Vietnam is getting old before it gets rich

江苏河海大学 李劲松

海词积累

1.botanical（Para.1）adj.植物学的

2.tropical（Para.1）adj.热带的

3.proliferate（Para.1）v.激增

4.floral（Para.1）adj.有花卉图案的

5.tai chi（Para.1）n.太极拳

6.median（Para.2）adj.中间值的；在中间的

7.expectancy（Para.2）n.期待

8.IMF（Para.3）abbr.国际货币基金组织（International Monetary Fund）

9.gruelling（Para.4）adj.使人筋疲力尽的

10.tricky（Para.6）adj.难对付的；棘手的

11.wedded（Para.6）adj.致力于……的

预读思考

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 （辛勤劳作）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 （财政的）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（改变） 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

探究视角1：语篇分析

本文是一篇议论文。越南老龄化速度很快，一方面随着收入增长，人的寿命有所延长；另一方面，人们的生育率也越来越低。随之而来的问题是贫弱的政府很难保障老人的晚年，养老金成本越来越高。大多数老年人都住在乡村，所以这个问题在乡村也更为严重，他们中的很多直到去世都还在工作。

篇章结构梳理：

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.

典型段落段内结构分析：

Para.2

Para.3

探究视角2：语言学习

Ⅰ.词汇拓展

一、常见词的不常用法

1.lotn.一小块地

If oil or gold are discovered under your lot，you can sell the mineral rights.如果在你的地里发现石油或金子，你可以出售开采权。

2.coveragen.新闻报道

live coverage of the match这场比赛的现场直播

3.ballroom dance交谊舞

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.我们第一次还是第二次约会时，戴夫很认真地问我很多关于我光辉的交际舞历史，我最后坦白，自己只知道吉特巴舞。

二、意思相近的词

1.dweller居民

resident居民；住户

inhabitant居民；居住者

2.be wedded to sth执着于；坚持（某种思想或做法）

cling to坚持；不愿放弃

hold on to坚持

be attached to迷恋于

be obsessed to痴迷于

3.layout布局；设计；安排

devisal设计；发明；策划

4.plot密谋；策划

scheme计划；策划

project规划；计划

三、以-ism结尾的词

1.chauvinism沙文主义

2.totalitarianism极权主义

3.hedonism享乐主义

4.humanism人文主义

5.cubism立体主义

6.empiricism经验主义

7.absurdism荒诞主义

Ⅱ.难句分析

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 宾 语从句 ，at the present rate是这个从句中主语和谓语之间的插入语。

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是时间状语，往往放在前面，it would increase the retirement age and reform the pension scheme是it said的宾语从句，from 55 to 60 for men and 60 to 62 for women是the retirement age的范围，to provide wider coverage是不定式作目的状语。

Ⅲ.写作推荐

介词的重要性

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“涨了……”，由此可以看出英语中介词使用的重要性。

探究视角3：文化拓展

中国式养老

中国式养老是指中国步入老龄化社会后，国家和个人面临的种种养老问题。截至2017年底，全国老年人口已经增至2.41亿。

目前我国人口老龄化呈持续加剧之势，到21世纪中叶，老年人将从现在9个人中有一个发展到3个人中就有一个，且高龄“空巢”化日益严重。近几年，随着互联网的迅猛发展，养老话题也搭上了科技的快车，各方都期待智慧技术为养老带来解决新思路，让智能设备完成人力所不及之事。随着科技的发展，社会上也涌现出一系列如只为父母设计的电视盒子等高科技产品。远程分享让亲情零距离，提升老人的晚年生活质量，一定程度上解决空巢老人寂寞的问题，是中国式养老的新形式。