大学英语.docx

大学英语.docx

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大学英语

HandoutsandKeytobook4unit1-4

Unit1

Activereading

（1）

Lookingforajobafteruniversity?

First,getoffthesofa

Backgroundinformation

Aboutthepassage:

ThisisanarticlebyanEducationCorrespondent,AlexandraBlair,publishedin

September2008inTheTimes,along-establishedBritishqualitynewspaper.InEuropegenerally,andin

Britaininparticular,foranumberofyearstherehasbeenarisingnumberofstudentswhogotouniversity

andthereforemorenewgraduatesseekingemployment.However,formanygraduatesfindingajobbecame

harderin2008–2009becausetheeconomicdownturn–thenarecession–meantthatmanyemployerswerereducingtheirworkforce.Aftertheirfinalexams,somestudentsrestedinthesummerbeforelookingforjobs

andthentheyfoundthatitwasdifficulttofindemploymentintheirfieldorattheleveltheywanted.The

articleaddressestheproblemsofsuchnewgraduateswhomightbestuckathomeandadvisestheirparents

tobetherefortheirchildren（ietobeavailableiftheirchildrenwanttotalkabouttheproblemorifthey

needhelp）.Thearticlerecommendsfindingworkinabarorsupermarketratherthansittingunemployed

athomesincethisismorelikelytoleadtobetteremploymentlater.Thestyleispartlyofareport,butalso

ofahumorouscommentforlightentertainment（seeninthejokeylanguageandproblem-solvingadviceto

parents）.

Whyfindingajobin2008issodifficultforuniversitygraduates?

UniversitiesinEurope,particularlyinBritain,haveexpandedgreatlyinthelastfifteenyears（over45%of

youngadultsnowgoontohighereducation）,sotherearemoregraduateslookingforjobs.Thiscompetitive

situationbecamealotworsein2008onwardswiththecreditcrunchandeconomicdepression,whichmeant

thattherewerefewerjobsavailableandariseinunemployment.Thusnewgraduateshavetobeactive

toseekajob,theyneedtofillinmanyapplicationformsandtrytogetjobinterviews:

theywon’tfind

employmentbylyingonthesofaathome.

Culturepoints

honoursdegree:

Traditionally,intheBritishuniversitysystem,BAandBSchonoursdegreesareawarded

indifferentcategories:

afirstclassdegree（writtenusingRomannumbersasI）,asecond（dividedintotwo

subcategories,writtenasIIiiandIIii,whicharecalled“atwoone”and“atwotwo”）,athird（writtenIII）and

apassdegree.Mostpeoplegetasecond.Therearealsoordinarydegreeswithmoregeneralcoursesofstudy

withoutthesecategories.

GenerationYandGrunt:

Themainideahereisthatthereisasuccessionofdifferentgenerationsor

cohortsofadultswhocomeintotheworkforceinNorthAmericawhicharegivendifferentinformalnames

tocharacterizethem.First,“Babyboomers”wereborninthegreatincrease（theboom）ofbirthsafterWorld

WarII（1946–1960）,followedby“GenerationX”people（born1960–1980）whoweresaidtobringnew

attitudesofbeingindependent,informal,entrepreneurial,andexpectedtogetskillsandhaveacareerbefore

them.“GenerationY”orthe“MillenialGeneration”（born1980sand1990sandbecomingadultinthenew

millenium）arenowmakingupanincreasingpercentageoftheworkforce;theyaresaidtobespoiltbydoting

parents,tohavestructuredlives,tobeusedtoteamworkanddiversepeopleinamulticulturalsociety.In

thepassage,thisgenerationisnowbecoming（morphinginto）GenerationGrunt,whichisanironicname

referringtorepetitive,lowstatus,routineormindlesswork–thismaybetheonlyworkavailabletosome

graduates,whomayhavetotakeveryordinaryjobstogetexperiencebeforetheyfindsomethingmore

suitable.“Grunt”alsoreferstocoarsebehaviourorbadmannersandtothedeepsoundthatismadebyapig;

whenpeople“grunt”theyexpressdisgustbutdonotcommunicatewithwords–thismaybehowtheparents

ofnewgraduatesthinktheirchildrencommunicatewiththem!

AcomprehensivereferstoaBritishtypeofsecondaryschoolwhichbecamepopularinthe1960s.Beforethat

therewereacademic“grammarschools”andmoregeneral“secondarymodern”schoolsforthosewhodid

notpassthegrammarschoolentrancetests,butthecomprehensiveschoolsweredesignedforallstudentsin

asocialphilosophyofbringingdiversestudentstogetherwhethertheywereacademicornot.Thosestudents

whowenttoacomprehensiveschoolprobablyfeltthathadtostudyparticularlyhard（Iworkedmybackside

off）togettouniversity,comparedtothosewhowenttogrammarschoolswhereallstudentswereacademic–comprehensivestudentsfelttheyhadtostruggletogettouniversity.

ChickensuitThisreferstoalargeyellowcostumethatsomeonewearswhichmakesthepersonlooklikea

giantchicken.Beforehebecameafamousactor,BradPittoncedressedinsuchacostumewhenhehadajob

advertisingforarestaurantcalledElPolloLoco（TheCrazyChicken’inSpanish）–thejobmeantthathehad

towalkaroundthestreetslikeachickentoattractcustomerstocometotherestaurant.

Languagepoints

1Thosememoriesofforkingoutthousandsofpoundsayearsothathecouldeatwellandgotothe

oddparty,begantofade.Untilnow.（Para1）

Theparentspaidalotofmoneyfortheirson’suniversityfeesandlivingexpenses（sothathecouldeat

well）andforoccasionalsocialevents–atgraduationthesememoriesofmoneyweremostlyforgotten

becausetheparentswereproud.Butnowtheparentsarethinkingofmoneyagainbecausethesondoesn’t

haveajobanddoesn’tseemtobeactivelyseekingone.

2ThisformerscionofGenerationYhasmorphedovernightintoamemberofGenerationGrunt.

（Para2）

ThedistinguishedsonofGenerationX（oftheparents’generationwhoworkedhard,gotjobs,andhad

goodcareersandexpectedtheirsontodothesame）haschangedintoamemberofGenerationGrunt–he

doesn’tseemtocommunicatemuch,liesaroundanddoesn’tgetajob（orcanonlydoalowstatusrouting

job）.

3Ipassedtheexams,butattheinterviewstheyaccusedmeofbeing‘toodetached’andtalkingin

languagethatwas‘tootechnocratic’,whichIdidn’tthinkpossible,butobviouslyitis.（Para5）

Hepassedtheentranceexamsforagovernmentpost,buthewascriticizedintheselectioninterviews:

Theysaidhewasdetached（notpersonallyinvolved）andtootechnocratic（heusedthelanguageofa

technicalexpertorhighauthority）.Asanewgraduateheprobablywantedtoshowhisexpertiseinhis

languagesohecan’tunderstandthiscriticism.

4Fortherestitis9-to-5“chilling”beforeheadingtothepub.（Para6）

Theotherswhodonothavearoutinelowstatusjob（likestackinggoodsonasupermarketshelf）chillout

allday（theyspendtheirtimecasuallyrelaxing–theydon’tlookforwork）andgotopubforadrinkinthe

evening.

5IwenttoacomprehensiveandIworkedmybacksideofftogotoagooduniversity…（Para6）

Hewenttoaschoolforstudentsofallabilities（nottoaspecialschoolforacademicstudents）andsohe

hadtoworkveryhardtoenteragooduniversity:

Yourbacksidemeansyourbottom–thepartofyour

bodythatyousiton–toworkyourbacksideoffisinformalanditmeansyouworkveryhardindeed.

6…buthavingworkedfull-timesinceleavingschoolherself,sheandherhusbandfindittrickyto

advisehimonhowtoproceed.（Para7）

Themotherhasalwayshadafull-timejob（presumablythefatherisalsoworkingfull-time）,soshedoes

nothaverelevantpersonalexperience.Forher,itistrickytogiveadvice（difficulttodo）.

7Carryonlifeasnormalanddon’tallowthemtoabuseyourbankaccountorsapyourreserveof

emotionalenergy.（Para11）

TheadvicefromGaelLindenfieldhereisthatparentsshouldliveasusual.Theyshouldneitherlettheirchildrenspendtheparents’moneyunnecessarily,norlettheproblemtakeawayalltheirenergyand

emotions.Saptheirreservemeansuseuptheirstoreofemotionalenergy.

8Afterthatthesonordaughterneedstobenudgedfirmlybackintothesaddle.（Para12）

Thentheparentsshouldgentlypushtheirchildrenfirmlysothattheygetbackintocontroloftheirlives.

Readingandunderstanding

2Choosethebestanswertothequestions.

Teachingtips

GooverthecorrectanswerswithSsandaskthemtoexplainwhytheotheranswersarewrong（See

below）.

1Whyhasn’tJackGoodwingotajobyet?

（a）Hedoesn’thaveaverygooddegree.

（No,hehasa2:

1whichisconsideredagooddegree.）

（b）Herefusestoapplyforjobswithlowsalaries.

（Hefeelsheshouldgetabetterjobafterstudyingatuniversity.）

（c）Itisn’teasytogetajobinthecurrentfinancialclimate.

（Thismaybetruebutthepassagedoesnotmentionthis.）

（d）Hepreferstostayathomeandhelphisfamily.

（No,hedoesn’tseemtobehelpinghisfamily:

hewatchesTVandtalkstofriends.）

2Howdoeshespendatypicalday?

（a）Doingatemporaryjob.

（No,someofhisfriendsareworkingintemporaryjobsbuthedoesn’twanttodothis.）

（b）Watchingtelevision.

（HewatchesTValot.）

（c）Queuingupintheuniversitycareersservice.

（No,hewentthereoncebuthedidn’twanttoqueuesohewalkedaway.）

（d）Preparingforthenextjobinterview.

（No,hedoesn’tseemtobepreparingforinterviews.）

3Howdomostofhisfriendsspendtheday?

（a）Theydonothingalldayandgotothepubintheevening.

（Allexceptoneofthemdonothingexceptchill,thentheygotothepub.）

（b）Theydooutdooractivitiessuchassailing.

（No,noneofthemseemtodooutdooractivities;thereisnomentionofsailing.）

（c）Theyareforcedtoworkbytheirparents.

（No,onlyoneofthemhasbeenforcedouttostackshelvesbyhisparents;theothersseemtobelike

Jack.）

（d）Theydopart-timejobssuchasworkinginabar.