1 . You can assess your opportunities and see the big picture by reflecting on the following questions:

What are your hard and soft skills? Hard skills are teachable abilities and skill sets that are fairly easy to quantify. In contrast, soft skills are interpersonal skills or people skills.     1     For example, if you are expert at multiple languages, you could pursue a career as a translator or a multinational content writer. Likewise, if you are excellent at collaborative (协作的) teamwork but have poor time management skills, you may want to seek a collaborative working environment with flexible work schedules.

What kind of work-life balance are you aiming for? Some people are happy to work 9, 10, or even 12 hours a day for the sake of advancing their careers. Others need more time to spend with their families and friends, on their studies, or on other ventures.     2    

What industries interest you? Once you have a list of industries that arouse your interest, start seeking out opportunities within those sectors. Ensure that they agree with your preferred work-life balance and skill set as well.     3     Instead, think about the kind of impact you want to have and how you want to work.

    4     In some cases, you may need to return to college or sign up for online courses to gain the right qualifications for your dream career. With microlearning, there are plenty of educational and engaging ways to learn new skills and information. Returning to school could be key to boosting your marketable skills and credentials (资质).     5     It could also broaden your horizons and introduce you to new career opportunities you hadn’t considered before.

A．What is your current educational level?

B．What kind of education is suitable for you?

C．So don’t get too hung up on a specific title or industry.

D．In turn, this makes you more competitive in the overall job market.

E．Then, take opportunities that can provide the balance you are looking for.

F．Consider the type of work-life balance that suits your needs and preferences.

G．Identifying your hard and soft skills will help you measure available opportunities.

2 . How to Make a Difference in Your Career

Making a meaningful career choice is a crucial decision in life.    1    , such as being a doctor, teacher or charity worker. However, you don’t have to limit yourself to just those choices. To have a lasting and meaningful impact, it’s important to consider the problem you expect to overcome.

Define what’s personally satisfying

    2    . To ensure success, remember that your career is a marathon and not a short running. Most people reach peak productivity between the ages of 40 and 60, so it’s important to choose something that you can stick with for the long term. When looking for meaningful work, consider what is satisfied with you.

Define your career impact

To maximize your career’s impact, consider the importance of the problem you are addressing, how effective your job is at dealing with it, and your personal fit. Your personal fit depends on your abilities and career capital-skills, connections, and reputation,     3    , and you can ensure that you have a long term improvement in the lives of others.

    4    

Before thinking about specific career paths, it’s valuable to consider what kinds of careers tend to have the highest impact. Remember many career categories can enable you to make a big contribution to whichever global problems you think are most pressing.

Have a plan B and a plan Z

List promising alternatives you can switch to if your plan A doesn’t work out. If you’re ambitious enough, your plan A probably has a good chance of not working out.    5    To avoid unacceptable risks, write a plan Z — how you’ll get back on your feet if things go wrong.

A．So you should be ready to try again

B．Take all these factors into consideration

C．Explore the key categories of meaningful careers

D．Have a better understanding of the career categories

E．Finding work that is personally satisfying can be a challenge

F．People who show their interest in challenge get satisfying careers

G．There are many paths that you can take to contribute positively to the world

3 . 你在某英文网站看到一个题为“Be Prepared for the Future Career”的中学生征文活动，请你写一篇短文投稿，内容包括你的未来职业及你如何做准备。
注意：词数100左右。

Be Prepared for the Future Career

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4 . After I finished my PhD in 2014 at Duke University, I stayed for an extra year to finish a paper and look for a postdoc (博士后) position. The first step of my process was to decide what I wanted to do with my career, and then I should find a laboratory that would help me to achieve that. I was a bit anxious about making such a strong statement about my career—a feeling that I think is shared by many graduating students.

The next step in my process was to broadly identify what type of field I wanted to work in and which techniques, system and organism I wanted to learn. Several people advised me to change one or two of these choices from my PhD work, which was in yeast cell biology (酵母细胞生物学). Although I really value having experience in multiple fields and techniques, I don’t think this change is absolutely necessary. I also talked my options through with my PhD adviser, Daniel Lew, and my lab mates. In the end, I decided to stay working with yeast but to take on more biochemistry approaches.

I then put together a list of possible labs as I read papers and university websites. By this point, my partner and I had decided that we would like to live in Europe, because it would be a great opportunity to move somewhere else and experience a different way of living. I preferred labs in Europe, but I included many in the United States as well.

I applied to eight labs by e mail: four labs in the United States and four in Europe. In the end, I decided on John Diffley’s lab at the Francis Crick Institute in London.

I could imagine how I would develop as a scientist in John’s lab and ultimately gain more independence. When you’re on an academic career track, that’s a big part of the experience becoming independent and designing your own projects.

1. What did the author do first for a postdoc position?

A．Work in a university for an extra year.	B．Determine what to do with his career.
C．Look for a proper laboratory for research.	D．Overcome his anxiety about his career.

2. Why did the author choose yeast cell biology for his postdoc position?

A．He thought it was popular.

B．He liked experiencing multiple fields.

C．He accepted his adviser’s and lab mates’ advice.

D．He considered it unnecessary to work in other fields.

3. What made the author prefer European laboratories?

A．Few suitable laboratories in the U. S.	B．Focusing on research and pursuing his aim.
C．A better opportunity to finish his postdoc.	D．Wishing for living a different lifestyle.

4. How will the author work in John’s lab?

A．By depending on John’s help.	B．By designing his own projects.
C．By discussing yeast in groups.	D．By sharing his good experience.