British Vision Issue 54 毕业等于失业？

Now China's sizzling(red-hot) economy is growing at its fastest rate in a decade. This year 5 million young people will graduate from the country's universities, with the potential to boost¹ China's economy still further.

But the government estimates that 1 million of them won't find jobs because the education system isn't supplying the needs of an economy still based on manufacturing. Our Beijing correspondent² Lindsey Hilsum went along to a graduate job fair.

Too many students, not enough jobs. In the last 7 years the number of / graduates has quadrupled in Beijing alone. No wonder the job fair is a bit overwhelming³.

I think there are so many people, and the crowd, at very beginning, I even wanna get out, you know, because I think I've been here before, but I have never seen so many people here.

This is one of dozens of job fairs being held in the capital now.

Huo jianguo calls himself Mike. He is looking for a job in sales, even though his degree is in electronic information. The requirements (are) spelt out, men must be tall, women, good looking, but Mike has his own hurdles⁴. In China, selling involves a lot of serious drinking with clients. "I can drink a little" he says when asked ," 3 or 4 beers". "I don't care how much beer you can drink" she replies, "I'm talking about hard liquor". Oh dear, Mike says he can't take that much.

In the afternoon, Mike goes for a job with a mobile phone distributor. This is the third round of interviews. I think Mike has got a good chance. He has been to a reputable university and he speaks English, which is a big plus. But not many of the 5 million Chinese students who are going to graduate in the next few months have got those advantages. The Chinese economy is out of kilter with the education system. There just aren't enough jobs being created for that many people with degrees.

Mike's parents live in a flat in Tianjin, 2 hours' drive from Beijing. He is the only child in line with government policy. The insecurity of modern China baffles⁵ them. In their day, everyone was assigned a job for life by the state, or used to be called the iron rice bowl. In our time, we had no dreams. We all belonged to one state-owned work unit. There were no choices, no flexibility⁶.

Mike shows me the market by his parents' flat. He says his dream is to run his own company, the job search is just start.

"For the younger people we'd better have hope in life, and have our own dreams, if not, life's just meaningless, you know. Yeah!

This is the new China where everyone dares to dream. But reality is harsh⁷, and there is no safety net for those who fall.

Lindsey Hilsum, Channel 4 News, Beijing.

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1.out of kilter: adj. phr., informal Not balanced right 不均衡

1 boost   

n.鼓励，激励，提高；v.鼓励，使增强信心

参考例句：

• This will be a great boost to the economy.这对于经济发展将是一个巨大的促进。
• These changes will help to boost share prices.这些变化将有助于提高股票价格。

2 correspondent   

n.记者，通信者；adj.符合的，一致的，相当的

参考例句：

• He volunteered as a correspondent for the war.他自愿担任作报道这次战争的记者。
• The result was correspondent with my wishes.结果与我的愿望是一致的。

3 overwhelming   

adj.势不可挡的，压倒的，无法抵抗的

参考例句：

• The flood was overwhelming and the city was soon drowned.洪水来势凶猛，很快这个城市就被淹没了。
• The act was adopted by an overwhelming majority.该法案以压倒多数通过。

4 hurdles   

n.障碍( hurdle的名词复数 )；跳栏；（供人或马跳跃的）栏架；跨栏赛

参考例句：

• In starting a new company, many hurdles must be crossed. 刚开办一个公司时，必须克服许多障碍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• There are several hurdles to be got over in this project. 在这项工程中有一些困难要克服。 来自辞典例句

5 baffles   

n.隔板，挡板，反射板( baffle的名词复数 )v.使困难，使为难( baffle的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• His behaviour baffles me. 他的行为使我难以琢磨。
• The case baffles the skill of our most experienced medical men. 这一病例使我们最有经验的医生也无法施展其医术。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 flexibility   

n.柔韧性，弹性，（光的）折射性，灵活性

参考例句：

• Her great strength lies in her flexibility.她的优势在于她灵活变通。
• The flexibility of a man's muscles will lessen as he becomes old.人老了肌肉的柔韧性将降低。

7 harsh   

adj.严厉（酷）的，刺耳的，刺目的，毛糙的

参考例句：

• The sunlight is very harsh.太阳光很刺眼。
• Although his words are harsh,there is positiveness in them.虽然他的话很苛刻，但有建设性。