介绍:
This is NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Yun Feng in Beijing.
Chronic malnutrition among children remains a significant public health problem in Rwanda despite the remarkable economic progress the country has made over the past few years.
A latest report of the World Health Organization says 3 out of 10 children are suffering from malnutrition in Rwanda.
A National Food and Nutrition Summit discussed ways of improving nutrition among children in the country.
Rwanda spent an equivalent of over 740 million U.S. dollars in 2012 in fighting against malnutrition. Treating a severely underweight child is more costly than prevention.
The growing food crisis, raging cholera and measles in neighboring countries have contributed to the situation.
Household food insecurity continues to be a challenge in Rwanda, despite the country's impressive economic recovery. Rwanda had an annual GDP growth of 7.2 percent since four years ago.
The northern and western parts of the country are the most affected with a stunting rate rising over 60 percent.
This is NEWS Plus Special English.
You're listening to NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Yun Feng in Beijing.
A special blend of mother's milk just for girls? New research shows animal moms are customizing their milk in surprising ways depending on whether they have a boy or a girl.
The studies raise questions for human babies, too - about how we choose the donor milk, or whether we should explore gender-specific infant formula.
Harvard University evolutionary biologist Katie Hinde says there's been this myth that mother's milk is pretty standard. But her research suggests that's far from true - in monkeys and cows, at least.
She says the biological recipes for sons and daughters may be different.
Pediatricians have long stressed that breast milk is best when it comes to baby's first food.
But beyond general nutrition, there have been few studies of the content of human breast milk, and how it might vary from one birth to the next or even over the course of one baby's growth.
That research is difficult to conduct in people. So Hinde studies the milk that monkey mothers make for their babies. The milk is richer in fat when monkeys have male babies. Monkeys make a lot more milk when they have daughters.
This is NEWS Plus Special English.
A new study has found that eating foods that contain vitamin C, such as oranges, papaya, peppers, broccoli and strawberries, may reduce your risk of stroke.
The study involved 65 people who had experienced a stroke or a blood vessel rupture inside the brain, as well as 65 healthy people.
Participants were tested for the levels of vitamin C in their blood in order to investigate the relationship between the vitamin and stroke
The results show that vitamin C deficiency should be considered a risk factor for stroke, as are high blood pressure, drinking alcohol and being overweight.
Vitamin C appears to regulate blood pressure and also has other benefits.
Previous studies have found that vitamin C deficiency may be linked to heart disease
You're listening to NEWS Plus Special English. I'm Yun Feng in Beijing.
In a study of the world's 53 perfumes and aftershaves, six were found to contain a high amount of dangerous hormone-affecting chemical DEP.
Global 2000, an Austrian environmental protection organization, says the study results show a high concentration of DEP in certain kinds of fragrances.
The organization says the chemical can enter the bloodstream once applied to the skin.
The potential side-effects are fertility problems in both men and women, increased risk of breast and testicular cancers, and diseases such as diabetes and obesity.
Doctors say the chemicals are particularly dangerous for pregnant women, as they can enter the blood stream and affect the development of the fetus.
Global 2000 urges immediate action to be taken in the form of prohibitions.
It has appealed to the Austrian health and environment authorities to take further action, in particular, to take the issue to the European Union.
This is NEWS Plus Special English.
Mexico, the United States and Canada have agreed to form a working group on the conservation of Monarch butterflies.
The butterfly's numbers fell to record lows this year at their wintering grounds in central Mexico.
Experts say the butterflies' annual migration from the United States and Canada is in danger because of extreme weather, habitat loss due to deforestation and the displacement of milkweed, the butterfly' main food source.
The World Wildlife Fund in Mexico has hailed the move as an important step, but says concrete measures are needed to protect the butterflies' habitat.
We stay in Mexico. Mexican actress Jacqueline Andere, who starred a popular movie of Yesenia, has voiced her hope that Chinese movies can be introduced into Mexico.
She made the remarks recently, just days after the 42nd anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Mexico.
The movie Yesenia was one of a few foreign movies imported by China during the 1970s. It depicts a love story between a gypsy girl and an army officer. The movie became an instant hit after it was introduced into China in 1977.
Andere has returned home from China where she attended a special Chinese lunar new year TV gala as a guest of honor.
Andere says she can collaborate with Chinese filmmakers in a Chinese television production.
She also hopes Chinese movies be translated into Spanish and introduced to Mexican cultural market.
That brings us to the end of this edition of NEWS Plus Special English. To fresh up your memory, I'm going to read one of the news at normal speed. Please listen carefully.
That is the end of today's program. I'm Yun Feng in Beijing. Hope you can join us every day at CRI NEWS Plus Radio, to learn English and learn about the world.
