2007年VOA标准英语-Singapore Statesman Visits Vietnam

By Matt Steinglass
Hanoi
17 January 2007

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Lee Kuan Yew (file photo)

Lee Kuan Yew, the former prime minister of Singapore, is visiting Vietnam. Many people in Vietnam admire Mr. Lee for building Singapore into a modern, developed nation, and they see the city as a model, particularly in the struggle against corruption³. Matt Steinglass reports from Hanoi.

 

Meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on his arrival in Hanoi this week, Lee Kuan Yew was characteristically frank. The former Singapore prime minister recalled his first visits to Vietnam.

 

"I made many visits between '92 and '97," he said. "Then, because there wasn't much transformation⁴, because at that time Vietnam was still not ready to take the steps to go into the market economy, so I did not think there were any changes, so I did not come."

Mr. Lee was among the first leaders to prod⁵ Vietnam to open up its economy. He used his trip here in 1995 to create a Singapore-Vietnam Industrial Zone near Ho Chi Minh City.

That industrial zone became one of the first successes in Vietnam's turn toward capitalism⁶.

Today, many Vietnamese would welcome Mr. Lee's advice on how to fight the country's current plague: corruption. Singapore is number five on Transparency International's list of the world's least corrupt² countries - the only Asian country in the top 10.

Vietnam, on the other hand, has been wracked by corruption scandals in the past year.

In November, Vietnam's Government Inspectorate sent 10 staff to Singapore to study how to monitor property owned by civil servants, to prevent bribes⁷ and embezzlement⁸. The government expects to issue a decree on transparency regarding income and property soon.

Trinh Duy Luan, director of Vietnam's Institute of Sociology, says the Singapore model is a good one for Vietnam.

Luan says the model is both Asian and modern. Moreover, he says, Singapore's government leaders are well educated and honest, and serve as examples in the fight against corruption.

While Mr. Lee is famous for helping⁹ build Singapore into a wealthy modern city from a poor trading post, he has been criticized at home and abroad for not tolerating dissent¹⁰ or political opposition¹¹.

Mr. Lee has high hopes for Vietnam's new generation of leaders, including the 57-year-old Prime Minister Dung.

"With a new leadership, younger people, moving up into positions of authority, as mayors, as governors, as ministers, and now as prime minister and president, I think Vietnam now is moving at a good speed forward. Making up for lost time," he said.

In the past few years, Vietnam's economy has soared, with growth in 2006 estimated at over eight percent. The country, which recently joined the World Trade Organization, has become a regional trading power. As a result, a prosperous middle class is expanding in a once isolated¹² and impoverished¹³ country.

1 yew   

n.紫杉属树木

参考例句：

• The leaves of yew trees are poisonous to cattle.紫杉树叶会令牛中毒。
• All parts of the yew tree are poisonous,including the berries.紫杉的各个部分都有毒，包括浆果。

2 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

3 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

4 transformation   

n.变化；改造；转变

参考例句：

• Going to college brought about a dramatic transformation in her outlook.上大学使她的观念发生了巨大的变化。
• He was struggling to make the transformation from single man to responsible husband.他正在努力使自己由单身汉变为可靠的丈夫。

5 prod   

vt.戳，刺；刺激，激励

参考例句：

• The crisis will prod them to act.那个危机将刺激他们行动。
• I shall have to prod him to pay me what he owes.我将不得不催促他把欠我的钱还给我。

6 capitalism   

n.资本主义

参考例句：

• The essence of his argument is that capitalism cannot succeed.他的论点的核心是资本主义不能成功。
• Capitalism began to develop in Russia in the 19th century.十九世纪资本主义在俄国开始发展。

7 bribes   

n.贿赂( bribe的名词复数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂v.贿赂( bribe的第三人称单数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• corrupt officials accepting bribes 接受贿赂的贪官污吏

8 embezzlement   

n.盗用，贪污

参考例句：

• He was accused of graft and embezzlement and was chained and thrown into prison.他因被指控贪污盗窃而锒铛入狱。
• The judge sent him to prison for embezzlement of funds.法官因他盗用公款将其送入监牢。

9 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

10 dissent   

n./v.不同意，持异议

参考例句：

• It is too late now to make any dissent.现在提出异议太晚了。
• He felt her shoulders gave a wriggle of dissent.他感到她的肩膀因为不同意而动了一下。

11 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

12 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

13 impoverished   

adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化

参考例句：

• the impoverished areas of the city 这个城市的贫民区
• They were impoverished by a prolonged spell of unemployment. 他们因长期失业而一贫如洗。 来自《简明英汉词典》