牛津高中英语 模块十

Advance with English Module 10 Student's Book 牛津高中英语模块十学生用书

Unit 1 Building the future

第一单元建设未来

Pages 2-3 Reading Part B

第2到3页阅读B部分

M10U1 Reading: Teach a man to fish授人以渔

In 1985, there was little rainfall in Ethiopia, which led to poor harvests and the death of many of the country‘s cattle. The gravity of the situation shocked Bob Geldof, an Irish musician, so he organized a charity concert called Live Aid to raise money for the victims of hunger in Ethiopia. The concert took place on 13 July 1985 in two places—London and Philadelphia—and included the biggest stars of the time. Geldof intended the concert to raise money for hunger relief and to make the public more aware of the problem. In the end, $100 million was raised, which was used to buy food and to provide help with development projects in Ethiopia. The concert also made the headlines around the world, and put great pressure on politicians and statesmen to do something about the problem of world hunger.

Live Aid was in 1985, but for many people in the developing world, disease and poverty are still a serious problem. According to the United Nations, ten million people die every year of starvation or problems related to having a poor diet. In fact, hunger is the world‘s number one health risk, killing more people than any disease.

In wrestling with the dilemma of worldwide hunger, the United Nations set up an agency called the World Food Programme(WFP) in 1963. The WFP has organized a number of programmes, including the Food-for-Life programme, which sends emergency food aid to countries during times of trouble; the Food-for-Growth programme, which targets people most at risk, such as babies, pregnant women and old people; and the Food-for-Work programme, which helps people without jobs support themselves by giving them work and paying them in food aid. Through programmes like these, the WFP has helped more than one billion people since it was set up. This is beyond doubt an amazing achievement, but is it enough?

Today, some developing countries in Africa, Asia and South America stand at a crossroads. While they are seeing great development, they are still poorer than many countries in other parts of the world, and there is a danger that they could fall further behind developed countries. They need help, but the sad truth is that merely sending loaves of bread is not enough. It is only a short-term solution to a long-term problem. There is a saying that goes, ‗Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for t he rest of his life.‘ In order to find a permanent solution to this long-term problem, countries need to develop so that they can either grow the food they need, or have enough money to buy this food on the world market.

What developing countries really need to do is to stop poverty by fighting the causes of it. One