英语听力精选进阶版 13252

（单词翻译）

Food price warning

Report

With global food prices up 40% on average since last summer, there's a new consensus¹ among the leading nations that they should act together not only to try and secure supplies but to curb² some of the causes of the volatility³, not just in commodity trading but on the streets as essential foods become unaffordable for some. 

The G20 nations hope to calm food markets by agreeing greater transparency in how much dairy, grain, rice or other foodstuffs⁴ each country is producing. 

Now strong demand for farm foods seem likely to push up prices for years to come but President Sarkozy also blames speculators for price hikes which have fuelled unrest in the Middle East and North Africa but his demand for curbs⁵ on investors⁶ taking positions in food commodities seem unlikely to get majority support. 

But another idea that may not get traction⁷ in Paris is a plan for countries to hold, say, grain or rice stocks in reserve. An idea seen as a throwback to the days when countries and not farmers controlled their own food production.