In Vietnam, People Leave Mekong Delta to Find Jobs in City

In Vietnam, People Leave Mekong Delta¹ to Find Jobs in City

　　Eleven-year-old twins Dao Bao Tran and her brother Do Hoang Trung live on a houseboat in Vietnam's Mekong Delta. But their dreams take them far away.

　　Tran loves K-pop. She watches videos at night to learn Korean and would love to visit Seoul. Her brother Trung wants to be a singer. But he says their hopes are "unrealistic." He adds, "I know I'll end up going to the city to try and make a living."

　　Trung sees the reality around him. Climate change is making the Mekong Delta one of the most at-risk areas in the world.

　　Difficult time in the Mekong Delta

　　A United Nations climate change report in 2022 warned that there will be more floods in the wet season and drought² in the dry season. Farming is getting harder with the loss of land due to the rising sea and the loss of water from dams on the river upstream.

　　The Vietnam Chamber³ of Commerce⁴ and Industry reported that the area's share of Vietnam's gross⁵ domestic⁶ product, or GDP, has dropped from 27 percent in 1990 to less than 18 percent in 2019.

　　Factory jobs in the city offer better wages. Therefore, the call of the city is often hard to ignore for the 17 million who live in the delta.

　　That is what Do Thi Son Ca, the single mother of the twins, did.

　　Soon after her children were born, Ca left the Mekong Delta to find work in Ho Chi Minh City. She left the children to live with her mother, Nguyen Thi Thuy, on a small houseboat ever since.

　　Thuy sells meat and bean buns at the Cai Rang floating market, the largest of its kind in the Mekong Delta. On good days, she makes about $4, hardly enough to feed her grandchildren.

　　The twins have already missed two years of school because their grandmother could not pay the costs. Their mother was struggling in the city and could not help either. Now their houseboat is in urgent⁷ need of costly⁸ repairs.

　　"The storms are becoming more violent," said the grandmother. With heavy rains, she must pump out water so her houseboat does not sink.

　　Moving to the big city

　　Moving away from the Mekong to bigger cities or even to other countries for a better life is not new.

　　Mimi Vu is a migration⁹ expert based in Ho Chi Minh City. Climate change, she said, has hurt livelihoods¹¹ in the Mekong Delta. The area is less developed than other parts of Vietnam and lacks access to education, clean water, and health care.

　　"Every generation still struggles," Vu said. And moving to the city does not guarantee anything.

　　The mother of the twins found a job in a clothing factory in Ho Chi Minh City. She also got married and had a baby. But like thousands of workers in Vietnam, both she and her husband lost their jobs because of low overseas orders. They have since moved back to his home village.

　　"My family is poor. So I don't think too far ahead. I just hope my children can receive a full education," she said.

　　Vietnam's government has approved a plan to strengthen the Mekong area's agricultural economy. It produces about half the country's rice and feeds other countries, like Indonesia and the Philippines. The plan includes trying new farming technologies, creating more fisheries, growing fruits, and building airports and highways to bring foreign investment¹².

　　But moving to Ho Chi Minh City is hard to resist for many, especially the young. Even those in the countryside see moving to the city as the fastest way out of poverty, said 23-year-old Trung Hieu.

　　Hieu shares a living space with another young man from the delta. After 12 hours of making parts in a factory, he works¹³ a second job transporting people on his motorcycle.

　　Hieu wanted to be a teacher. But his family had to choose whether to send him to college or let his younger sister finish school. He chose to move to the city so that he could send money back home.

　　"My sister is doing well in school. I'm very happy," he said.

　　Words in This Story

　　delta – n. the triangular¹⁴ or fan-shaped piece of land made by deposits¹⁵ of mud and sand at the mouth of a river

　　drought – n. a long period of dry weather

　　dam – n. a barrier preventing the flow of water

　　GDP – n. abbreviation¹⁶ for the gross national product excluding¹⁷ the value of net income earned abroad

　　livelihood¹⁰ – n. means of support or subsistence

　　access – n. permission or power to enter, approach, or make use of

1 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

2 drought   

n.旱灾，干旱，久旱

参考例句：

• The plants are growing in again,despite the drought.尽管干旱，植物又长出来了。
• The ground is as hard as stone after the drought.长期干旱后土地硬得就像石头一样。

3 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

4 commerce   

n.商业，贸易；社交

参考例句：

• Commerce binds the two countries together.贸易把这两国结合在一起。
• They drew up plans aimed at expanding commerce.他们拟定了发展商业的计划。

5 gross   

adj.全部的，粗俗的，肥胖的；vt.获得...总收入

参考例句：

• The gross weight of the box of chocolates is 500 grams.那盒巧克力的全部重量是500克。
• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。

6 domestic   

adj.家里的，国内的，本国的；n.家仆，佣人

参考例句：

• This is domestic news.这是国内新闻。
• She does the domestic affairs every day.她每天都忙家务。

7 urgent   

a.紧急的，急迫的，紧要的

参考例句：

• He asked to see the manager for something urgent. 他有急事求见经理。
• A part of this urgent task was allotted to us. 这项紧急任务的一部分分给了我们。

8 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

9 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

10 livelihood   

n.生计，谋生之道

参考例句：

• Appropriate arrangements will be made for their work and livelihood.他们的工作和生活会得到妥善安排。
• My father gained a bare livelihood of family by his own hands.父亲靠自己的双手勉强维持家计。

11 livelihoods   

生计，谋生之道( livelihood的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• First came the earliest individualistic pioneers who depended on hunting and fishing for their livelihoods. 走在最前面的是早期的个人主义先驱者，他们靠狩猎捕鱼为生。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• With little influence over policies, their traditional livelihoods are threatened. 因为马赛族人对政策的影响力太小，他们的传统生计受到了威胁。

12 investment   

n.投资，投资额；(时间、精力等的)投入

参考例句：

• It took two years before I recouped my investment.我用了两年时间才收回投资。
• The success of the project pivots on investment from abroad.这个工程的成功主要依靠外来投资。

13 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

14 triangular   

adj.三角（形）的，三者间的

参考例句：

• It's more or less triangular plot of land.这块地略成三角形。
• One particular triangular relationship became the model of Simone's first novel.一段特殊的三角关系成了西蒙娜第一本小说的原型。

15 deposits   

存放( deposit的名词复数 )； 订金； 寄存处； 储蓄

参考例句：

• Only a small fraction of a bank's total deposits will be withdrawn at any one time. 任何时候，一家银行的总存款只有少量会被提取。
• There are rich deposits of gold in those hills. 那些丘陵里埋藏着丰富的金矿。

16 abbreviation   

n.（用词首字母组成的）缩写

参考例句：

• A.D.is the abbreviation for"advertisement".A.D.是advertisement的缩写。
• The postal abbreviation for Kansas is KS.堪萨斯州的邮政缩写是KS。

17 excluding   

v.排除，拒绝( exclude的现在分词)；驱逐prep.除…外，不包括

参考例句：

• The shop is open seven days a week excluding Christmas Day. 本商店每周七天营业，圣诞节除外。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Five persons spoke at the meeting excluding me. 除我以外，还有五个人在会上发了言。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》