Vietnam is getting old before it gets rich

江蘇河海大學(xué) 李勁松

海詞積累

1.botanical（Para.1）adj.植物學(xué)的

2.tropical（Para.1）adj.熱帶的

3.proliferate（Para.1）v.激增

4.floral（Para.1）adj.有花卉圖案的

5.tai chi（Para.1）n.太極拳

6.median（Para.2）adj.中間值的；在中間的

7.expectancy（Para.2）n.期待

8.IMF（Para.3）abbr.國際貨幣基金組織（International Monetary Fund）

9.gruelling（Para.4）adj.使人筋疲力盡的

10.tricky（Para.6）adj.難對付的；棘手的

11.wedded（Para.6）adj.致力于……的

預(yù)讀思考

Why does growing old before Vietnam becomes rich make Vietnam's problems all the greater？

As dawn breaks in Hanoi thebotanicalgardens start to fill up.Hundreds of old people come every morning to exercise before thetropicalheat makes sport unbearable.Groups of fitness enthusiastsproliferate.Elderly ladies infloralsilks dotai chiin a courtyard.In the shade of a tall tree，dozens of ballroom dancers sway to samba music.Others work up a sweat on an outdoor exercise-machine.Tho，an 83-yearold with a neat white moustache，says he comes to walk round the lake every day，rain or shine.

①In the next few decades the gardens will become busier still.②Vietnam has amedianage of only 26.③But it is greying fast.④Over-60s make up 12%of the population，a share that is forecast to jump to 21%by 2040，one of the quickest increases in the world.⑤That is partly because lifeexpectancyhas increased from 60 years in 1970 to 76 today，thanks to rising incomes.⑥Growing prosperity has also helped bring down the fertility rate in the same period from about seven children per woman to less than two.⑦In the 1980s the ruling Communist Party started to enforce a one-child policy.

①This shift brings headaches.②First， will the government be able to support millions more Vietnamese in old age？ ③Only the extremely poor and people over 80 （together around 30%of the elderly） get a state pension， which can be as little as a few dollars a week.④The most recent survey of the old，in 2011， found that 90%of them had no savings worth the name.⑤Debt was common.⑥Supporting them will become ever more expensive.⑦The IMF predicts that pension costs，at the present rate，could raise government spending as a share of GDP by eight percentage points by2050.⑧That is faster than in any of the other 12 Asian countries it examined.

The problem is worse in the countryside，where most old folk live.Previously the young cared for their parents in old age.Today they tend to abandon village life to seek their fortune in the city.Surveys suggest that the share of old people living alone is rising，especially in villages.Many work until they die.Around 40%of rural men are still toiling （辛勤勞作）at 75，twice the rate of city-dwellers.In Britain that figure is 3%.Often they dogruellingmanual jobs，such as rice farming or fishing.

The government is starting to implement policies to reduce the fiscal （財政的）burden and improve the lot of the elderly.Last year it relaxed the one-child policy.In May it said it would increase the retirement age from55to60for men and60to62for women，and reform the pension scheme to provide wider coverage.Next year it plans to begin revamping（改變） thehealth insuranceand socialassistance systems.

Boosting productivity will betricky.The government is stillweddedto the same old stuff.Many countries in Asia are ageing fast.But growing old before it becomes rich makes Vietnam's problems all the greater.

——FromThe Economist

文本探究

探究視角1：語篇分析

本文是一篇議論文。越南老齡化速度很快，一方面隨著收入增長，人的壽命有所延長；另一方面，人們的生育率也越來越低。隨之而來的問題是貧弱的政府很難保障老人的晚年，養(yǎng)老金成本越來越高。大多數(shù)老年人都住在鄉(xiāng)村，所以這個問題在鄉(xiāng)村也更為嚴(yán)重，他們中的很多直到去世都還在工作。

篇章結(jié)構(gòu)梳理：

S t r u c t u r e P a r a g r a p h（s） M a i n i d e a P h e n o m e n o n P a r a.1 H u n d r e d s o f o l d p e o p l e c o m e e v e r y m o r n i n g t o e x e r c i s e i n t h e g a r d e n s.I n t r o d u c t i o n P a r a.2 V i e t n a m h a s a m e d i a n a g e o f 2 6，b u t i t i s g r e y i n g f a s t.P r o b l e m s P a r a.3～4 I t i s h a r d f o r t h e g o v e r n m e n t t o s u p p o r t V i e t n a m e s e i n o l d a g e a n d t h e p r o b l e m i s w o r s e i n t h e c o u n t r y s i d e.S o l u t i o n P a r a.5 T h e g o v e r n m e n t i s s t a r t i n g t o i m p l e m e n t p o l i c i e s t o r e d u c e t h e f i s c a l b u r d e n a n d i m p r o v e t h e l o t o f t h e e l d e r l y.C o n c l u s i o n P a r a.6 G r o w i n g o l d b e f o r e i t b e c o m e s r i c h m a k e s V i e t n a m's p r o b l e m s a l l t h e g r e a t e r.

典型段落段內(nèi)結(jié)構(gòu)分析：

Para.2

Para.3

探究視角2：語言學(xué)習(xí)

Ⅰ.詞匯拓展

一、常見詞的不常用法

1.lotn.一小塊地

If oil or gold are discovered under your lot，you can sell the mineral rights.如果在你的地里發(fā)現(xiàn)石油或金子，你可以出售開采權(quán)。

2.coveragen.新聞報道

live coverage of the match這場比賽的現(xiàn)場直播

3.ballroom dance交誼舞

On our first or second date，Dave asked me so many earnest questions about my awardwinning background in ballroom dance that I finally confessed I knew only the jitterbug.我們第一次還是第二次約會時，戴夫很認(rèn)真地問我很多關(guān)于我光輝的交際舞歷史，我最后坦白，自己只知道吉特巴舞。

二、意思相近的詞

1.dweller居民

resident居民；住戶

inhabitant居民；居住者

2.be wedded to sth執(zhí)著于；堅(jiān)持（某種思想或做法）

cling to堅(jiān)持；不愿放棄

hold on to堅(jiān)持

be attached to迷戀于

be obsessed to癡迷于

3.layout布局；設(shè)計；安排

devisal設(shè)計；發(fā)明；策劃

4.plot密謀；策劃

scheme計劃；策劃

project規(guī)劃；計劃

三、以-ism結(jié)尾的詞

1.chauvinism沙文主義

2.totalitarianism極權(quán)主義

3.hedonism享樂主義

4.humanism人文主義

5.cubism立體主義

6.empiricism經(jīng)驗(yàn)主義

7.absurdism荒誕主義

Ⅱ.難句分析

1.The IMF predicts that pension costs，at the present rate，could raise government spending as a share of GDP by eight percentage points by 2050.

that pension costs could raise government spending是predict的 賓 語從句 ，at the present rate是這個從句中主語和謂語之間的插入語。

2.In May it said it would increase the retirement age from 55 to 60 for men and 60 to 62 for women，and reform the pension scheme to provide wider coverage.

In May是時間狀語，往往放在前面，it would increase the retirement age and reform the pension scheme是it said的賓語從句，from 55 to 60 for men and 60 to 62 for women是the retirement age的范圍，to provide wider coverage是不定式作目的狀語。

Ⅲ.寫作推薦

介詞的重要性

The IMF predicts that pension costs，at the present rate，could raise government spending as a share of GDP by eight percentage points by 2050.

as a share of GDP中as表示“政府支出是GDP的一部分”，by eight percentage points中by表示“漲了……”，由此可以看出英語中介詞使用的重要性。

探究視角3：文化拓展

中國式養(yǎng)老

中國式養(yǎng)老是指中國步入老齡化社會后，國家和個人面臨的種種養(yǎng)老問題。截至2017年底，全國老年人口已經(jīng)增至2.41億。

目前我國人口老齡化呈持續(xù)加劇之勢，到21世紀(jì)中葉，老年人將從現(xiàn)在9個人中有一個發(fā)展到3個人中就有一個，且高齡“空巢”化日益嚴(yán)重。近幾年，隨著互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的迅猛發(fā)展，養(yǎng)老話題也搭上了科技的快車，各方都期待智慧技術(shù)為養(yǎng)老帶來解決新思路，讓智能設(shè)備完成人力所不及之事。隨著科技的發(fā)展，社會上也涌現(xiàn)出一系列如只為父母設(shè)計的電視盒子等高科技產(chǎn)品。遠(yuǎn)程分享讓親情零距離，提升老人的晚年生活質(zhì)量，一定程度上解決空巢老人寂寞的問題，是中國式養(yǎng)老的新形式。