A hungry continent 饑餓的大陸

李娟

1 When I first started traveling to Africa， I would often meet children and try to guess their ages. I was shocked to find out how often I guessed wrong. Kids I thought were 7 or 8 years old based on their height were actually 12 or 13 years old.

2 What I was witnessing was the terrible impact of malnutrition in Africa. These children were suffering from a condition known as stunting（發(fā)育遲緩）. They were not starving， but they were not getting enough to eat， leaving them years behind in their development.

3 Worldwide， one in four children is stunted. Three?quarters of them live in South Asia and sub?Saharan Africa. However， while stunting has declined by more than a third in South Asia since 1990， in sub?Saharan Africa， the number of stunted children is still on the rise， up 12 million since 1990 to 56 million. Forty percent of all children in sub?Saharan Africa are stunted.

4 I run into a lot of people from rich countries who still think of Africa as a continent of starvation， which in fact is an outdated picture. Thanks to economic growth and smart policies， the extreme hunger and starvation that once defined the continent are now rare. Today the issue isnt the quantity of food but the quality—whether kids are getting enough protein and other nutrients to fully develop.

5 If I could have one wish， I would want the world to have a better understanding of malnutrition and how to solve it. I hope we will continue to make progress. But whats not in doubt is the importance of giving all children the nutrition they need for a healthy start to life. Their future depends on it， and so does Africas.

[Reading][Check]

Ⅰ. Choose the best answers according to the text.

Gist 1. What does the author focus on in the first two paragraphs？

A. His travel reflection. B. His experience in Africa.

C. African childrens malnutrition. D. African childrens living conditions.

Inference 2. What does the author feel about stunting in sub?Saharan Africa？

A. Worried. B. Indifferent. C. Hopeful. D. Negative.

Detail 3. What can be a major challenge for Africa according to Para. 4？

A. The production of food. B. The quality of food.

C. The quantity of food. D. The categories of food.

Detail 4. What does the author think is important to Africas tomorrow？

A. Planting more crops for food in Africa.

B. Offering more assistance to the Africans.

C. Supplying all the children with needed nutrition.

D. Introducing more advanced education to Africans.

Ⅱ. Discussion

What can be used to describe the authors characteristic according to the text？

______________________________

[Language][Study]

Ⅰ. Discover useful structures in the text

1. “l(fā)eave + 賓語 + 賓補(bǔ)”結(jié)構(gòu)意為“使……處于某種狀態(tài)”。

They were not starving， but they were not getting enough to eat， leaving them years behind in their development. 他們沒有挨餓，但沒有獲得足夠的吃的東西，這讓他們的發(fā)育延緩了多年。

2. “so +助動(dòng)詞+主語”引導(dǎo)肯定的倒裝句，意為“……也是一樣”。

Their future depends on it， and so does Africas. 他們的未來取決于它，非洲的未來也是如此。

Ⅱ. Memorize some text?centered chunks

be shocked to do 很震驚……

find out 查明;弄清

suffer from 遭受

one in four children 四分之一的孩子

decline by 降低了……

on the rise 上升

run into 遇見

think of...as 把……認(rèn)為是……;把……當(dāng)作……

thanks to 多虧了……

have a better understanding of 對(duì)……有更好的了解

in doubt 懷疑

depend on 依靠;依賴于