时间:2019-01-14 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2013年(六月)


英语课

 


US Agriculture Industry Opposes Changes to Food Aid Program



Plano, Illinois, farmer Bill Wykes has been behind the wheel of a tractor for almost four decades, planting and harvesting corn and soybeans on land his family has owned even longer.


Throughout his entire career, he’s known that even though it’s a small amount, part of what he grows will help those who need it most.


“We’re glad to see it go and be used and help millions of people over the years to prevent malnutrition 1, starvation and things like that,” Wykes said.


Since the 1950s, commodities produced in the fertile farmlands of the United States have traveled across the globe to feed more than 3 billion people in 150 countries under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food for Peace program.  


It’s been a source of pride for farmers like Wykes, who are strongly opposed to the Obama administration’s plan to send cash to countries in need instead of commodities.


“It’s a ridiculous, ridiculous idea. These things can only be done in certain areas and the United States has the best quality, and why not give them the best quality instead of trying to provide them with cash to go to a market that doesn’t have the quality or the commodity that is really needed,” Wykes said.


But U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsak said changes to the program are necessary because it takes too long to get U.S. food aid where it’s urgently needed.


“The way we currently do business can basically add 11 to 14 weeks of delay in terms of getting food where it's needed most in an emergency circumstance, and the reality is that is far too long.  This is about saving time and saving lives,” Vilsak said.


But for Dow Didion, who runs Didion Milling in Cambria, Wisconsin, saving time could mean eliminating some of his 212 employees.


“We have a large number of people in this portion of the business from processing to packaging to quality assurance to logistics, so it would impact us in the jobs area,” Didion said.


Didion’s mill processes and packages hundreds of thousands of bags of U.S. food aid each month.  Each bag with a U.S. flag is bound for foreign ports.  Didion says that sends a stronger message than money.


“I don’t feel that cash will have the same impact that a bag that says “gift of the United States” will have. We are concerned about feeding the starving people a quality product, and have concerns if the program turns into a cash program, what will that money be used for,” Didion said.


Farm Bill legislation making its way through both houses of Congress significantly scales back President Obama’s plan to overhaul 2 the Food for Peace program. 




n.营养不良
  • 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。
v./n.大修,仔细检查
  • Master Worker Wang is responsible for the overhaul of this grinder.王师傅主修这台磨床。
  • It is generally appreciated that the rail network needs a complete overhaul.众所周知,铁路系统需要大检修。
学英语单词
Abū Fulah
accessory gear
acetins
actifs
Adrados
advice-boat
alanineketoacidtransaminase
ampere meter
badly-decomposed
baked clay
Bang Pa Han
brazenface
burr and chip relief
cathode noise
ceiling plan
compiled language
complex adjustment
description language
diary fatigue
differential freight rate agreement
distance range
distressingnesses
distributed function terminal
downbeat
dyspneic respiration
eco-resorts
elastomeric seal
explosive power
exponent transform
flexibility of wood
forgetting error
ginnee
hanafizes
Hatshetsup
heteromorphic homologues
high alkalinity
hole gauge
IASLIC
immunomodulatory
implementation procedures
in transition
input-data strobe
internal and external
Irano-
jennison
labrea
land of promise
large-tailed antshrikes
lead-minings
liquation process
luminous surface
marketing researcher
minor telephone office
mislaird
momentary aspect
Mulgathing
multi-stemmed
multiple measurements
nist-traceable
non-viral
Ordram
pelagophile
pentlandites
phallomere
photosensitization disease
pigpens
plank board
postact
potpourris
predominancy
present serviceability rating
prevalence
primary program operator interface task
proportionated
pulpal wall
raik
re-use of forms
responser speed
ring resonator length
river bed profile
rodmen
Satanizing
scavenging compressor
screw plate
seedling selection
selvedge mark
slap-dab
slavatas
small hole
SNOMED
snow white and the seven dwarfs
steam valve bronze
structure initialization
summer
take no prisoners
tapetum cell
tennist
terezin
Transportation Secretary
traveling-salesman
upbreathing
Vitis quinquangularis