【英语阅读】纽约时报 | “杀死我们的将是饥饿，而不是新冠病毒”

‘Instead of Coronavirus, the Hunger Will Kill Us.’ A Global Food Crisis Looms.
“杀死我们的将是饥饿，而不是新冠病毒”

• Instead adv.代替;反而
• Crisis n.危机;危险期;决定性时刻 adj.危机的;用于处理危机的.
• Looms n.织布机 v.隐现;用织机织

NAIROBI, Kenya — In the largest slum in Kenya’s capital, people desperate to eat set off a stampede during a recent giveaway of flour and cooking oil, leaving scores injured and two people dead.
肯尼亚内罗毕——在肯尼亚首都最大的贫民窟，饥饿的人们在最近一次免费面粉和食用油发放过程中发生了踩踏，数十人受伤，两人死亡。

• slum n.贫民窟;脏乱的地方 v.去贫民窟;将就适应,过穷日子
• desperate adj.不顾一切的;令人绝望的;极度渴望的
• stampede n.惊跑;人群的蜂拥;军队溃败 v.使…惊逃;抢占
• giveaway n.泄露;免费样品;不正当交易;有奖问答节目 adj.泄露真相的;赠送的;极便宜的
• flour n.面粉;粉状物质 vt.洒粉于;把…磨成粉

In India, thousands of workers are lining up twice a day for bread and fried vegetables to keep hunger at bay.
在印度，成千上万的工人每天两次排队等待面包和油炸蔬菜以充饥。

• lining up 排队
• fried adj.油炸的,油煎的;喝醉了的 v.油炸
• keep hunger at bay 抑制饥饿

And across Colombia, poor households are hanging red clothing and flags from their windows and balconies as a sign that they are hungry.
在哥伦比亚各地，贫穷的家庭在窗户和阳台上悬挂着红色的衣服和旗子，这是表示他们吃不上饭。

• households 家庭;拆迁户
• balconies n.阳台;露台

“We don’t have any money, and now we need to survive,” said Pauline Karushi, who lost her job at a jewelry business in Nairobi and lives in two rooms with her child and four other relatives. “That means not eating much.”
“我们没有钱，现在我们需要生存，”失去了在内罗毕一家珠宝店的工作的宝琳·卡鲁西(Pauline Karushi)与孩子和另外四个亲戚住在一起。“这意味着吃不到什么东西。”

The coronavirus pandemic has brought hunger to millions of people around the world. National lockdowns and social distancing measures are drying up work and incomes, and are likely to disrupt agricultural production and supply routes — leaving millions to worry how they will get enough to eat.
冠状病毒大流行已经使世界各地数百万人受困于饥饿。全国封锁和保持社交距离的措施正在导致工作和收入中断，并可能破坏农业生产和供应路线，使数百万人担心他们将如何获得足够的食物。

• drying up 使…干涸;枯竭
• agricultural adj.农业的;农艺的

The coronavirus has sometimes been called an equalizer because it has sickened both rich and poor, but when it comes to food, the commonality ends. It is poor people, including large segments of poorer nations, who are now going hungry and facing the prospect of starving.
有人称新冠病毒是个“等化器”，因为富人和穷人都会患病，但是当涉及食物时，这种一视同仁就不再存在了。穷人——包括贫穷国家的大部分人——正在挨饿，并且面临着饿死的可能。

• equalizer n.均衡器;平衡装置
• commonality n.公共;平民
• segments n.片段 v.把…分割成段;细胞分裂
• prospect n.前途;预期;景色 v.勘探;找矿
• starving adj.饥饿的;挨饿的 v.挨饿;使饿死

“The coronavirus has been anything but a great equalizer,” said Asha Jaffar, a volunteer who brought food to families in the Nairobi slum of Kibera after the fatal stampede. “It’s been the great revealer, pulling the curtain back on the class divide and exposing how deeply unequal this country is.”
“新冠病毒根本不是什么伟大的等化器，”在致命的踩踏事件发生后向内罗毕的基贝拉贫民窟家庭运送食物的志愿者阿莎·贾法尔(Asha Jaffar)说。“它是一个重大的启示，重新竖起了阶级之间的屏障，揭露了这个国家有多么不平等。”

• revealer n.启示者;探测器
• curtain n.幕;窗帘 vt.遮蔽;装上门帘
• exposing n.遗弃;露体;陈列 v.揭露;展览;遭遇
• unequal adj.不平等的;不规则的;不胜任的 n.不等同的事物

Already, 135 million people had been facing acute food shortages, but now with the pandemic, 130 million more could go hungry in 2020, said Arif Husain, chief economist at the World Food Program, a U.N. agency. Altogether, an estimated 265 million people could be pushed to the brink of starvation by year’s end.
联合国机构世界粮食计划署(World Food Program)首席经济学家阿里夫·侯赛因(Arif Husain)说，世界本来已有1.35亿人面临严重的食物短缺，但现在随着疫情暴发，在2020年挨饿的人可能会多出1.3亿。到年底，估计总共将有2.65亿人被迫挨饿。

• brink n.边缘
• starvation n.饿死;挨饿;绝食

“We’ve never seen anything like this before,” Husain said. “It wasn’t a pretty picture to begin with, but this makes it truly unprecedented and uncharted territory.”
“我们从未见过这样的事情，”侯赛因说。“情况本来就不太好，然而病毒疫情使问题进入了一个史无前例的未知领域。”

• unprecedented adj.空前的;无前例的
• uncharted adj.未知的;图上未标明的
• territory n.领土,领域;范围;地域

The world has experienced severe hunger crises before, but those were regional and caused by one factor or another — extreme weather, economic downturns, wars or political instability.
世界此前也曾经历过严重的饥饿危机，但都是地区性的，由某一种因素造成，例如极端天气、经济衰退、战争或政治动荡。

• severe adj.严峻的;严厉的;剧烈的;苛刻的
• regional adj.地区的;局部的;整个地区的
• downturns n.衰退;低迷时期
• instability n.不稳定;基础薄弱;不安定

This hunger crisis, experts say, is global and caused by a multitude of factors linked to the coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing interruption of the economic order: the sudden loss in income for countless millions who were already living hand-to-mouth; the collapse in oil prices; widespread shortages of hard currency from tourism drying up; overseas workers not having earnings to send home; and ongoing problems like climate change, violence, population dislocations and humanitarian disasters.
然而，专家们说，这次的饥饿危机是全球性的，是由与新冠病毒疫情和随之而来的经济秩序中断有关的多种因素造成的：无数已经艰难度日的人突然失去了收入；油价暴跌；旅游业中断导致硬通货的普遍短缺；没有收入可寄回家的海外工人；以及诸如气候变化、暴力、人口流散和人道主义灾难之类的持续问题。

• multitude n.大量,多数;群众,人群
• ensuing adj.因而发生的,随后的 v.接着发生,因而发生
• interruption n.中断;干扰;中断之事
• countless adj.无数的;数不尽的
• collapse v.倒塌;倒下,昏倒 n.奔溃;倒塌;病倒;暴跌
• widespread adj.普遍的,广泛的;分布广的
• currency n货币;通货
• tourism n.旅游业;游览
• earnings n.收入
• ongoing adj.仍在进行的;不断前进的;持续存在的
• climate n.气候;风气;思潮;风土
• population n.人口;种群;群体
• dislocations n.变位;位移
• humanitarian adj.人道主义的;博爱的 n.人道主义者;慈善家

Already, from Honduras to South Africa to India, protests and looting have broken out amid frustrations from lockdowns and worries about hunger. With classes shut down, more than 368 million children have lost the nutritious meals and snacks they normally receive in school.
从洪都拉斯到南非再到印度，人们在封锁和担心挨饿中愤懑不已，爆发了抗议活动和劫掠。随着学校的关闭，超过3.68亿儿童失去了他们通常在学校获得的营养餐和点心。

• protests v.抗议;反对 n.抗议
• frustrations n.挫折
• looting n.打劫;抢劫,趁乱打劫 v.打劫
• nutritious adj.有营养的,滋养的
• snacks n.小吃;快餐;零嘴 v.吃快餐

There is no shortage of food globally, or mass starvation from the pandemic — yet. But logistical problems in planting, harvesting and transporting food will leave poor countries exposed in the coming months, especially those reliant on imports, said Johan Swinnen, director general of the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington.
目前，全球还没有出现粮食短缺，也没有因疫情而造成大规模饥荒——暂时没有。但是，华盛顿国际粮食政策研究所(International Food Policy Research Institute)所长约翰·斯威宁(Johan Swinnen)说，种植、收割和运输粮食方面的问题将使贫穷国家在未来几个月内面临困境，尤其是那些依赖进口的国家。

• globally adv.全球地;全局地;世界上
• logistical adj.后勤方面的;运筹的,逻辑的
• planting n.栽培,种植;花圃 v.播种;移植
• reliant adj.依赖的;可靠的;信赖的

While the system of food distribution and retailing in rich nations is organized and automated, he said, systems in developing countries are “labor intensive,” making “these supply chains much more vulnerable to COVID-19 and social distancing regulations.”
他说，富裕国家的食品分配和零售系统是结构化和自动化的，但发展中国家的系统是“劳动密集型”的，因此“这些供应链更容易受到COVID-19和保持社交距离规定的影响”。

• retailing n.零售业 v.零售

Yet even if there is no major surge in food prices, the food security situation for poor people is likely to deteriorate significantly worldwide. This is especially true for economies like Sudan and Zimbabwe that were struggling before the outbreak, or those like Iran that have increasingly used oil revenues to finance critical goods like food and medicine.
然而，即使粮食价格没有大幅度上涨，世界各地穷人的粮食安全状况也可能大大恶化。尤其是像苏丹和津巴布韦那样在疫情暴发前就在挣扎的经济体，或者像伊朗这样越来越多地利用石油收入来为食品和药品等关键商品提供资金的经济体。

• deteriorate v.恶化
• significantly adv.显著地;相当数量的
• increasingly adv.越来越多地;渐增地
• revenues n.收入;税收;营业收入
• finance n.财政;金融 v.负担经费 vi.筹集资金
• critical adj.鉴定的;批评的;危险的

In Venezuela, the pandemic could deal a devastating blow to millions already living in the world’s largest economic collapse outside wartime.
在委内瑞拉，这场疫情可能给已经生活在全球最大的非战时经济崩溃中的数百万人造成毁灭性打击。

• devastating adj.毁灭的;全然的 v.摧毁;毁坏

In the sprawling Petare slum on the outskirts of the capital, Caracas, a nationwide lockdown has left Freddy Bastardo and five others in his household without jobs. Their government-supplied rations, which had arrived only once every two months before the crisis, have long run out.
在首都加拉加斯郊外庞大的皮达勒贫民窟，全国封锁使弗雷迪·巴斯达多(Freddy Bastardo)和其他五个家庭成员失去了工作。在危机发生前已经是每两个月才有一次的政府粮食配给早已耗尽。

• sprawling adj.蔓延的;杂乱延伸的 v.伸开四肢坐;蔓延;杂乱无章地扩展
• nationwide adj.全国范围的 adv.在全国

“We are already thinking of selling things that we don’t use in the house to be able to eat,” said Bastardo, 25, a security guard. “I have neighbors who don’t have food, and I’m worried that if protests start, we wouldn’t be able to get out of here.”
“为了填饱肚子，我们已经在考虑卖掉家里不用的东西，”25岁的保安巴斯达多说。“有的邻居已经没吃的了，而且我担心如果抗议活动开始，我们将无法离开这里。”

• guard n.守卫;警戒;护卫队 v.警戒
• protests v.抗议;反对 n.抗议

Uncertainty over food is also building in India, where daily-wage workers with little or no social safety net face a future where hunger is a more immediate threat than the virus.
在印度，食物的不确定性也在加剧，靠日薪维持的工人几乎没什么社会安全保障，比起病毒，眼下面临的饥饿是更大的威胁。

As wages have dried up, half a million people are estimated to have left cities to walk home, setting off the nation’s “largest mass migration since independence,” said Amitabh Behar, the chief executive of Oxfam India.
印度乐施会总干事阿米塔布·贝哈尔(Amitabh Behar)表示，随着工资的中断，估计有50万人离开城市步行回家，开始了该国“自独立以来最大的人口迁徙”。

• dried up adj.干缩的,干枯的
• set off v.出发;引起;使爆炸;抵消;分开
• mass n.块,团;群众;民众;大量 adj.群众的 v.聚集
• migration n.迁移;移民;移动

On a recent evening, hundreds of migrant workers, who have been stuck in New Delhi after a lockdown was imposed in March with little warning, sat under the shade of a bridge waiting for food to arrive. The Delhi government has set up soup kitchens, yet workers like Nihal Singh go hungry as the throngs at these centers have increased in recent days.
新德里在几乎没有预警的情况下在3月实施了封锁，在最近的一个晚上，数百名因此被困在新德里的民工坐在桥下等待食物的到来。德里政府已经建立了施粥处，但由于最近几天来这些中心的人越来越多，像尼哈尔·辛格(Nihal Singh)这样的工人仍在挨饿。

• migrant n.移居者;候鸟;流动季节工 adj.有迁徙习性的
• imposed adj强加的;施加的;应用的 v.欺骗;把…强加于
• soup kitchens 流动厨房;施粥处
• increased adj.增强的

“Instead of coronavirus, the hunger will kill us,” said Singh, who was hoping to eat his first meal in a day.
辛格说：“杀死我们的将是饥饿，而不是新冠病毒。”他正在期待吃上今天的第一顿饭。

Migrants waiting in food lines have fought each other over a plate of rice and lentils. Singh said he was ashamed to beg for food but had no other option.
排队等待食物的民工为了一盘米饭和小扁豆发生争夺。辛格说，他为乞食而感到羞耻，但别无选择。

• fought v.战斗;打架
• lentils n.扁豆

“The lockdown has trampled on our dignity,” he said.
他说：“封锁已经践踏了我们的尊严。”

• trampled v.踩伤;践踏
• dignity n.尊严;高贵

Refugees and people living in conflict zones are likely to be hit the hardest.
受打击最大的可能是居住在军事冲突地区的难民和居民。

• Refugees 难民
• conflict n.冲突,矛盾;斗争;争执 v.冲突,抵触;争执
• hardest adj.极难的;困难的;有力的

The curfews and restrictions on movement are already devastating the meager incomes of displaced people in Uganda and Ethiopia, the delivery of seeds and farming tools in South Sudan and the distribution of food aid in the Central African Republic. Containment measures in Niger, which hosts almost 60,000 refugees fleeing conflict in Mali, have led to surges in the pricing of food, according to the International Rescue Committee.
宵禁和出行限制已经在破坏乌干达和埃塞俄比亚流离失所者的微薄收入，还有南苏丹的种子和农具的运送，以及中非共和国的粮食援助分配。在尼日尔，遏制病毒的措施导致那里的食品价格上涨，根据国际救援委员会(International Rescue Committee)的数据，该国收容了近6万名躲避马里冲突的难民。

• curfews n.宵禁
• restrictions n.限制;限制条件
• displaced adj.无家可归的;位移的;被取代的 n.无家可归者 v.取代
• delivery n.交付;分娩;递送
• Containment n.控制;抑制;遏制;封锁
• fleeing vt.逃离 vi.突然消失
• surges n.突波 v.汹涌;澎湃

The effects of the restrictions “may cause more suffering than the disease itself,” said Kurt Tjossem, regional vice president for East Africa at the International Rescue Committee.
国际救援委员会(International Rescue Committee)东非区域副主席库尔特·约塞姆(Kurt Tjossem)说，这些限制措施的影响“可能比疾病本身造成的痛苦还要多。”

• regional adj.地区的;局部的;整个地区的

As many go hungry, there is concern in a number of countries that food shortages will lead to social discord. In Colombia, residents of the coastal state of La Guajira have begun blocking roads to call attention to their need for food. In South Africa, rioters have broken into neighborhood food kiosks and faced off with police.
由于许多人挨饿，部分国家担心粮食短缺将导致社会动荡。在哥伦比亚，沿海的瓜希拉省的居民已开始封锁道路，以期外界注意到他们的食物需求。在南非，暴徒闯入街区食肆，与警察对峙。

• coastal adj.沿海的;海岸的
• rioters n.暴徒;暴民;骚乱者
• kiosks n.报摊,电话亭;店铺设计

And even charitable food giveaways can expose people to the virus when throngs appear, as happened in Nairobi’s shantytown of Kibera earlier this month.
而且，即使是进行慈善施舍，像本月初内罗毕棚户区基贝拉那样的人群涌动也会使人暴露于病毒。

• charitable adj.慈善的,慷慨的,仁慈的;宽恕的
• throngs appear 成群出现
• earlier adj.早先时候的,初期的 adv.早地,早些时候地

“People called each other and came rushing,” said Valentine Akinyi, who works at the district government office where the food was distributed. “People have lost jobs. It showed you how hungry they are.”
“人们互相电话通知并蜂拥前来，”在分发食物的区政府办公室工作的瓦伦丁·阿金伊(Valentine Akinyi)说。“很多人失业了。从中可以看到他们有多饥饿。”

To assuage the impact of this crisis, some governments are fixing prices on food items, delivering free food and putting in place plans to send money transfers to the poorest households.
为了缓解这场危机的影响，一些国家的政府正在控制食品价格，提供免费食物，并制定了向最贫困家庭汇款的计划。

• assuage vt.平息; ;缓和;减轻

Yet communities across the world are also taking matters into their own hands. Some are raising money through crowdfunding platforms, while others have begun programs to buy meals for needy families.
然而，世界各地的社区也正在自己解决问题。有些通过众筹平台筹集资金，还有一些则开展了为贫困家庭购买餐食的项目。

• communities n.社区;团体,群体
• crowdfunding n.众筹
• platforms n.平台;讲台;铁路站台 v.把…放在台上;在台上演讲

On a recent afternoon, Jaffar and a group of volunteers made their way through Kibera, bringing items like sugar, flour, rice and sanitary pads to dozens of families. A native of the area herself, Jaffar said she started the food drive after hearing so many stories from families who said they and their children were going to sleep hungry.
在最近的一个下午，贾法尔和一群志愿者穿行于基贝拉，将糖、面粉、大米和卫生巾等物品带给数十个家庭。贾法尔本身来自这个地区，她说，许多家庭说他们和他们的孩子饿着肚子睡觉，她就是在听到许多这样的故事后开始送东西的。

• sanitary adj.卫生的,清洁的 n.公共厕所

The food drive has so far reached 500 families. But with all the calls for assistance she’s getting, she said, “that’s a drop in the ocean.”
迄今为止，食物运送活动已惠及500个家庭。但是，她说，比起所有向她寻求援助的家庭来说，“那只是杯水车薪。”

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原文来自田间小站