2006年VOA标准英语-Drought Rages in Ethiopia's Somali Region
时间：2019-01-13 作者：英语课 分类：2006年VOA标准英语（三月）
By Cathy Majtenyi
Gode
20 March 2006
The Somali region of southeastern Ethiopia is being hit by a drought that is also affecting parts of Kenya and Somalia. Residents and aid workers fear that widespread famine may grip the area, if the rains do not come soon. Cathy Majtenyi recently visited two districts in the region and files this report for VOA.
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A mother cradles her child in nutrition unit of Gode Hospital
There is no space left in the nutrition unit at Gode Hospital. Almost a dozen women sit on the floor cradling their bone-thin babies and toddlers, who wail 1 weakly at intervals 2.
Adar Mohamud has traveled 90 kilometers to bring her seven-month-old son Faiso in for treatment. She holds tiny, delicate Faiso as she reflects on her predicament. Adar says that there has been no rain for two seasons now and the family's livestock 3 is dying.
Meanwhile, district health officer Abdullahi Ali Haji visits the units of the 60-bed hospital, which serves at least 500,000 people in seven districts and coordinates 4 a number of health posts and centers.
Pastoralists report increasing number of livestock dying due to worsening drought conditions in parts of Somali region
He tells VOA more and more people are coming into Gode town from the rural areas looking for food and other assistance because their livestock are dying and the crops have failed.
"If you see the difference between the malnourished children who were coming to the Gode Hospital nutrition unit two months ago, the average admission of malnourished children was between two and three," he said. "But now, we're talking about five to seven a week, so this is the difference - it's almost double."
Abdullahi says there have been increases in respiratory infections, malaria 5 cases, and diarrhea diseases, which he says are all related to malnutrition 6.
The failure of the October to December "deyr" rains, and poor "gu" rains occurring from March to May, have resulted in some 1.5 million people in the Somali region requiring emergency food aid.
More than 500,000 people are also in critical need of water, with more than 56,000 children five years and under facing malnutrition in the Somali and Oromiya regions.
emergency food aid in Ethiopia's Somali region
1.5 million people require
Most of the people who live in the region are pastoralists who depend on livestock for a living. The rains' failure has greatly reduced the availability of pasture for grazing, and most crops on farms without access to water have withered 7 away.
The United Nations says people in the region are facing what it classifies as "extreme" food insecurity that includes "pre-famine" conditions.
In Kalafo, some 90 kilometers from Gode, Ebla Hajin sits in her stall at the town's market. She is surrounded by bright red tomatoes and packages of spaghetti, rice, sugar, maize 8, tomato paste and chicken stock, among other things.
Ebla Hajin sits in her stall at Kalafo’s market some 90 kilometers from Gode in Somali region
Ebla gets most of her food and supplies from nearby Somalia. She says business has been rough over the past few months.
Ebla says she has noticed a big change in the market since the beginning of the drought. She says the turnover 9 of her stock is very slow. People do not have enough money to buy food and other items. She says she spends the whole day at the stall - frequently selling little or nothing. She says the drought has hurt income.
Consequently, prices have shot through the roof in Kalafo. For instance, a tin of tomato paste that cost 1,000 Somali shillings, four months ago, now goes for 2,000 Somali shillings.
Camels are one of the few animals that can survive harsh drought conditions
The last drought in the Somali region occurred in 2000, which killed an estimated 98,000 people. Aid officials are hoping to avert 10 similar effects in this drought.
The World Food Program has been conducting food distributions since December, while the U.N. children's agency is bringing in water and supporting mobile health teams.
Ahmed Ibrahim Hussein is a field monitor with the World Food Program's Gode sub-office. He says that, although emergency aid is important, a more long-term approach to the problem of drought is needed.
"Already we have to change this system of free food to the people," he said. "That is everybody's feeling actually including the beneficiaries. Along with the relief operation, I think recovery and rehabilitation 11 could be incorporated in a way so that things will improve in the future in terms of development. This area is very prone 12 to droughts. It has become recurrent and continuous. Things should go simultaneously 13 or parallel: emergency and development as well."
Hussein recommends that a safety net-type program, found in other parts of Ethiopia, be implemented 14 in the Somali region. This could include work-for-food initiatives where recipients 15 construct schools, roads or other public works in exchange for food.
He also recommends the construction or rehabilitation of ponds, underground storage tanks and other infrastructure 16 to collect and store rainwater so that it could be used in dry times. Hussein says digging or refurbishing shallow and hand dug wells, complete with hand pumps, could also increase the water supply.
- Somewhere in the audience an old woman's voice began plaintive wail.观众席里，一位老太太伤心地哭起来。
- One of the small children began to wail with terror.小孩中的一个吓得大哭起来。
- The forecast said there would be sunny intervals and showers. 预报间晴，有阵雨。
- Meetings take place at fortnightly intervals. 每两周开一次会。
- 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。
- The town coordinates on this map are 695037. 该镇在这幅地图上的坐标是695037。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- 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。
- In Africa, there are a lot of children suffering from severe malnutrition.在非洲有大批严重营养不良的孩子。
- It is a classic case of malnutrition. 这是营养不良的典型病例。
- There's a field planted with maize behind the house.房子后面有一块玉米地。
- We can grow sorghum or maize on this plot.这块地可以种高粱或玉米。
- The store greatly reduced the prices to make a quick turnover.这家商店实行大减价以迅速周转资金。
- Our turnover actually increased last year.去年我们的营业额竟然增加了。
- He managed to avert suspicion.他设法避嫌。
- I would do what I could to avert it.我会尽力去避免发生这种情况。
- He's booked himself into a rehabilitation clinic.他自己联系了一家康复诊所。
- No one can really make me rehabilitation of injuries.已经没有人可以真正令我的伤康复了。
- Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
- He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。
- The radar beam can track a number of targets almost simultaneously.雷达波几乎可以同时追着多个目标。
- The Windows allow a computer user to execute multiple programs simultaneously.Windows允许计算机用户同时运行多个程序。
- 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
- The recipients of the prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者的姓名登在报上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- The recipients of prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者名单登在报上。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
- We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
- We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。