VOA常速英语2014--埃博拉病毒威胁食品安全

Ebola Threatens Food Security 埃博拉病毒威胁食品安全

The Ebola epidemic 1 is raising serious concerns about food security in Liberia -- the country hardest hit by the outbreak in West Africa.  The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization will conduct rapid assessments 3 of the situation.

埃博拉病毒使得人们越发担心利比里亚的粮食安全，该国是西非国家中遭受埃博拉最严重的国家。联合国粮农组织将对其局势进行快速评估。

Food security in Liberia is being threatened on a number of fronts mostly due to fear of infection.  For example, food imported by ships and planes may not arrive as often. And Liberian farmers, who often work in groups to boost production, are not doing so.

由于对感染的恐惧，利比里亚粮食安全在多方面面临威胁。比如，船只和飞机进口的食物可能不像以前那样抵达该国，通常集体劳动以促进生产的利比里亚农民也不再进行协作。

Joseph Boiwu, U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization’s Assistant Country Representative for Program in Liberia, “This is a serious situation that we all need to be very concerned about. Even prices are increasing. If ships are not coming into this country – we depend mostly on imports – what about food? Those are serious concerns that we need to take on board and think about Liberia.”

Joseph Boiwu是联合国粮农组织在利比里亚的助理国家代表，“这个问题很严重，我们都需要关心此事。现在价格也在上涨，我们主要依靠进口，如果船只不进入我国，食物怎么办？人们非常担心，认为我们需要进行考虑并关心利比里亚。”

Ebola has spread in the farming regions.

埃博拉在农业地区开始传播。

“As we speak, you will notice the total number of cases in this country has reached up to 1,378. And Lofa County is one of the breadbasket counties of this country. And the cases they have are up to 542. So, all the counties, including Nimba, are affected 4,” he said.

“你会发现该国总的病例增加到1378个，洛法县是该国的产量大县，而当地的病例增加到542个，所以包括宁巴县在内的县都受到影响。”

The World Health Organization regularly issues updated figures on the Ebola outbreak. So, the numbers mentioned by Boiwu at the time of the interview may rise.

世卫组织定期发布埃博拉爆发的最新数据，因此Boiwu采访时提到的数据可能还在增加。

Efforts are underway to persuade Liberian farmers to return to working in groups. But the FAO’s Boiwu said that’s easier said than done.

目前有关方面在劝说利比里亚农民回到集体协作中去，但粮农组织的Boiwu说说着容易做着难。

“One of the methods that they have given that will help people to stay away from Ebola is to avoid being in groups. So farmers, they are not in groups again. We have been trying to organized farmer-based organizations, where you have farmers working in groups. And individual farming is very small. They can’t produce sufficient [food] as individuals, so we encourage them to work in groups. But group farming now is just not possible due to this Ebola. So they are all afraid.”

“他们给出的预防埃博拉的方法之一是避免群体活动，所以农民们不再集体协作。我们一直努力组织以农民为基础的组织，让他们团体协作。而单独的农作规模很小，作为个体无法产出足够的食物，所以我们鼓励他们进行协作。但埃博拉使得协作农业变得不可能，因此他们都很担心。”

What’s more, movement has been restricted in some Liberian counties.

另外利比里亚一些县也限制活动。

The FAO has been monitoring food prices in Monrovia. For example, the price of the staple 5 cassava is reported to have increased by 150-percent. Pepper is up 133-percent. The U.N. agency’s rapid assessments will determine what the food price hikes are outside of the capital.

粮农组织一直在关注蒙罗维亚的粮价，比如，据悉主食木薯的价格上涨了150%，辣椒上涨了133%。粮农组织的快速评估将决定首都之外的粮价将上涨多少。

The agency said that there’s “urgent need for short-cycled vegetable production…as well as urgent support for fishermen…to enable them to increase their catch.”

该机构称“迫切需要进行小循环的蔬菜生产，迫切需要支持渔民，帮助他们增加捕鱼量。”

Health officials believe the Ebola virus was transmitted from animals – bats and monkeys, for example – to humans. The FAO will conduct a risk assessment 2 of animal/human contact and develop safeguards. The assessment is expected to lead to an early warning surveillance system that could quickly detect the presence of infected wildlife – and trigger effective public health measures.

卫生官员们认为埃博拉病毒是由蝙蝠和猴子等动物传播给人的，粮农组织将对动物与人接触进行风险评估，同时制定预防措施。这次评估有望促成一个早期预警监测系统，该系统能够快速诊断出感染野生物的存在，并促成有效的公共健康措施。

Boiwu said, “Most of the people like hunters, like farmers, they depend on meat – their source of protein. So we’ll also conduct an analysis of their value chain situation of bushmeat. When we have this information we think it’s going to help with Ebola from our perspective.”

“比如猎人、农民等人很多都依赖肉食作为蛋白质的来源，所以我们将分析其捕猎肉食的价值链情况。只要有这些信息，我想就能帮助我们对付埃博拉。”

Rapid assessments of food security are also scheduled to get underway in Guinea and Sierra Leone. 

快速的粮食安全评估将在几内亚和塞拉利昂进行。

The FAO’s sister agency, the World Food Program, reported it’s “scaling-up” its operations, not only in Liberia, but neighboring Sierra Leone and Guinea. The WFP says the goal is to reach one-million people in Ebola affected areas with food deliveries.

粮农组织的姐妹机构世界粮食署称正在加大力度，不仅在利比里亚，还包括邻国塞拉利昂和几内亚。世界粮食署称其目标是给埃博拉疫情区的100万人提供粮食援助。