81．What decision was made by the UN in 2002?

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    2004 is the International Year of Rice! This was decided by the UN in 2002．

That was the first time the UN had made a special year to celebrate(庆祝)just one

crop．What was the UN，s purpose(目的)for its decision? The UN wants us to re―

member“Rice is life”．

    Rice was first grown 1 5，000 years ago in East and South Asia．Rice is more than three times as old as China．Today，almost half of the world’s population eats this very old crop.

    Rice is the most important food in Asia．83  90％ of the world's rice is grown in Asia．People in Africa now eat more rice than before．

    84  Nearly 1 billion(十亿)people around the world have jobs because of rice．

But still，about 840 million people，including more than 200 million children，don’t have enough food．So，growing more rice would really help the world’s hungry and poor people．

A．根据短文内容简要回答问题。