III.    READING

  a. Choose the word or phrase - a, b, c or d - that best fits the blank space in the following passage.

In 1986 Vietnam (46)________ a political and economic  innovation campaign (Doi Moi) that introduced reforms intended to facilitate the transition from a centralized economy to a “socialist -oriented market economy. Doi Moi combined government planning with free-market incentives. The program abolished agricultural (47)________, removed price controls on agricultural goods, and enabled farmers to sell their goods in the marketplace. It encouraged the establishment of private businesses and foreign investment, including foreign-owned (48)________.

By the late 1990s, the success of the business and agricultural (49)________ ushered in under Doi Moi was evident. More than 30,000 private businesses had been (50)________, and the economy was growing at an annual rate of more than 7 percent. From the early 1990s to 2005, poverty (51)________ from about 50 percent to 29 percent of the population. However, progress varied geographically, with most prosperity concentrated in urban areas, (52)________ in and around Ho Chi Minh City.

In general, rural areas also made progress, as rural households (53)________in poverty declined from 66 percent of the total in 1993 to 36 percent in 2002.  (54)________contrast, concentrations of poverty remained in (55)________ rural areas, particularly the northwest, north-central coast, and central highlands.

In 1986 Vietnam (46)________ a political and economic innovation campaign (Doi Moi) that introduced reforms intended to facilitate the transition from a centralized economy to a “socialist -