时间:2019-01-26 作者:英语课 分类:2006年VOA标准英语(九月)


英语课

By Michael Bowman
Washington
13 September 2006
 
Two private U.S. charitable foundations are joining forces to improve African agricultural production.  The initiative aims to combat both hunger and poverty on the continent.


 
Bill and Melinda Gates  (file photo)
  
Two of America's biggest philanthropic groups, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation, say they want to promote high-yield farming techniques in Africa, where food production has declined in recent years and tens of millions of people rely on small-scale subsistence farming to survive.


The founder 1 and former head of Microsoft Corporation, Bill Gates, outlined the program to reporters.


"I want to stress that this is a long-term effort, one that we hope will not only increase agricultural productivity, but also move millions of people out of extreme poverty and reduce hunger," he said.



A drying corn stalk in one of many farms in Adinefas in southern Eritrea, that have given a poor harvest (2004 file photo)   
  
"Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa", as the program is called, will focus on developing advanced seed varieties that generate higher-yielding crops, are pest-resistant and well-suited to varied 2 soil properties and rainfall patterns in Africa. The initiative will also train African crop scientists, work to overcome transportation and distribution challenges so that new seed varieties and fertilizer actually reach farmers, and promote a network of African agricultural suppliers.


The foundations have pledged an initial investment of $150 million to be spent over a five-year period.


Initial reaction to the initiative has been positive.


"It is better than trying to send food to feed people," said Rashid Nuri, an agra-business consultant 3 who spent five years in Nigeria and three years in Ghana.


Now based in Atlanta, Georgia, Nuri says the concepts and strategies promoted by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa are not new. In fact, they have been employed successfully in Europe, Asia and the Americas for several decades.


"Increased [agricultural] yields, increased tonnages are something that most governments have embraced," he added.  "Certainly the Chinese have, the Indians have, also in Europe and America. It is Africa that has not had the resources to participate at the same level of development, in the agricultural sector 4, as the rest of the world."


Nuri warns, however, that a sustained financial commitment over a long period of time will be required if the Gates and Rockefeller initiative is to succeed. He adds that increasing African crop yields is but one half of the battle to combat hunger and provide a financial boost to farmers. The other half of the battle, he says, is improving roads and transportation so that harvests can get to market.



n.创始者,缔造者
  • He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
  • According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说,罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。
adj.多样的,多变化的
  • The forms of art are many and varied.艺术的形式是多种多样的。
  • The hotel has a varied programme of nightly entertainment.宾馆有各种晚间娱乐活动。
n.顾问;会诊医师,专科医生
  • He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
  • Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来,加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。
n.部门,部分;防御地段,防区;扇形
  • The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
  • The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。
学英语单词
-and
abietina
access control-logging and reporting
acropora subglabra
ariettas
arylsilanediol
assignment component
Avogadro
backup vent valve
bekko
Beth-haccerem
bit traffic
built in stress
canonical form of a linear hypothesis
CD-68
chain mortiser
Chobienia
chronic cholecystitis
conduction anaesthesias
control plate
conventional b/l
cutner
delimate
densariae
destrim
difference of phase
disappointedly
duck-billed dinosaurs
eager about
earette
electro-acoustic transducer
electroradio-immunoassay
existing record
fascioles
fatigue load life
Federation of ASEAN Shipper's Councils
fish-plate
fission-fragment range
flaring machine
Friderichsen-Waterhouse syndrome
fuel feeding
fuseboxes
gas scavenging flange
gastroendoscopy
glycoaminidase
golden eye
guthman
halo disturbance
Hanamaki
herringbone reducer
Hypermastigina
in-centre
inverse hyperbolic function
ji de-sheng snake tablet
laserwriters
ligand-transfer reaction
low selector switch
lysistratas
made every effort to
message heading sender
micromagnetism
moving pictures
multiple refraction
nanometre
non-contribution
oil-in-water emulsion
Okeechobee Waterway
origin of state
out-of-mind
paired gratings
paradoxostoma chiawonga
parkouts
pharyngotympanic tube
physiopathology
polyglyceryl fatty acid ester
put someone wise to
recombination type transducer
roop and stoop
RPADC
S'fire
sacrococcygeal
Samangān, Velāyat-e
Sarakina
scare campaigns
semihydraulic lime
seven bridges
seventy-seven
single-rotor helicopter
sode slip
space station service module
spoiled work-in-process
strick
surreverence
thermal conductivity of mixture gas
train spacing point
Training and Enterprise Council
upcast entilator
vichies
viscosity of wash liquid
volume regulation
wall brick
yawnily