02-21

ADDITIONAL TRANSLATION MATERIAL Translate the following texts into Vietnamese, paying attention to the underlined words I. (1) Until recently, economists used to marvel at the speed with which the Vietnamese were trading in their bicycles for motorcycles. But that trend now seems out-of-date. (2)Observers are now mesmerised by Vietnam's equally rapid embrace of the motor car. (3)In the year to August, the local car industry's output grew by 43%. (4)Private cars, their horns blaring in the hope of parting the sea of motorcycles, are suddenly a common sight on the streets of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. II. (5)Like Vietnam's new car owners, the country's economy is accelerating, even as the rest of South-East Asia slows. (6)In the first three-quarters of the year, it grew at an annual rate of 8.1%—faster than its five-year average of 7.2%. (7)Better yet, Vietnam's poverty rate is falling almost as fast as its economy grows. (8)The proportion of the population that the government deems poor fell from 58% in 1993 to 20% last year. (9)If the reduction continues at the current rate, says Martin Rama, the World Bank's chief economist in Vietnam, abject poverty will soon be limited to ethnic minorities in remote areas. III. (10)This rapid growth, explains Jonathan Pincus of the United Nations Development Programme, derives chiefly from the steady shift of millions of inefficient subsistence farmers into marginally more productive pursuits. (11)Many have begun growing coffee or farming prawns, while others now work in textile plants or shoe factories. (12)Tens of thousands of family firms have also sprung up since 2001, when the government eased restrictions on small businesses. (13)Since some 74% of Vietnam's 84m inhabitants still live in the countryside, and most of those remain rice farmers, there is plenty more scope for growth. Source: www.economist.com

Nguyen Ninh Bac CFL VNU

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