双语新闻：在越南，人们离开湄公河三角洲到城市找工作

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.

11岁的双胞胎Dao Bao Tran和她的哥哥Do Hoang Trung住在越南湄公河三角洲的一艘船屋里。但是他们的梦想把他们带到了很远的地方。

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."

Tran喜欢韩国流行音乐。她晚上看视频学习韩语，还想去首尔看看。她的哥哥Trung想成为一名歌手。但是他说，他们的希望是“不现实的”。他补充说:“我知道我最终会去城市谋生。”

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

特朗看到了他周围的现实。气候变化使湄公河三角洲成为世界上最危险的地区之一。

Difficult time in the Mekong Delta

湄公河三角洲正处于艰难时期

A United Nations climate change report in 2022 warned that there will be more floods in the wet season and drought 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.

2022年的一份联合国气候变化报告警告说，雨季将有更多的洪水，旱季将有更多的干旱。由于海平面上升和上游大坝缺水，土地减少，农业变得越来越困难。

The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry reported that the area's share of Vietnam's gross domestic product, or GDP, has dropped from 27 percent in 1990 to less than 18 percent in 2019.

越南工商会报告称，该地区在越南国内生产总值(GDP)中的份额已从1990年的27%降至2019年的不到18%。

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.

城市里的工厂工作工资更高。因此，对于居住在三角洲地区的1700万居民来说，城市的呼唤往往难以忽视。

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

这就是双胞胎的单身母亲Do Thi Son Ca所做的。

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.

在她的孩子出生后不久，Ca离开湄公河三角洲到胡志明市找工作。从那以后，她离开了孩子们，和母亲阮氏翠一起住在一艘小游艇上。

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.

他们在蔡让水上市场卖肉和豆包，这是湄公河三角洲最大的水上市场。运气好的时候，她能挣4美元左右，几乎不够养活她的孙子孙女。

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 urgent need of costly repairs.

这对双胞胎已经缺课两年了，因为他们的祖母付不起学费。他们的母亲在城里苦苦挣扎，也无能为力。现在他们的船屋急需昂贵的维修。

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

“暴风雨越来越猛烈了，”祖母说。在大雨中，她必须抽出水，这样她的船屋才不会沉没。

Moving to the big city

搬到大城市去

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

为了过上更好的生活，人们从湄公河流域搬到更大的城市，甚至到其他国家去，这并不是什么新鲜事。

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

Mimi Vu是胡志明市的一名移民专家。她说，气候变化损害了湄公河三角洲的生计。该地区比越南其他地区欠发达，缺乏教育、清洁水和医疗保健。

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

“每一代人都在挣扎，”Vu说。搬到城里并不能保证什么。

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.

双胞胎的母亲在胡志明市的一家服装厂找到了一份工作。她还结了婚，生了孩子。但就像越南成千上万的工人一样，她和丈夫都因为海外订单减少而失业。他们后来搬回了他的家乡。

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

“我的家庭很穷。所以我不会想得太远。我只希望我的孩子们能接受全面的教育。”

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 investment.

越南政府批准了一项加强湄公河地区农业经济的计划。它生产了全国大约一半的大米，并为印度尼西亚和菲律宾等其他国家提供粮食。该计划包括尝试新的农业技术，创造更多的渔业，种植水果，建设机场和高速公路以吸引外国投资。

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.

但对许多人来说，搬到胡志明市是很难抗拒的，尤其是年轻人。23岁的Trung Hieu说，即使是那些在农村的人也认为搬到城市是摆脱贫困的最快方式。

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

Hieu和另一个来自三角洲的年轻人住在一起。在一家工厂做了12个小时的零件后，他又做了第二份工作，骑着摩托车运送乘客。

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.

邱想成为一名教师。但他的家人不得不选择是送他上大学还是让他的妹妹完成学业。他选择搬到城里，这样他就可以寄钱回家了。

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

“我妹妹在学校表现很好。我很高兴，”他说。