VOA慢速英語：美國家庭擔(dān)心學(xué)校免費(fèi)午餐的終結(jié)

VOA慢速英語：美國家庭擔(dān)心學(xué)校免費(fèi)午餐的終結(jié)

As gas and food prices rise in the United States, some families are worried about having to pay for something else in the fall: lunch for their children at school.
隨著美國汽油和食品價(jià)格的上漲，一些家庭擔(dān)心，到秋季他們要不得不為一樣?xùn)|西付費(fèi)：孩子在學(xué)校吃的午餐。
 
For at least the last two school years, many parents did not have to worry about preparing or buying their school-aged children lunch.
至少在過去的兩個(gè)學(xué)年里，許多家長不必?fù)?dān)心為學(xué)齡兒童準(zhǔn)備或購買午餐。
 
That is because emergency government funding during the early part of the coronavirus pandemic included food aid for children.
因?yàn)樵谝咔槌跗?，政府的緊急資金包括對兒童的食物援助。
 
The aid covered lunch for children during the school year and during the summer for many families.
這項(xiàng)援助為兒童提供了上學(xué)期間的午餐，也為許多家庭提供了夏季的午餐。
 
But the free lunch funding is set to end in several states before the start of the next school year.
但在下一學(xué)年開始之前，一些州的免費(fèi)午餐基金將會結(jié)束。
 
Before the pandemic, Kate Murphy of Vermont and her family did not have enough money to pay for their four children to buy lunch at school.
在疫情爆發(fā)之前，佛蒙特州的凱特·墨菲和她的家人沒有足夠的錢支付四個(gè)孩子在學(xué)校買午餐的費(fèi)用。
 
Instead, they purchased lunch foods in large amounts and sent their children to school with food each morning.
為此，他們購買了大量午餐食品，每天早上讓孩子帶著食物上學(xué)。
 
But when the pandemic hit, the U.S. government made lunch money available to most schools.
疫情爆發(fā)后，美國政府向大多數(shù)學(xué)校提供了午餐補(bǔ)助。
 
The support came at a critical time for the Murphy family, because Kate’s husband had lost his job.
此時(shí)，恰逢墨菲一家的危機(jī)時(shí)刻，因?yàn)閯P特的丈夫失業(yè)了。
 
Because of the free lunch program, the Murphys had one less financial concern.
免費(fèi)午餐計(jì)劃，讓墨菲一家少了一項(xiàng)財(cái)務(wù)方面的擔(dān)憂。
 
But now the family may have to worry about lunch again.
但現(xiàn)在，這家人可能又要擔(dān)心午餐的問題了。
 
Murphy said her family earns a bit too much money to qualify for free lunches based on the old program's income rules.
墨菲說，根據(jù)原來午餐補(bǔ)助的規(guī)定，她的家庭收入偏高，不符合享受免費(fèi)午餐的條件。
 
Experts say the end of the school lunch aid and other programs that helped families save money means more will have to get help from food banks.
專家表示，學(xué)校午餐援助和其他家庭資助計(jì)劃的結(jié)束，意味著更多的人將不得不求助于食品銀行。
 
Food banks provide meals and food for no cost to families and individuals in need.
食品銀行為貧困的家庭和個(gè)人免費(fèi)提供食物。
 
Vince Hall is a government relations officer for Feeding America, a group of food banks across the U.S.
文斯·霍爾是“供養(yǎng)美國”(協(xié)調(diào)美國各地食品銀行的組織)的政府關(guān)系官員。
 
He said many families are now “facing a very difficult reality of having to choose between feeding their kids or filling up their gas tanks or purchasing medicine.”
他說，許多家庭現(xiàn)在“面臨著一個(gè)非常艱難的現(xiàn)實(shí)，即必須在喂養(yǎng)孩子、加滿油箱或購買藥品之間做出選擇。
”
The U.S. Agriculture Department oversees the school meal program.
美國農(nóng)業(yè)部負(fù)責(zé)監(jiān)督學(xué)校午餐計(jì)劃。
 
Cindy Long is an administrator for the department’s Food and Nutrition Service.
辛迪·朗是該部門食品和營養(yǎng)服務(wù)部的管理員。
 
She said that, during the pandemic, the number of children getting free meals increased from 20 million to 30 million.
她說，在疫情期間，獲得免費(fèi)午餐的兒童數(shù)量從2000萬增加到3000萬。
 
A summer meal program in 2020 gave out 1.3 billion meals and snacks.
2020年的一項(xiàng)夏季午餐計(jì)劃共計(jì)發(fā)放了13億份午餐和快餐。
 
The total cost was $4.1 billion.
總成本為41億美元。
 
That was eight times greater than program costs from a year earlier.
比上一年的計(jì)劃成本高出8倍。
 
President Joe Biden recently signed a bill that should keep summer meal programs running in the same way they did during the first two summers of the pandemic.
美國總統(tǒng)喬·拜登最近簽署了一項(xiàng)法案，該法案要求夏季午餐計(jì)劃應(yīng)該以疫情前兩年的運(yùn)行方式繼續(xù)運(yùn)行。
 
Some states are using their own money to make the free meals permanent.
為了讓免費(fèi)午餐持續(xù)存在，部分州正在用自己的錢。
 
California and Maine did that last year.
加利福尼亞州和緬因州去年就這樣做了。
 
Massachusetts and Colorado are working on state proposals that would provide food aid for at least one more school year.
馬薩諸塞州和科羅拉多州正在研究至少再提供一學(xué)年食品援助的州提案。
 
Vermont, where the Murphy family lives, said it would use extra money in the education budget to fund food aid for the upcoming year.
墨菲一家所在的佛蒙特州表示，將使用教育預(yù)算中的額外資金為來年的食品援助提供資金。
 
“Our kids have so much to worry about these days, and food shouldn’t be one of them,” Kate Murphy said.
凱特·墨菲說：“如今，孩子們要擔(dān)心的事情太多了，食物不應(yīng)該是其中之一。”
 
On a recent day at the Albert D. Lawton school in Vermont, students ate pizza and salad with their friends.
最近一天，在佛蒙特州的阿爾伯特·勞頓學(xué)校，學(xué)生們和他們的朋友們一起吃披薩和沙拉。
 
One student, Ethan Pringle, said it is hard to learn when you feel hungry.
一位名叫伊森·普林格爾的學(xué)生說，當(dāng)你感到饑餓時(shí)，很難集中精力學(xué)習(xí)。
 
“Not everybody has the same situation at home,” he said.
他說：“并不是每個(gè)人的家里都有同樣的情況”。
 
“So I think free lunch, it makes it easier for everybody.”
“所以我認(rèn)為免費(fèi)午餐會讓大家都更輕松。”
 
I’m Dan Friedell.
丹·弗里德爾報(bào)道。