My niece, Jane, laboured to the maximum for 10 years in a shopping mall and finally she took up an     1     as the chairwoman. She was respected by all the salesmen and saleswomen because she was full of integrity and dignity. She exactly calculated the staff’s salaries and rewarded the best ones with a     2    . Whereas, one salesman, Jack,     3     that he could sell anything by absurd overstatements, such as science fictions, ladders, flour, leathers, levers of various panels, handkerchiefs, nails, lamps and even mud. In his view, he was superior to others, so he had an urge to take over the sales manager. It turned out that he often     4     with others. Then came a rumor that all the staff would resign if Jack wasn’t dismissed, which greatly stunned Jane and even made Jane explode with anger. Jane thought inaction was improper, so she urged Jack to weigh pros and cons. Otherwise, his job would be suspended. Jack felt so     5     of his ridiculous behaviors that tears blurred his eyes. He promised to apologize to all the staff at a meeting on a weekly basis to remove the     6     between him and his colleagues. He would share what he gripped from that day on.

Building Scenes for the Screen

Zhang Yuyao, a 3D environmental artist in Canada with two years of working experience,     1     herself when seeing her name on the staff list of The Mandalorian.

Zhang is currently working for a visual effect company responsible for the Avatar series. “What we do is to trick people’s eyes,” she said, “we start by choosing fragments (碎片) from the real world.” For example, when building a scene of the ancient Greek god Zeus’s palace, the artists use     2     of pillars (柱子) from the pictures of Greek-style temples to make the scene more     3     . The artists then     4     the elements together, drawing the rest of the scenery. A basic 3D model of the background is then formed. After that, they color the model and add texture. At this phase, it may still look     5    , which is why there needs to be a “camera match”. With all sources of lighting, including sunlight, moonlight and lamplight, affecting the scene differently, the model can be highly     6    .

Environmental artists are widely needed with a relatively high     7    . They     8     to be well paid because the job is really highly demanding. The     9     to learn quickly is a must. Besides, since details are particularly important, the artists also need to handle     10     tasks to meet the standard.

If you’re talented, creative, and passionate about art, becoming an artist is an achievable goal. You just have to take steps to turn your dream into a reality. Sometimes getting started is the hardest part, and that’s     1    (why, how) we’ve put together this guide to help you. We’ll walk you through something you need to know to start working towards becoming an artist.

Recognise your strengths and interest.

Once you have tried out all of the mediums (形式), decide on     2    (where, what) you are strong at. Often someone who is fantastic at creating sculptures won’t take up painting.

Another important thing to keep in mind is     3    (that, which) you should enjoy working with the medium you choose. However, there are exceptions to every rule. If you are a fantastic drawer but feel yourself pulled more towards sculpting, why not give this new medium a try?

Do your research and learn from others.

Learn     4    (what, which) you can find out about the medium you have chosen to focus on — read books and articles, watch instructional videos, and research various methods and approaches other artists in your medium take. One of the best lessons you can learn is to study the work of others who have come before you. This is     5    (which, how) you can succeed.

“Classroom on wheels” teaches woodworking skills to young people

Handing power tools over to young students could result in some    1    situations. But if those tools are combined with effective supervision and teaching, the students can learn valuable new skills and might even find a new career path.

One such programme, in Washington, DC, aims to teach woodworking and finished carpentry skills to teens and young adults. It includes a woodshop, completely    2    inside a truck, that acts as a kind of “classroom on wheels”.

The Mobile Woodshop programme was    3    by the non-profit Zenith Community Arts Foundation. It is currently based at Ballou STAY Opportunity Academy in Washington, DC. Ballou STAY is an    4    education programme that offers students job training and has a high school graduation programme for adults over age 23.

Margery Goldberg, Zenith’s director, said the goal of the woodshop is “to get people jobs”. Goldberg is an artist, wood sculptor and long-time member of the DC art community. She had long dreamed of creating a mobile woodshop to assist students. That dream finally came true in 2020, when the city gave her a large    5    for the programme.

Students at Ballou can learn the same skills as a beginning carpenter would. These include cutting, marking, measuring,     6    and how to use different tools. The class textbook provides step-by-step instructions on how to make things like simple wooden bird houses, to more    7    wooden containers and objects. The truck is equipped with all the instructional materials and tools necessary to operate as a complete mobile classroom. Mobile workstations are also    8    so students can work on projects outside the truck.

Joe Largess is a teacher at the woodshop. He said much of the class centres on teaching students “soft skills”. These are skills that are    9    in all jobs, such as teamwork, having a strong work ethic, being able to follow instructions and arriving at work on time. Students also learn basic skills like maths and how to read a ruler.

Goldberg believes woodshop programmes can help prepare the next generation of woodworkers. She said other schools in Washington have expressed interest in the mobile woodshop and the programme might be    10    in the coming years.

As a journalist, not only does Li Qiang have a good nose for news, but he also has admirable professional skills. Before every     1    , he makes good preparations for it. In the process of an interview, he can     2     the information he need depending on what the interviewee answers and     3     comes up with the next question. But one day he was     4    of getting the wrong end of the stick, which made him very     5    .

Will a Robot Really Take Your Job?

It is one of the most widely quoted data of recent years. No report or conference presentation on the future of work is complete without it. It has been pointed to as evidence of a(n)     1     jobs disaster by think-tanks and government agencies. The finding that 47 percent of American jobs are at high risk of being     2     by the mid-2030s comes from a paper written by two Oxford academics, Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael Osborne. It has since been     3     in more than 4,000 other academic articles. Such misunderstandings reflect the polarized (两极分化的) debate     4     the nature of automation and the future of jobs.

At one extreme are the negativists. They warn of mass technological     5     just around the corner. One advocate of this position, Martin Ford, has written two best-selling books on the dangers of unemployment caused by automation. He worries that middle-class jobs will disappear, economic     6     will cease, and the richest people in a country could “shut themselves away in gated communities, perhaps guarded by self-directed military robots and drones.” The     7     masses will live on a universal basic income.

At the positive end of the debate, classical economists argue that in the past, new technology has always ended up creating more jobs than it has destroyed. It was several decades before industrialization led to     8     higher wages for British workers in the early 1800s. While automation is likely to increase     9     in the short run by pushing some people into lower-paid jobs, it eventually increases the overall size of the economic pie.

Frey is often     10     to be in the first camp. His paper simply wanted to point out that 47 percent of the current jobs in America were more likely to be affected by automation. It got more attention than they would ever have expected. In part, this is because fear sells, particularly when it is stirred up by a misunderstanding.