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英语口语教程(Oral Workshop)--高级 Lesson 5

时间:2013-02-17 05:59来源:互联网 提供网友:nan   字体: [ ]
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Lesson 5

              Is It Good for Students to Have Part-time Jobs?

                                        Text

                               School Part-timers

    More and more high school students in Beijing are turning their minds to ways of making money.

    They are capitalizing on opportunities such as one group of students who went to the front gate of the Children's Centre in the East District of Beijing when a film studio was there conducting auditions1.

    The group sold the young hopefuls application forms at five fen2 a piece after getting the forms from the centre for free. 

    Young entrepreneurs are also capitalizing on high demand eommodities not always available away from the big shopping centres. Birthday or greeting cards are an example. One department store estimated that 80 per cent of its sales of cards are to students for resale.

    Xiao Li, a junior high school student at Fengtai District in the southwest region of the capital, spent 40 yuan buying cards from downtown shops just before the last Spring Festival.

    She sold them at her school and schools nearby at prices 15 to 20 per cent higher than what she had paid. In a month, she earned 100 yuan, representing a 250 per cent return on her initial investment.

    A senior high school student who had been selling cards has now become an amateur wholesale3 dealer4. His wholesale price is 8 per cent higher than his purchasing price and 10 per cent lower than the retail5 price. Within two months, he had earned several hundred yuan in profits.

    Many students have merged6 their activities to avoid price wars. For example, in an area with few State-owned shops and far from the city centre, student union heads from the schools there have reached an agreement on card prices. The agreement says prices may be higher than at the downtown shops but lower than at the peddlers' stalls.

    Card-selling is just a beginning. Some students turn their eyes to other more profitable ventures.

    Take one senior high school sophomore7 who has developed a flourishing business selling photos of famous people. He even has his own name card that reads: The High School Student Corporation Ltd of Exploitation of New Technology.

    The student carries a portfolio8 of the photos around with him in. an atbum to show his young customers. He offers a wide variety of photos, from American movie star Sylvester Stallone in Rambo pose to Taiwan's famous singer Qi Qin.

    "These all depend on my high quality camera, " he boasts and explains how he clipped the pictures from magazines, photographed them and then developed the prints into various sizes. He has sold hundreds.

    Another student is now an amateur salesman for a company and earns a three per cent commission on each sale.

    When he had earned 300 yuan through his own efforts, he said, "I feel that I have really become an adult."

    Most of the money the students earn is spent on theraselves. They can buy high-priced items like a pair of running shoes which can cost as much as 100 yuan-a month' s salary for an average worker. Few parents can afford such luxuries.

    Some students find work to help them realize their dreams of a career.

    Qian Qian wants to become an actress. In her spare time she attends a class outside school that costs 80 yuan a month in tuition, an amount which her parents cannot afford to pay. So she found a job as a waitress in a coffee house to earn her tuition fee.

    Some students get into business for other reasons besides the money.

    Zou Yue, a female student, from a fairly wealthy family, took a job because, she said, "Business can cultivate a sense of competition, which is very important for us in the future.

    A student who once sold cards said young people are encouraged to be independent.

    "But how?" he asked. "You can never be independent unless you can support yourself financially.

    He felt after-school work enhanced a young person's social development, too.

    Practical experience in the workforce9 has been stipulated10 by the State Commission of Education as a compulsory11 programme. This is now closely related with economic benefits fits among high school students.

    One student, sent by her school to work as a shop assistant at a temple fair, earned five yuan a day for a.seven-hour shift behind the counter.

    "I had a sore throat after working for a few days, but I had to hold on, " she said.

    "I wanted to earn the-money and also prove that I was an able girl. "

These temporary job stints12 give high school students an insight into what work and incomes are all about.

    A job at a State-owned cinema may only earn a worker 40 or 50 yuan a month. But a job with a self-employed trader, may earn the assistant 8 or 10 yuan a day. A writer may get about 20 yuan for an article in a newspaper or a magazine, but a clothes keeper in a swimming pool may earn at least 200 yuan a month.

II. Read

    Read the following passages. Underline the important viewpoints while reading.

                        1. Jobs Attracting Drop-outs

    At quitting time, a throng13 of very young workers walked tiredly out of the gate of the Lihua Printworks, a township enterprise in Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, Guangdong Province. Fifty per cent were only 13 years old on the average, while the oldest were no more than 17.

    The teen-agers had to work 14 or 15 hours a day. They started at 7 a. m. every day and had to work until noon. After a one-hour lunch break they worked to 6 p.m. and then had another one-hour rest. Then they went to supper and went back to work again for three or four hours.

    Although life was very hard, none of them left. They earned 100 yuan a month. "I have much more money than my father, who is a middle school teacher, ?a girl said proudly.

    In Linxia, the capital of Hui Autonomous14 Prefecture in Gansu Province, dozens of mosques15 were erected16, attracting both tourists and pedlars. At the stands that sold beef, vegetables, fruits and books, children were doing business. The oldest were no more than 16 and the youngest about six. One child weighed a kilogram of apples on his balance scale. When he lifted it, the pan of the balance touched his feet. He staggered among the bustling17 crowds of tourists crying out for business.

    Since the Spring Festival of 1988, more than 1, 000 primary and middle school students at Yulin prefecture in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region have left home to work in factories in Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and Dongwan County in Guangdong Province.

    Twelve students from the Xingchang Middle School in I.anzhou, Gansu Province, quit school. They left a letter that said:"Dear teacher: We are grown up. Since you taught us to be independent and selfsupporting, we are beginning now." These children, whose parents are all well educated, were good   students in their class.

    Not far away from Xi' an, an ancient capital in Shaanxi Province, there was a cave dwelling18 in which more than 30 youths were living. They were all boys between the ages of 11 and 18. "we came out to find a new life," said one boy. But life was not as beautiful as they had dreamed. They had no job and no money. Eventually, they gathered there.

    In Guangzhou 77 per cent of the juvenile19 delinquents20 under 18 were found to be truants21.

    China News Service reported that it,s very difficult for well-known professors in the universities in Guangzhou to enroll22 their students.When a medical college planned to enroll 33 students, only 26 people applied23 .

    In March, 1988, a post-graduate majoring in mechanical engineering in Shanghai Jiaotong University, who came from a remote rural area, asked for permission to quit school. He said that for the sake of changing his backward hometown, he decided24 to return and do something for it. But he did not go back home; he became a businessman in Shanghai.

    "After three years of study, we will finally get our master's degree and 86.50 yuan as a monthly salary. That can not buy two sweaters. Knowledge is too cheap, "said a graduate student who had quit school.

    In 1988, when the State Commission of Education decided to try a new method of job assignment in some universities, letting the graduates choose their own jobs, and vice-versa, it unexpectedly disrupted the education process itself. Every college student and graduate was busy looking for jobs. They had no time to study.

    "We have no iron rice bowls. The earlier we find a job the better," said a student. A wave of quitting school and going into business has swept the campuses of many universities and colleges in China.

    After the chaotic25 10-year-long "cultural revolution'? China had a shortage of 60 million engineers. Now it seems there is a second crisis. Only 11. 8 out of every 10, 000 people are receiving a higher education, 429. 1 studying in high school and 1, 324. 7 in primary school. More and more illiterates26 are living in the society.

                 2. Those Who Do Not Want to Go to College

    According to the August lOth issue of The Youth , out of 30, 000 school graduates in Shanghai who could take the college entrance examination this year only 23,000 sat for it. What happened to all the others? Allowing for 2, 000 who were exempted27 from the examination and went straight to college for their brilliance28 or for whatever reasons, we still have 5, 000 unaccounted for. In other words, more than 16% of school graduates who got good marks and were qualified29 to take the entrance examination gave up the chance of going to college. This is certainly a new phenomenon ever since 1977 when competitive entrance examination was restored, but the question is, "Is this going to be a growing tendency?"

    To answer this question we have to look into the reasons why the students gave up the examination. Did they give up out of their own free will or were they under some sort of coercion30? A simpie clear-cut answer, I am afraid, is impossible to find. Different groups of students give up the examinations for different reasons.

    Those from the key schools (and they are mestly brilliant students), give up for the simple reason that they want to go abroad. Once they become college students, they are bound by certain regulatiens which make it very difficult,if not impossible, for them to leave the country. Then there are those who think there is not much point in going to college anyway because you can hardly ever get an ideal job after you graduate. The pay is low and more often than not the job is outside your field so you get the frustrated31 feeling of having wasted four precious years of your life in college. Besides, there is always the danger of your being assigned to a post in another part of the country, so why not be practical and look for a well-paid job straight after middle school?

    Graduates from ordinary middle schools gave up their chances because they lacked self-confidence. "Why try when I stand very little chance?" Not only the poorer students themselves thought this wxy, some teachers even did their best to dissuade32 them from taking the entrance examination. If they could not increase the number of successful candidates from their school, they could at least decrease the number of unsuccessful candidates by not allowing the poorer students to sit for it. In other words if they could not increase the absolute number they would raise the ratio of successful candidates.

    What do teachers generally think of this new phenomenon? Some are frankly33 worried. "Such students lack drive and want to take things easy. This is a reflection of looking down on knowledge, and should be

taken seriously." Other teachers think there is'nothing to be alarmed about. "Don't we often tell the students that going to college is not the only road they can take? Society is made up of different strata34 of useful people. Now that the students have made their own choice in finding their place in society, why make such a fuss about it?"


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 auditions e5157b20249609404011a5fbf4ffb336     
n.(对拟做演员、歌手、乐师等人的)试听,试音( audition的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Find modeling auditions, casting calls& acting auditions, all in one place. 找一个立体感试听,铸造呼叫和表演试听一体的地方。 来自互联网
  • We are now about to start auditions to find a touring guitarist. 我们现在准备找一个新的吉他手。 来自互联网
2 fen CtczNj     
n.沼泽,沼池
参考例句:
  • The willows over all the fen rippled and whitened like a field of wheat.沼泽上的柳树,随风一起一伏,泛出白光,就象一片麦田一样。
  • There is a fen around each island.每个岛屿周围有一个沼泽。
3 wholesale Ig9wL     
n.批发;adv.以批发方式;vt.批发,成批出售
参考例句:
  • The retail dealer buys at wholesale and sells at retail.零售商批发购进货物,以零售价卖出。
  • Such shoes usually wholesale for much less.这种鞋批发出售通常要便宜得多。
4 dealer GyNxT     
n.商人,贩子
参考例句:
  • The dealer spent hours bargaining for the painting.那个商人为购买那幅画花了几个小时讨价还价。
  • The dealer reduced the price for cash down.这家商店对付现金的人减价优惠。
5 retail VWoxC     
v./n.零售;adv.以零售价格
参考例句:
  • In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
  • These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。
6 merged d33b2d33223e1272c8bbe02180876e6f     
(使)混合( merge的过去式和过去分词 ); 相融; 融入; 渐渐消失在某物中
参考例句:
  • Turf wars are inevitable when two departments are merged. 两个部门合并时总免不了争争权限。
  • The small shops were merged into a large market. 那些小商店合并成为一个大商场。
7 sophomore PFCz6     
n.大学二年级生;adj.第二年的
参考例句:
  • He is in his sophomore year.他在读二年级。
  • I'm a college sophomore majoring in English.我是一名英语专业的大二学生。
8 portfolio 9OzxZ     
n.公事包;文件夹;大臣及部长职位
参考例句:
  • He remembered her because she was carrying a large portfolio.他因为她带着一个大公文包而记住了她。
  • He resigned his portfolio.他辞去了大臣职务。
9 workforce workforce     
n.劳动大军,劳动力
参考例句:
  • A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
  • A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。
10 stipulated 5203a115be4ee8baf068f04729d1e207     
vt.& vi.规定;约定adj.[法]合同规定的
参考例句:
  • A delivery date is stipulated in the contract. 合同中规定了交货日期。
  • Yes, I think that's what we stipulated. 对呀,我想那是我们所订定的。 来自辞典例句
11 compulsory 5pVzu     
n.强制的,必修的;规定的,义务的
参考例句:
  • Is English a compulsory subject?英语是必修课吗?
  • Compulsory schooling ends at sixteen.义务教育至16岁为止。
12 stints f6d8da30a6b5d703c4954f5ef77f6c6b     
n.定额工作( stint的名词复数 );定量;限额;慷慨地做某事
参考例句:
  • He stints himself in [of] sleep. 他节制睡眠。 来自辞典例句
  • She never stints herself of money to buy books for her children. 她从不吝惜掏钱让子女们买书。 来自互联网
13 throng sGTy4     
n.人群,群众;v.拥挤,群集
参考例句:
  • A patient throng was waiting in silence.一大群耐心的人在静静地等着。
  • The crowds thronged into the mall.人群涌进大厅。
14 autonomous DPyyv     
adj.自治的;独立的
参考例句:
  • They proudly declared themselves part of a new autonomous province.他们自豪地宣布成为新自治省的一部分。
  • This is a matter that comes within the jurisdiction of the autonomous region.这件事是属于自治区权限以内的事务。
15 mosques 5bbcef619041769ff61b4ff91237b6a0     
清真寺; 伊斯兰教寺院,清真寺; 清真寺,伊斯兰教寺院( mosque的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Why make us believe that this tunnel runs underneath the mosques? 为什么要让我们相信这条隧洞是在清真寺下?
  • The city's three biggest mosques, long fallen into disrepair, have been renovated. 城里最大的三座清真寺,过去年久失修,现在已经修复。
16 ERECTED ERECTED     
adj. 直立的,竖立的,笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立,建立
参考例句:
  • A monument to him was erected in St Paul's Cathedral. 在圣保罗大教堂为他修了一座纪念碑。
  • A monument was erected to the memory of that great scientist. 树立了一块纪念碑纪念那位伟大的科学家。
17 bustling LxgzEl     
adj.喧闹的
参考例句:
  • The market was bustling with life. 市场上生机勃勃。
  • This district is getting more and more prosperous and bustling. 这一带越来越繁华了。
18 dwelling auzzQk     
n.住宅,住所,寓所
参考例句:
  • Those two men are dwelling with us.那两个人跟我们住在一起。
  • He occupies a three-story dwelling place on the Park Street.他在派克街上有一幢3层楼的寓所。
19 juvenile OkEy2     
n.青少年,少年读物;adj.青少年的,幼稚的
参考例句:
  • For a grown man he acted in a very juvenile manner.身为成年人,他的行为举止显得十分幼稚。
  • Juvenile crime is increasing at a terrifying rate.青少年犯罪正在以惊人的速度增长。
20 delinquents 03c7fc31eb1c2f3334b049f2f2139264     
n.(尤指青少年)有过失的人,违法的人( delinquent的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The robbery was committed by a group of delinquents. 那起抢劫案是一群青少年干的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • There is today general agreement that juvenile delinquents are less responsible than older offenders. 目前人们普遍认为青少年罪犯比成人罪犯的责任小些。 来自辞典例句
21 truants a6220cc16d90fb79935ebae3085fd440     
n.旷课的小学生( truant的名词复数 );逃学生;逃避责任者;懒散的人
参考例句:
  • The truants were caught and sent back to school. 逃学者都被捉住并送回学校去。 来自辞典例句
  • The truants were punished. 逃学者被惩罚了。 来自互联网
22 enroll Pogxx     
v.招收;登记;入学;参军;成为会员(英)enrol
参考例句:
  • I should like to enroll all my children in the swimming class.我愿意让我的孩子们都参加游泳班。
  • They enroll him as a member of the club.他们吸收他为俱乐部会员。
23 applied Tz2zXA     
adj.应用的;v.应用,适用
参考例句:
  • She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
  • This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。
24 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
25 chaotic rUTyD     
adj.混沌的,一片混乱的,一团糟的
参考例句:
  • Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
  • The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。
26 illiterates b6fc37fe7d871eff22563623d5e0390c     
目不识丁者( illiterate的名词复数 ); 无知
参考例句:
  • In 1996, an additional four million young and adult illiterates learned to read and write. 1996年,全国又减少了400万青壮年文盲。
  • Even semi-illiterates can read the writing on the wall, and many are throwing in the towel. 即使是知识不多的人也能看出不祥之兆。许多人认输了。
27 exempted b7063b5d39ab0e555afef044f21944ea     
使免除[豁免]( exempt的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • His bad eyesight exempted him from military service. 他因视力不好而免服兵役。
  • Her illness exempted her from the examination. 她因病而免试。
28 brilliance 1svzs     
n.光辉,辉煌,壮丽,(卓越的)才华,才智
参考例句:
  • I was totally amazed by the brilliance of her paintings.她的绘画才能令我惊歎不已。
  • The gorgeous costume added to the brilliance of the dance.华丽的服装使舞蹈更加光彩夺目。
29 qualified DCPyj     
adj.合格的,有资格的,胜任的,有限制的
参考例句:
  • He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
  • We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。
30 coercion aOdzd     
n.强制,高压统治
参考例句:
  • Neither trickery nor coercion is used to secure confessions.既不诱供也不逼供。
  • He paid the money under coercion.他被迫付钱。
31 frustrated ksWz5t     
adj.挫败的,失意的,泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 );挫败;使受挫折;令人沮丧
参考例句:
  • It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
  • The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》
32 dissuade ksPxy     
v.劝阻,阻止
参考例句:
  • You'd better dissuade him from doing that.你最好劝阻他别那样干。
  • I tried to dissuade her from investing her money in stocks and shares.我曾设法劝她不要投资于股票交易。
33 frankly fsXzcf     
adv.坦白地,直率地;坦率地说
参考例句:
  • To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说,我一点也不赞成这个主意。
  • Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说,我不反对改革。
34 strata GUVzv     
n.地层(复数);社会阶层
参考例句:
  • The older strata gradually disintegrate.较老的岩层渐渐风化。
  • They represent all social strata.他们代表各个社会阶层。
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