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| Words in the News
Wednesday 17 April 2002
Vocabulary from the news. Listen to and read the report then find explanations of difficult words below.
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Vietnam's bike racers
Summary: Police in the commercial capital of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City, say they've seized hundreds of motor bikes to try to stop illegal weekend racing on the streets of the city.
This report from Claire Arthurs:
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| | The News | |
| | | The police operation over the weekend netted more than two hundred of the bikes used by the high-speed racers. They regularly taunt the authorities by racing noisily through the city centre in Ho Chi Minh City's District One and Binh Than District, watched by crowds which number from hundreds to thousands. Last weekend, more than eighty traffic police on high-powered bikes joined local police units to chase the racers. If they do catch any, the normal procedure is to seize identity papers and confiscate the bikes until fines are paid.
Police Senior Lieutenant-Colonel Than Minh Khuya says the organisers face a fine of about three thousand dollars. A tenth of that is paid by riders. Three hundred dollars is about the annual wage in Vietnam. But many of the racers are the sons and daughters of influential people. They have money for powerful bikes and for gambling on the races and are willing to take on the risk of a fine. They also risk injury and death in a country where, despite the law, motor bike helmets are scorned as hot and uncomfortable. Racing provides these young people with an outlet for their new wealth in Vietnam's growing economy and for their youthful frustrations. Most of Vietnam's population is young, with urban youth increasingly exposed to consumer culture and seeking ways to express itself in a tightly controlled society.
Illegal racers in Ho Chi Minh and the capital, Hanoi, complain that a shortage of entertainment means there's not much else for young people to do. Illegal racers will continue to give the authorities a headache. The bikes which are currently piled up in the changing rooms at the police station in Ho Chi Minh City will be back on the streets before the end of the month.
Claire Arthurs, BBC, Hanoi
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| | The Words
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| | | netted
caught by means of a trap or special operation, usually by the police
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| | | taunt
if you taunt somebody you say or do something in order to upset them and show their weakness
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| | | to chase
to run or drive after somebody in order to catch them
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| | | to seize
when the police seize something from somebody they take it by force because the person has broken the law
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| | | confiscate
to take something away as a punishment
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| | | fines
a sum of money which a court of law orders somebody to pay as a punishment
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| | | gambling
betting money- for example on card games or races
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| | | scorned
if you scorn something you refuse to use it because you feel it is not right for you
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| | | a shortage
if there is a shortage there is not enough of something
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| | | a headache
here, something that causes worry or difficulty
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