When we think about those poverty-stricken countries, a image of people living in a destitute and dismal life floods into our mind. There are myriads of examples available globally which can shed light on the fact that the miserable life makes people suffer deeply. Niger is, by the reckoning of the UN’s Human Development Index, the poorest place on earth, once again in the grip of a food crisis. Most of its inhabitants eke out a living growing subsistence crops on small plots of dusty and infertile land, as a result of which, the drought-ridden country cannot feed itself even in good years, precipitating the famine to cyclopean dimensions. Moreover, this perpetual food crisis is also compounded by doggedly high fertility rates owing to the local cultural issue making women endeavor to prove themselves by outdoing each other in child births. This gloomy living situation can be best portrayed by the depressingly common picture. The infants, all too often, bear the hallmarks of malnutrition. Their hair is yellowing; their bellies are distended; their expressions are glazed and they even lack the energy to shake the flies from their faces. As a result, their death is brewing. Under such circumstances, in no way should the local governmentclose its eyes to the pliant of its people insomuch as nothing can be achieved unless the government relieve the sparse food supplies. It is a sure bet that there is no better way to augment people’s living condition for those backward countries than to be bound up in practical things.

词汇： 

in the grip of 受控制   

food crisis 粮食危机   

bear the hallmark 呈现特征   

be compounded by 雪上加霜

poverty-stricken 贫困的   

destitute 贫困的   

myriads of 大量的  

drought-ridden 受干旱困扰   

close its eyes to 置之不理