 分类:2006年VOA标准英语(九月)


英语课

By Gilbert da Costa
Abuja
23 September 2006

A high-level meeting on the role of science and research in combating desertification in sub-Saharan Africa opened in Niamey, the capital of Niger, on Saturday.  Desertification adversely 1 affects the lives and livelihood 2 of more than 50 million people in the Sahel region.


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Children are seen hanging around dried watering holes at Tuka, in Ethiopia (File photo)
Children are seen hanging around dried watering holes at Tuka, in Ethiopia (File photo)


 
 
 



Leading international scientists, researchers, representatives of donor 3 agencies, non-governmental groups and U.N. agencies are hoping to evolve a better future for sub-Saharan Africa's drylands, safe from the scourge 4 of desertification.


Agriculture in the Sahel, sub-Saharan Africa's northern-most agricultural zone, is being threatened by desertification, aggravating 5 food insecurity in one of the poorest regions of the world.


Millions of farmers in the region, who practice subsistence farming in a fragile environment, have seen crop yields fall drastically over the years.


Mark Winslow, of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, says new techniques, including applying even small amounts of fertilizer, called micro-dosing, can increase crop yields dramatically.


"If you buy about $10 worth of fertilizer, you get about $50 worth of extra millet 6, cereal crop in the dry area of the Sahel," he noted 7.  "A lot of potential solutions that have been developed by research, or are being developed have not been implemented 8, because we do not have the world commitment that the problem needs. So, we are trying to highlight some of the solutions. One example is micro-dosing and that is to overcome the belief that fertilizer is a bad thing for dry places, because we have research that shows that, if you use the right type of fertilizer, it can actually be a good thing."


Niger, host of the three-day international workshop, was hit by a debilitating 9 famine in 2005, prompting an international emergency response, including $100 million in food aid.


Winslow says intensifying 10 international efforts to combat land degradation 11 in sub-Saharan Africa's drylands is more cost effective than providing food aid.


"We estimate probably about $20 million per country will enable us to really spread this technology, and per country I mean dryland countries like Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Senegal, northern Nigeria, Chad, all these Sahelian countries," he said.


He says such investment could have made a difference in Niger.


"For example, we calculated that, in Niger, if only about 20 percent of the farmers had adopted this in 2004, there probably would not have been famine in 2005," he added.  "So, if you calculate the cost of hunger, which includes the cost for importing all the food for food aid, it is much cheaper to invest $20 million."


The United Nations has declared 2006 the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. The Niamey forum 12 hopes to galvanize global support to reduce poverty by combating desertification in the Sahel region of Africa.



ad.有害地
  • We commented adversely upon the imbecility of that message of telegraphic style. 我们对着这条电报式的愚蠢的留言发泄了一通不满。
  • Widely fluctuating exchange rates may adversely affect international trade. 浮动幅度很大的汇率可能会对国际贸易产生有害的影响。
n.生计,谋生之道
  • 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。
n.捐献者;赠送人;(组织、器官等的)供体
  • 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。
n.灾难,祸害;v.蹂躏
  • Smallpox was once the scourge of the world.天花曾是世界的大患。
  • The new boss was the scourge of the inefficient.新老板来了以后,不称职的人就遭殃了。
adj.恼人的,讨厌的
  • How aggravating to be interrupted! 被打扰,多令人生气呀!
  • Diesel exhaust is particularly aggravating to many susceptible individuals. 许多体质敏感的人尤其反感柴油废气。
n.小米,谷子
  • Millet is cultivated in the middle or lower reaches of the Yellow River.在黄河中下游地区,人们种植谷子。
  • The high quality millet flour was obtained through wet milling.采用湿磨法获得了高品质的小米粉。
adj.著名的,知名的
  • The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
  • Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
v.实现( implement的过去式和过去分词 );执行;贯彻;使生效
  • This agreement, if not implemented, is a mere scrap of paper. 这个协定如不执行只不过是一纸空文。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • The economy is in danger of collapse unless far-reaching reforms are implemented. 如果不实施影响深远的改革,经济就面临崩溃的危险。 来自辞典例句
a.使衰弱的
  • The debilitating disease made him too weak to work. 这个令他衰弱的病,使他弱到没有办法工作。
  • You may soon leave one debilitating condition or relationship forever. 你即将永远地和这段霉运说拜拜了。
v.(使)增强, (使)加剧( intensify的现在分词 );增辉
  • The allies are intensifying their air campaign. 联军部队正加大他们的空战强度。 来自辞典例句
  • The rest of the European powers were in a state of intensifying congestion. 其余的欧洲强国则处于越来越拥挤的状态。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史
n.降级;低落;退化;陵削;降解;衰变
  • There are serious problems of land degradation in some arid zones.在一些干旱地带存在严重的土地退化问题。
  • Gambling is always coupled with degradation.赌博总是与堕落相联系。
n.论坛,讨论会
  • They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
  • The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。
学英语单词
abrasive band
action of controller
all-bright
aluminium ethide
ambiguous case
Anaset
bottlehead
canning burst
cat tree
Cerbolite
chainwale
chloralacetoxime
Cinchona officinalis
collect one's faculty
compaignion
contection
cotton braid
cowpooling
debituminize
disultone
DPICM
Dubky
duty-paids
eccentric type vibrator
environment control in biology
evasion chart
expansion fog
explicit faith,explicit belief
family peridiniidaes
ferl
fifty cents
file layout
fink on sb
fire banked
fixed ratio (fr) schedule
flying height
garp atlantic tropical experiment (wmo/icsu) (gate)
Genseric
geopartners
Glinus
gloom-and-doomer
Godhafoss
Gorno-Chuyskiy
hailwoods
high pressure piston
Hope, R.
hostitutes
i will wait for you
infective pleurisy
intramammary pressure
iodanil
islands
kante
Larzel's anemia
legitime
leycesterias
liberal interpretation
literaryisms
Mayer sign
micronized clay
murp
musculi pterygoideus
myological
natural frequency
negativas
non-shattering glass
not give a two pins
oghma
oil-depth gauge
over-played
paler
phosacetim
picciarelli
playing-cards
postwomen
Pound, Louise
productive task
pseudacousma
purely infinite
rear parking stop and direction indicator lamps
regional sea level change
resident editor
Safe High Voltage connector
San Isidro, R.
scatologia
single thread sizing
skiable
slot tear
sphenofrontal suture
splitter switch
spot weld adhesive
sticky prices
storage adapter
straight smile
string-oriented instruction
substitutions of amino acids
swormstedt
takao
tally trade
undersea tunnel
unfledged
work of deformation