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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.
随着美国汽油和食品价格的上涨，一些家庭担心到秋季他们要不得不为其他东西付费：孩子在学校吃的午餐。
For at least the last two school years, many parents did not have to worry about preparing or buying their school-aged children lunch.
至少在过去的两个学年里，许多家长不必担心为学龄儿童准备或购买午餐。
That is because emergency government funding during the early part of the coronavirus pandemic included food aid for children.
这是因为在新冠疫情早期，政府的紧急资金包括对儿童的食物援助。
The aid covered lunch for children during the school year and during the summer for many families.
这项援助为儿童提供了上学期间的午餐，也为许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.
但在下一学年开始之前，一些州的免费午餐基金将会结束。
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.
在疫情爆发之前，佛蒙特州的凯特·墨菲和她的家人没有足够的钱支付四个孩子在学校买午餐的费用。
Instead, they purchased lunch foods in large amounts and sent their children to school with food each morning.
相反，他们购买了大量午餐食品，每天早上带着食物送孩子上学。
But when the pandemic hit, the U.S. government made lunch money available to most schools.
但当疫情爆发时，美国政府向大多数学校提供了午餐钱。
The support came at a critical time for the Murphy family, because Kate’s husband had lost his job.
这一支持的到来恰逢墨菲一家的危机时刻，因为凯特的丈夫失业了。
Because of the free lunch program, the Murphys had one less financial concern.
由于免费午餐计划，墨菲一家少了一项财务方面的担忧。
But now the family may have to worry about lunch again.
但现在，这家人可能又要担心午餐的问题了。
Murphy said her family earns a bit too much money to qualify for free lunches based on the old program's income rules.
墨菲说，根据旧计划的收入规则，她的家庭挣的钱有点多，没有资格享受免费午餐。
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.
专家表示，学校午餐援助和其他帮助家庭省钱的计划的结束意味着更多的人将不得不从食品银行获得帮助。
Food banks provide meals and food for no cost to families and individuals in need.
食品银行为贫困的家庭和个人免费提供食物。
Vince Hall is a government relations officer for Feeding America, a group of food banks across the U.S.
文斯·霍尔是“供养美国”（协调美国各地食品银行的组织）的政府关系官员。
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.”
他说，许多家庭现在“面临着一个非常艰难的现实，即必须在喂养孩子、加满油箱或购买药品之间做出选择。”
The U.S. Agriculture Department oversees the school meal program.
美国农业部负责监督学校午餐计划。
Cindy Long is an administrator for the department’s Food and Nutrition Service.
辛迪·朗是该部门食品和营养服务部的管理员。
She said that, during the pandemic, the number of children getting free meals increased from 20 million to 30 million.
她说，在疫情期间，获得免费午餐的儿童数量从2000万增加到3000万。
A summer meal program in 2020 gave out 1.3 billion meals and snacks.
2020年的一项夏季午餐计划发放了13亿份午餐和快餐。
The total cost was $4.1 billion.
总成本为41亿美元。
That was eight times greater than program costs from a year earlier.
这比上一年的计划成本高出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.
美国总统乔·拜登最近签署了一项法案，该法案要求夏季午餐计划应该以疫情前两个夏天一样的运行方式继续运行。
Some states are using their own money to make the free meals permanent.
为了让免费午餐持续存在，一些州正在用自己的钱。
California and Maine did that last year.
加利福尼亚州和缅因州去年就这样做了。
Massachusetts and Colorado are working on state proposals that would provide food aid for at least one more school year.
马萨诸塞州和科罗拉多州正在研究至少再提供一学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，其将使用教育预算中的额外资金为来年的食品援助提供资金。
“Our kids have so much to worry about these days, and food shouldn’t be one of them,” Kate Murphy said.
凯特·墨菲说：“如今，我们的孩子要担心的事情太多了，食物不应该是其中之一。”
On a recent day at the Albert D. Lawton school in Vermont, students ate pizza and salad with their friends.
最近一天，在佛蒙特州的阿尔伯特·劳顿学校，学生们和他们的朋友们一起吃披萨和沙拉。
One student, Ethan Pringle, said it is hard to learn when you feel hungry.
一位名叫伊森·普林格尔的学生说，当你感到饥饿时，很难学习。
“Not everybody has the same situation at home,” he said.
他说：“并不是每个人的家里都有同样的情况”。
“So I think free lunch, it makes it easier for everybody.”
“所以我认为免费午餐会让所有人都更轻松。”
I’m Dan Friedell.
丹·弗里德尔为您播报。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
