1 . Many people think only professionals—engineers, accountants, teachers, etc.—have careers.
During your career, you will have a variety of jobs, occupations and roles. People used to think of a job as full-time, permanent, paid work done for an employer at a work site. But in our changing world, a job is a set of duties or tasks. It can be paid or unpaid.
An occupation is a group of jobs with similar responsibilities that require a common set of skills.
A.A role is a part you play. |
B.Actually everyone has a career. |
C.In other words, your career is your life story. |
D.For example, computer programmer is an occupation. |
E.As a matter of fact, a job is different from a role in some way. |
F.It can be completed at a work site, at home, or somewhere else. |
G.The following is about your work, your family, and your life story. |
2 . If you are a recent social science graduate who has had to listen to jokes about unemployment from your computer major classmates, you may have had the last laugh. There are many advantages for the social science major because this high-tech "Information Age" demands people who are flexible (灵活) and who have good communication skills.
There are many social science majors in large companies who fill important positions. For example, a number of research studies found that social science majors had achieved greater managerial success than those who had technical training or pre-professional courses. Studies show that social science majors are most suited for change, which is the leading feature (特点) of the kind of high-speed, high-pressure, high-tech world we now live in.
Social science majors are not only experiencing success in their long term company jobs, but they are also finding jobs more easily. A study showed that many companies had filled a large percentage of their entry level positions with social science graduates. The study also showed that the most sought-after quality in a person who was looking for a job was communication skills, noted as "very important" by 92 percent of the companies. Social science majors have these skills, often without knowing how important they are. It is probably due to these skills that they have been offered a wide variety of positions.
Finally, although some social science majors may still find it more difficult than their technically trained classmates to land the first job, recent graduates report that they don't regret their choice of study.
1. By saying that "you may have had the last laugh" in the first paragraph, the author means that you may have ________.A.shared the jokes with computer majors |
B.earned as much as computer majors |
C.found jobs more easily than computer majors |
D.stopped joking about computer majors |
A.are ready to change when situations change |
B.are better able to deal with difficulties |
C.are equally good at computer skills |
D.are likely to give others pressure |
A.keep for some time |
B.successfully get |
C.immediately start |
D.lose regretfully |
A.Willingness to take low-paid jobs. |
B.Readiness to gain high-tech knowledge. |
C.Skills in expressing themselves. |
D.Part-time work experience. |
3 . From self-driving cars to carebots (care+robots) for elderly people, rapid development in technology has long represented a possible threat (威胁) to many jobs normally performed by people. But experts now believe that almost 50 percent of occupations existing today will be completely unnecessary by 2025 as artificial intelligence (AI) continues to change businesses.
“The next fifteen years will see a revolution in how we work, and a revolution will necessarily take place in how we plan and think about workplaces,” said Peter Andrew, Director of Workplace Strategy for CBRE Asia-Pacific. A growing number of jobs in the future will require creative intelligence, social skills and the ability to use artificial intelligence.
The report is based on interviews with 200 experts, business leaders and young people from Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America. It shows that in the US technology already destroys more jobs than it creates. But the report states, “Losing occupations does not necessarily mean losing jobs—just changing what people do.” Growth in new jobs could occur as much, according to the research. “The growth of companies that have the speed and technological know-how will directly challenge big companies,” it states.
A 2014 report by Pew Research found 52 percent of experts in artificial intelligence and robotics were optimistic about the future and believed there would still be enough jobs in the next few years. The optimists pictured “a future in which robots do not take the place of more jobs than they create,” according to Aaron Smith, the report’s co-author.
“Technology will continue to affect jobs, but more jobs seem likely to be created. Although there have always been unemployed people, when we reached a few billion people there were billions of jobs. There is no shortage of things that need to be done and that will not change,” Microsoft’s Jonathan Grudin told researchers.
1. What is the first paragraph mainly about?A.The result of job reduction. |
B.The fast development of AI. |
C.The future life of elderly people. |
D.The influence of technology on jobs. |
A.Take the place of AI. |
B.Work in a traditional way. |
C.Take up jobs requiring creativity. |
D.Enjoy life without working anymore. |
A.Job unemployment will stay high. |
B.More jobs tend to appear in the future. |
C.Job competition is likely to grow fiercer. |
D.Technology will have less control over jobs. |
A.Are People Losing Their Jobs? |
B.The Requirements for Future Jobs |
C.The Challenging Life in the Future |
D.Does Technology Simplify Everything? |
It’s an awkward scene. Attrition(损耗) has always been expensive for companies, but in many industries the cost of losing good workers is rising, owing to tight labor markets. Thus companies are making greater efforts to predict which workers are at high risk of leaving so that managers can try to stop them. Methods range from electronic monitor to sophisticated analyses of employees’ social media lives.
Some of this work may be a reason to let employees to quit. In general, people leave their jobs because they don’t like their boss, don’t see opportunities for promotion or growth, or are offered a higher pay; these reasons have held steady for years.
New research conducted by CEB, a Washington-based technology company, looks not just at why workers quit but also at when. “We’ve learned that what really affects people is their sense of how they’re doing compared with other people in their peer group, or with where they thought they would be at a certain point in life, says Brian Kropp, who heads CEB’s HR practice. “We’ve learned to focus on moments that allow people to make these comparisons.”
Technology also provides clues about which star employees might be eyeing the exit. Companies can tell whether employees using work computers or phones are spending time on (or even just opening e-mails from) career websites, and research shows that more firms are paying attention to these things. Large companies have also begun tracking badge swipes(浏览痕迹)—employees’ use of an ID to enter and exit the building or the parking garage—to identify patterns that suggest a worker may be interviewing for a job.
1. From the first paragraph, we can infer Linkedln is ________.
A.an e-mail |
B.a job from the Internet |
C.a professional social network |
D.a world-famous company |
A.The cost of losing good workers is rising. |
B.Companies are stricter with workers than before. |
C.Measures have been taken to find the potential workers who want to quit. |
D.Finding new jobs has been a trend for most workers. |
A.They don’t like their bosses. |
B.Workers are always doing comparisons. |
C.Not seeing opportunities for promotion. |
D.To find a higher-paid job. |
5 . How to Do Man-on-the-Street Interviews
The man-on-the-street interview is an interview in which a reporter hits the streets with a cameraman to interview people on the spot.
When your boss or professor sends you out to do man-on-the-street interviews for a story, think about the topic and develop a list of about ten general questions relating to it. For example, if your topic is about environmental problems in America, you might ask, “Why do you think environmental protection is important in America?”
Hit the streets with confidence.
Move on to the next person if someone tells you she is not interested. Don’t get discouraged.
If your news station or school requires interviewees to sign release forms to appear on the air, don’t leave work without them.
A.Limit your time. |
B.As you approach people, be polite. |
C.If you don’t own a camera, you can buy one. |
D.For new reporters, this can seem like a challenging task. |
E.To get good and useful results, ask them the same question. |
F.That number of interviews should give you all the answers you need. |
G.With a question like this, you will get more than a “Yes” or “No” reply. |
6 . Many managers believe that overworking is an evidence of devotion from their employees’ side. Still few others regard this custom as a threat to the workers’ work-life balance, which may negatively influence the level of productivity and efficiency.
Employees at Amsterdam design studio Heldergroen won’t be putting in much overtime. Not in the office, at any rate. That’s because every day at 6:00 pm, their desks, tables and other work surfaces, with their computers attached, are lifted to the ceiling by steel cables (绳索)normally used to move heavy props(道具)in theatrical productions. If you leave a half-eaten sandwich on your desk, you’re out of luck.
“Once the chairs and other workplace paraphernalia are cleared away, the space is free for evening and weekend use as a dance floor, yoga studio ... or anything else you can think of – the floor is actually yours, ” doctor Sander Veenendaal said.
In a way, the office space itself is working overtime for Heldergroen, bringing about lots of publicity and carrying an enlightened(有启发的)message of career-life balance far and wide.”We think that doing activities like this makes it easier for people to work here,” says Veenendaal. “You know when it is time to relax or do something else that inspires you.”
That sounds awesome. There’s just one catch. In the morning, the desks reappear and everybody has to go back to work.
1. What can we learn about the employees at Heldergroen?A.They are unwilling to work late |
B.They are discouraged from working overtime |
C.They are persuaded to leave the office earlier |
D.They are to put away their computers after work |
A.Props. | B.Food. |
C.Equipment. | D.Cables. |
A.Creative. | B.Inconvenient |
C.Ordinary | D.Strange |
Which is much more significant to you when you are finding a job? Working experience or an advanced-degree? Well, I believe diverse people have different answers.
Above of all, most of jobs don’t require such a high degree, which means just some few works, such as, theoretical physics, archaeology, or literature, need high academic qualification.
All in all, I think rich working experience is much more important than the advanced-degree.
A.However, a degree is still required for most people. |
B.Meanwhile, rich working experience will draw more attention. |
C.Secondly, plenty of experience will bring you success much earlier. |
D.In my view, either working experience or advanced-degree counts. |
E.As for me, I will say working experience without hesitation. |
F.As a matter of fact, more people with rich working experience become successful. |
G.From all of these, we can see that advanced-degree isn’t so necessary as working experience. |
8 . At the age of 11, Peter Lynch started caddying(当球童) at Brae Burn Country Club in Newton, Mass. “It was better than a newspaper carrier, and much more profitable,” the Fidelity vice chairman recalls. He kept it up during the summers for almost a decade. “You get to know the course and can give the golf players advice about how to approach various holes,” he says. “Where else, at age 15 or 16, can you serve as a trusted adviser to high-powered people?”
One of those people was George Sullivan, then president of Fidelity’s funds, who was so impressed with Lynch’s smarts that he hired him in 1966. “There were about 75 applicants for 3 job openings,” Lynch says now. “But I was the only one who had caddied for the president for 10 years.”
In between caddying and managing money, Lynch went to Boston College on a scholarship from a program called the Francis Ouimet Fund. Named after the 1913 winner of the U.S. Open, the fund launched in 1949 which is open to Massachusetts kids only. Ouimet executive director Robert Donovan says, “Help with college is a logical extension of friendly relation between golfers and their favorite caddies, because there is a close tie to train up them to be excellent that happens between the players and the kids who carry their golf poles. And for the teens, caddying is all about being around successful role models.”
It is obvious that caddies who are finally successful include all kinds of outstanding personnel, from actor Bill Murray, to New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, to former GE chairman and CEO Jack Welch.
Of course, the great number of financial giants who caddied in their youth might be coincidence, but Dick Connolly thinks not. “Caddying life teaches you a lot about business, and about life,” he says. “You learn to show up early and look people in the eye when you shake their hand, and you learn how to read people -- including who’s likely to cheat and who isn’t.” Connolly is a longtime investment advisor at Morgan Stanley’s Boston office, a former Ouimet scholarship student and, along with Peter Lynch and Roger Altman, one of the program’s biggest supporters. He wants to share the most important lesson he learned on the links, so he says: “One golfer I caddied for told me that if you want to succeed in any field -- golf or business -- you have to spend a lot of lonely hours, either practicing or working, when you’d rather be partying with your friends. That’s true, and it stuck with me.”
1. Which of the following may Peter Lynch agree about caddying?A.He could have a relaxing job as a caddie. |
B.He could make more money from the golf players. |
C.His duty was to advise the players how to play golf. |
D.His caddying experiences contributed to his later career. |
A.Because of the advice from the rich golf players. |
B.Because of those giants with caddying experiences. |
C.Because of the great success the caddies have achieved. |
D.Because of the friendly relation between golfers and their caddies. |
A.helps you learn to live with loneliness |
B.teaches you a lot about business and life |
C.makes it possible to meet with great people |
D.offers you chances to communicate with others |
A.Legend of Peter Lynch. |
B.An introduction of Golf Caddying. |
C.Golf Caddying into Future Success. |
D.Five Giants with Caddying Experiences. |
9 . Turning on the TV, a wonderful scene comes to your eyes — a group of men, tall, strong and handsome, and women, young, beautiful and attractive, too. Together they eat in the finest restaurants, traveling everywhere around the world by luxurious planes and pleasure ships. They are models.
Do you envy them?What sort of life are models leading?Is it a wonderful life for a young lady or a young man?
A few models are well-known actors or actresses who can make a lot of money only by showing themselves off in commercials. But the majority of them are just curious to see what it is like. They’d like to be models just because they are attracted by what they imagine — models earn a lot of money and lead a glorious life. This is true for those who are very successful. However, most models find it difficult to get work. Very few can earn enough to live on, and for all models their expenses are high. Their agents claim about 20% of the earnings, and no model will get very far without a clever agent. Besides, they have to buy good clothing. They also have to pay to travel to interviews and reach the places where the work is to be done.
Interviews for a model job are known as cattle markets in the modeling world, and not without a good reason. A top model can choose his or her work, demand and receive high fees and has his or her expenses paid. But for most models, the situation is quite different. An agent or employer inspects each model much as a farmer inspects cattle at a market. Intelligence, qualifications and personal characteristics count for little against good looks and tight figures. For all except the very few lucky ones, the life of a model is a continual search for work, trying to sell him or her in the face of fierce competition and, sometimes, not particularly moral standards on the part of some employers.
Immigration officials at the airport look suspiciously at a girl whose passport shows her occupation as “Model”, and these are men and women of considerable experience of the world. It comes no surprise to find that some models prefer to put “Secretary” or “Businessman” as their jobs in their passports.
1. For models, their good looks and tight figures are _________,compared with their intelligence and qualifications.A.more important | B.less needed |
C.less essential | D.more looked down upon |
A.A model’s traveling expenses are usually paid by his employer. |
B.To be a model, good looks are the most important qualification. |
C.Most models have a fairly easy way of life with high pay. |
D.A model can hardly be successful without a good agent. |
A.They want to avoid being stopped to sign their names by fans |
B.A person with the occupation of a model is easily attacked by black societies |
C.Models are sometimes looked down upon |
D.Secretaries and businessmen are free of custom duty |
A.It’s a worthwhile life for a young lady or a young man. |
B.He is in favor of young people to try modeling. |
C.Before being crazy about a model job, young people should be aware of the difficulties. |
D.It is a field in which everyone has a great chance to succeed. |
A.doubtfully | B.excitedly |
C.proudly | D.sadly |
10 . The following card includes a brief summary and a short assessment of a research paper. It can provide a guide for further reading on the topic.
Trevor, C. O., Lansford, B. and Black, J. W., 2004, “Employee turnover (人事变更) and job performance: monitoring the influences of salary growth and promotion”, Journal of Armchair Psychology, vol. 113, no.1, pp. 56-64.
In this article Trevor et al. review the influences of pay and job opportunities in respect of job performance, turnover rates and employees’ job attitude. The authors use data gained through organizational surveys of blue-chip companies in Vancouver, Canada to try to identify the main cause of employee turnover and whether it is linked to salary growth. Their research focuses on assessing a range of pay structures such as pay for performance and organizational reward plans. The article is useful as Trevor et al. suggest that there are numerous reasons for employee turnover and a variety of differences in employees’ job attitude and performance. The main limitation of the article is that the survey sample was restricted to mid-level management, thus the authors indicate that further, more extensive research needs to be undertaken to develop a more in-depth understanding of employee turnover and job performance. As this article was published in a professional journal, the findings can be considered reliable. It will be useful additional information for the research on pay structures.
1. The research paper published is primarily concerned with .A.the way of preventing employee turnover |
B.methods of improving employee performance |
C.factors affecting employee turnover and performance |
D.pay structures based on employee performance |
A.the data analysis is hardly reliable | B.the research sample is not wide enough |
C.the findings are of no practical value | D.the research method is out-of-date |
A.Job hunters. | B.Employees in blue-chip companies. |
C.Mid-level managers. | D.Researchers on employee turnover. |