【英譯漢必譯題】

There was, last week, a glimmer of hope in the world food crisis. Expecting a bumper harvest, Ukraine relaxed restrictions on exports. Overnight, global wheat prices fell by 10 percent.

By contrast, traders in Bangkok quote rice prices around $1,000 a ton, up from $460 two months ago.

Such is the volatility of today’s markets. We do not know how high food prices might go, nor how far they could fall. But one thing is certain: We have gone from an era of plenty to one of scarcity. Experts agree that food prices are not likely to return to the levels the world had grown accustomed to any time soon.

Imagine the situation of those living on less than $1 a day - the “bottom billion,” the poorest of the world’s poor. Most live in Africa, and many might typically spend two-thirds of their income on food.

In Liberia last week, I heard how people have stopped purchasing imported rice by the bag. Instead, they increasingly buy it by the cup, because that’s all they can afford.

Traveling though West Africa, I found good reason for optimism. In Burkina Faso, I saw a government working to import drought resistant seeds and better manage scarce water supplies, helped by nations like Brazil. In Ivory Coast, we saw a women’s cooperative running a chicken farm set up with UN funds. The project generated income - and food - for villagers in ways that can easily be replicated.

Elsewhere, I saw yet another women’s group slowly expanding their local agricultural production, with UN help. Soon they will replace World Food Program rice with their own home-grown produce, sufficient to cover the needs of their school feeding program.

These are home-grown, grass-roots solutions for grass-roots problems - precisely the kind of solutions that Africa needs.

【參考譯文】

上星期，世界糧食危機出現(xiàn)了一線轉(zhuǎn)機的希望。因預(yù)期會獲得大豐收，烏克蘭放松了出口限制。全球小麥價格一夜間下跌了10%。

然而，曼谷米商每噸大米的報價大約1000美元，而在兩個月前，報價是460美元。預(yù)計大米價格還會上漲。

這就是目前市場動蕩的局面。我們不知道糧食價格將上漲多少，也不知道將下跌多少。但有一點是肯定的：我們已從富足時代進入了匱乏時代。老師們認為，糧食價格近期內(nèi)不太可能回落到世界已經(jīng)習以為常的水平。

即使在歐洲富國和美國，消費者也怨聲載道。那么，請想像一下每日所得不足一美元的人的境況，這些人是世界窮人中的最貧窮者，是“最下層的十億人”。他們大都生活在非洲，許多人通常用三分之二的收入購買糧食。

上星期，在利比里亞，我聽說人們已不再成袋地買進口大米，而更多地是一杯子一杯子地買，因為他們只買得起一杯子米。

第一個任務(wù)是向饑民提供糧食。世界糧食計劃署在幫助7300萬人。但是，要幫助這些人，世界糧食計劃署就需要增加75500萬美元的資金才能支付它不斷增加的費用。各方已經(jīng)認捐47500萬美元。但是，許諾并不能填飽肚子，糧食計劃署現(xiàn)在僅有1800萬美元的現(xiàn)金。我們有能力處理這一危機。我們擁有有關(guān)資源，我們知道應(yīng)該做什么，我們不僅應(yīng)將這一危機視為問題，而且應(yīng)將它視為機會。

在走訪西非期間，我發(fā)現(xiàn)非常有理由感到樂觀。在布基納法索，我看到政府在巴西等國幫助下，努力進口耐旱種子，更好地管理稀缺的水源。

在科特迪瓦，我們參觀了一個婦女合作社用聯(lián)合國資金興辦的養(yǎng)雞場。該項目為村民提供收入和糧食，很容易推廣。在其他地方，我看到另一個婦女團體正在聯(lián)合國幫助下，緩慢地擴大本地的農(nóng)業(yè)生產(chǎn)。不久，她們將用自己的農(nóng)產(chǎn)品取代糧食計劃署的大米，滿足學校供餐方案的需要。

這些都是因地制宜解決基層問題的基層辦法，正是非洲需要的。