Global firms are eyeing Asian alternatives to Chinese manufacturing. Can “Altasia" steal China's thunder?

Vocabulary:

1. Altasia: an alternative for multinational who want to avoid China.
2. eye = look at sb/ sth 盯著 e.g. Fool has been eyeing me. 傻子在盯著我/ 引申出來(lái)著眼于 e.g. Mobike is operating in Singapore, and eyeing other markets.
3. steal sb's thunder 剽竊某人創(chuàng)意或者搶某人的風(fēng)頭 e.g. Who are just waiting to steal your thunder.
4. make a bet 打賭，可以引申為冒險(xiǎn)
5. pile into 擠進(jìn)，擠入 e.g. Before long other titans of consumer electronics were also piling into China to take advantage of its abundant and cheap labour.
6. linchpin 關(guān)鍵 e.g. He is the linchpin of our team and crucial to my long-term plan.
7. A out of B. 源自，來(lái)源 e.g. You get 8, out of ten.
8. trillion 萬(wàn)億
9. weighty = heavy adj 重大的，嚴(yán)重的 e.g. under a weighty combination of commercial and political pressure 在政治和經(jīng)濟(jì)的雙重重壓下
10. pluck up the courage to do sth 鼓起勇氣去做某事 e.g. He cannot pluck up the courage to leave home.
11. Taken together 綜合來(lái)看
12. formidable adj 強(qiáng)大的，難以對(duì)付的
13. deep pocket 財(cái)力雄厚
14. heft n 重要性，分量，影響
15. A dwarf B A使B相形見(jiàn)絀，
16. A be home to B = There be A in B = B have A
17. tertiary education 高等教育
18. ageing China ， ageing pouplation。 In contrast, China is the world's most poupulation, but it has a rapidly ageing population.
19. be poised to do sth = be ready to do sth
20. let alone 更不必說(shuō)
21. in practice 在實(shí)踐上
22. have no equal 無(wú)人能比，無(wú)與倫比
23. closer tie 更緊密聯(lián)系 e.g. In economy, China is getting closer ties with those countries.
24. budding 成長(zhǎng)中，正在萌芽階段的

Sentences:

1. It takes a brave firm to avoid China. 要避開(kāi)中國(guó)，需要一家有勇氣的公司。
2. Yet taken together, a patchwork(拼湊） of economies across Asia presents a formidable alternative.
3. 人口的比較：Its collective working-age population of 1.4bn dwarfs even China's 980m. Altasia is home to 154m people aged between 25 and 54 with a tertiary education, compared with 145m in China-and, in contrast to ageing China, their ranks look poised to expand.
4. America may yet realise that reducing its reliance on China in practice requires closer ties with friendly countries. And as a budding alternative to China, Altasia has no equal.