hunger、famine与starvation这些名词均有“饥饿”之意。
hunger : 普通用词，指人体对于食物迫切需要的正常生理现象。
- I can't believe that that enormous meal wasn't enough to satisfy your hunger.
我无法相信那么一顿丰盛的饭菜都无法填饱你的肚子。 - By about nine o'clock she started to feel faint from/with hunger.
9点钟的时候，她开始饿得有点头晕了。 - I often suffer from hunger pangs (= strong feelings of needing something to eat) in the middle of the afternoon.
下午过半时，我常常会感到一阵阵的饥饿。
famine : 指因天灾人祸而引起大规模饥荒；用作引申，指严重缺乏某种物资或人力。
- Another crop failure could result in widespread famine.
如果庄稼再次歉收就可能导致大范围饥荒。 - There were reports of refugees dying of famine.
有一些关于难民饿死的报告。 - Thousands of people emigrated during the Irish potato famine of 1845–46.
在1845年到1846年间的爱尔兰马铃薯饥荒时期，成千上万的人移居国外。
starvation语气比hunger强得多。指因长期缺乏食物所造成的痛苦，甚至死亡，侧重人为的灾难所致。
- 20 million people face starvation unless a vast emergency aid programme is launched.
若不启动大型的紧急援助项目，两千万人将有饿死的危险。 - The animals had died of starvation.
这些动物饿死了。 - They pay starvation wages (= not enough money to live on).
他们付的工钱极少，不够维持基本的生活。
