Unit 4 Jobs and Careers

1. Unit 4 Jobs and Careers

2. New words and expressions for Reading One: • locomotive: [countable] especially American English a railway engine • throttle: technical a piece of equipment that controls the amount of fuel going into a vehicle’s engine 节流阀 • at/on full throttle 全速地, 开足马力 • the engines were at full throttle (= the throttle was open so the engines could go very fast)

3. be apt to do something: to have a natural tendency to do something • Some of the staff are apt to arrive late on Mondays. • fagged out：累坏 • mutter: [intransitive and transitive] to speak in a low voice, especially because you are annoyed about something, or you do not want people to hear you • ’ never want to come here again,’ he muttered to himself. • Elsie muttered something I couldn’t catch and walked off.

4. harassing: 折磨人的; 使人烦恼的 • knack: [singular] a natural skill or ability [↪ talent] • knack for doing something • Some people seem to have a knack for making money. • knack of doing something • Thomson’s knack of scoring vital goals makes him important to the team.

5. vocational: Vocational training and skills are the training and skills needed for a particular job or profession. • ...a course designed to provide vocational training in engineering... • maladjustment: n. 适应不良,失调 • fritter away: to waste time, money, or effort on something small or unimportant • fritter something ↔ away on • He frittered away a fortune on fast cars and gambling.

6. lull: to make someone feel safe and confident so that they are completely surprised when something bad happens • lull somebody into (doing) something • The police lulled me into believing that they did not suspect us. • Earthquakes here are rare and this has lulled people into a false sense of security (= made people think they were safe when they were not).

7. monotonous: Something that is monotonous is very boring because it has a regular, repeated pattern which never changes. • It’s monotonous work, like most factory jobs... • = repetitive ≠ varied • stunned: If you are stunned by something, you are extremely shocked or surprised by it and are therefore unable to speak or do anything. • Many cinema-goers were stunned by the film’s violent and tragic end.

8. grimly: unpleasantly, not cheerfully • plow through: to proceed laboriously; plod • 辛苦地进行；孜孜不倦 • plowed through the backlog of work • 费力处理一堆积压待办的工作 • moody: If you describe someone as moody, you mean that their feelings and behaviour change frequently, and in particular that they often become depressed or angry without any warning. • David’s mother was unstable and moody...

9. indigestion: pain that you get when your stomach cannot break down food that you have eaten • insomnia: If you suffer from insomnia, you are not able to sleep. • rebellious: deliberately not obeying people in authority or rules of behaviour • a child with a rebellious temper • 一个脾气倔强的孩子

10. figuratively: adv. 比喻地, 象征性地 • Europe, with Germany literally and figuratively at its centre, is still at the start of a remarkable transformation. • sour: be sour on [美俚]嫌恶, 憎厌 • plain: informal used to emphasize an adjective, usually one referring to a bad quality • It’s just plain crazy to spend all your pay as soon as you get it.

11. sheer:You can use sheer to emphasize that a state or situation is complete and does not involve or is not mixed with anything else. • His music is sheer delight... • Sheer chance quite often plays an important part in sparking off an idea. = pure

12. alien: If something is alien to you or to your normal feelings or behaviour, it is not the way you would normally feel or behave. (FORMAL) • Such an attitude is alien to most businessmen. • = foreign, unfamiliar • ulcer: An ulcer is a sore area on the outside or inside of your body which is very painful and may bleed or produce an unpleasant poisonous substance. • ...stomach ulcers.

13. monkey wrench: A wrench or a monkey wrench is a hand tool with adjustable jaws for turning nuts of varying sizes. • 活动扳手：带有可以旋转不同大小螺母的可调节钳口的手动工具。 • get hold of somebody: also get a hold of somebody American English to find and speak to someone about something • I must get hold of Vanessa to see if she can babysit.

14. Check Your Comprehension A • 1. Paragraph 12: You and people around you suffer if you don’t like the job you do. • 2. Paragraph 13: You can always choose a job environment agreeable to your nature. • 3. Paragraph 15: We are all more creative than we believe ourselves to be.

15. Check Your Comprehension C • The following sentences are taken from the text. Paraphrase each sentence to show that you understand its meaning. • 1. As the state of frustration remains, he becomes rebellious and bad-tempered, figuratively attacks people around him, and is unfriendly to and unhappy with the world.

16. Check Your Comprehension C • 2. If you are doing something you are not interested in, it is just like you are wearing a heavy vest while running a race and you will feel exhausted easily. • 3. When you are put in a job which is not agreeable to your personality, you will feel miserable and end up falling ill or suffering a nervous breakdown.

17. Check Your Comprehension C • 4. When a department head points proudly to one of his best salesmen and says, “When I first took Eddie and put him in the position, he was not capable at all.” he is actually admitting his creativeness in an unconscious way. • 5. In my opinion, if everyone strives to do what he/she really likes, the world would become much more agreeable and humane.

18. New words and expressions for Reading Two: • endearing: If you describe someone’s behaviour as endearing, you mean that it causes you to feel very fond of them. • She has such an endearing personality... • Henry’s lisp is so endearing. • quarter: an academic term lasting approximately three months • 学期：持续大约三个月的学期。

19. stencil: If you stencil a design or if you stencil a surface with a design, you put a design on a surface using a stencil. • He then stencilled the ceiling with a moon and stars motif（基调）. • RSVP:an abbreviation for ‘répondez s’il vous plaît’, which means ’please reply’. It is written on the bottom of a card inviting you to a party or special occasion (FORMAL)

20. stricken: If a person or place is stricken by something such as an unpleasant feeling, an illness, or a natural disaster, they are severely affected by it. • ...a family stricken by genetically inherited cancer... • Foreign aid workers will not be allowed into the stricken areas. • Stricken is also a combining form. • He was panic-stricken at the thought he might never play again. • ...drought-stricken areas.

21. punch: a drink made from wine or spirits mixed with things such as sugar, lemons, and spices • treat: If you give someone a treat, you buy or arrange something special for them which they will enjoy. • Lettie had never yet failed to return from town without some special treat for him.

22. tuck away: informal to store something, especially money, in a safe place • Every member of the family can now tuck away either £9 or £18 a month in one of these savings plans. • badlands: pl. n.（复数名词） • barren land characterized by roughly eroded ridges, peaks, and mesas • 劣地：贫瘠荒芜的土地，以崎岖的被侵蚀的垄沟、山峰和方山为特点。

23. unload: If you unload goods from a vehicle, or you unload a vehicle, you remove the goods from the vehicle, usually after they have been transported from one place to another. • Unload everything from the boat and clean it thoroughly... • They were reported to be unloading trucks filled with looted furniture.

24. mumble: If you mumble, you speak very quietly and not at all clearly with the result that the words are difficult to understand. • Her grandmother mumbled in her sleep... • He mumbled a few words... • pull away:to start to drive away from a place where you had stopped • He waved as he pulled away.

25. curb: American English the raised edge of a road, between where people can walk and cars can drive [= kerb BrE; ↪ pavement, sidewalk] 路缘

26. Check Your Comprehension A • Answer the following questions with the information from the text. • 1. How long has the narrator been in the field of education? The narrator has been in the field of education for fifteen years. • 2. What did the narrator and her students prepare for Mother’s Day? They prepared a Mother’s Day tea.

27. Check Your Comprehension B • 3. Why was Jimmy stricken? Jimmy was stricken because all of the mothers came except his. • 4. What did the narrator do to comfort Jimmy? The narrator asked Jimmy to keep her mother company to make him feel useful and to avoid his embarrassment.

28. Check Your Comprehension B • 5. On what occasion did Jimmy and the narrator meet again? They met again when the narrator was at a high school to take a senior class on a field trip. • 6. In what special way did the boy express his gratitude to the narrator? Jimmy expressed his gratitude in his evaluation page and gave the narrator a hug.

29. New words and expressions for Reading Three: • fuel: To fuel a situation means to make it become worse or more intense. • The result will inevitably fuel speculation about the Prime Minister’s future... • The economic boom was fueled by easy credit（放宽信贷条件）. • = feed

30. be in for something: If someone is in for something unpleasant, it is going to happen to them. • I’m afraid he’s in for a bit of a disappointment. • charismatic: A charismatic person attracts, influences, and inspires people by their personal qualities. • ...her striking looks and charismatic personality.

31. adorn: If something adorns a place or an object, it makes it look more beautiful. • His watercolor designs adorn a wide range of books... • = decorate • portfolio: A portfolio is a set of pictures by someone, or photographs of examples of their work, which they use when entering competitions or applying for work. • After dinner that evening, Edith showed them a portfolio of her own political cartoons.

32. resilient: People and things that are resilient are able to recover easily and quickly from unpleasant or damaging events. • When the U.S. stock market collapsed in October 1987, the Japanese stock market was the most resilient. • get somebody down: make somebody sad, to make someone feel unhappy and tired • His lack of social life was beginning to get him down.

33. Check Your Vocabulary • His success story stimulates many young people round the world and makes them dream of their own successes. • The agency took some photographs of Nick and he immediately got many offers of work and became successful. • If you have the required personality (besides the “in” look), you could also become successful as a model. • Nick remains calm and is not arrogant about his success, and he knows that the career of a model is short and uncertain.

34. New words and expressions for Reading Four • numb: to make someone unable to think, feel, or react in a normal way • He was numbed by the shock of his wife’s death. • Indianapolis: The capital and largest city of Indiana, in the central part of the state. It was settled in 1820 as the site of a new state capital, which was moved here in 1825. Population, 741,952. • 印第安纳波利斯：美国印第安纳州的首府，位于该州的中部，是该州最大的城市。1820年，该地被选作该州的新首府而始建，1825年州首府迁至该地。人口741,952。

35. gorgeous: If you describe someone as gorgeous, you mean that you find them very sexually attractive. (INFORMAL) • The cosmetics industry uses gorgeous women to sell its skincare products... • All the girls in my house are mad about Ryan, they think he’s gorgeous. • flawless: If you say that something or someone is flawless, you mean that they are extremely good and that there are no faults or problems with them. • She attributed her flawless complexion to the moisturiser she used... • Discovery’s takeoff this morning from Cape Canaveral was flawless. = perfect

36. statuesque: A statuesque woman is big and tall, and stands straight. (WRITTEN) • outfits: a set of clothes. • She was wearing an outfit she’d bought the previous day... • whisk:If you whisk someone or something somewhere, you take them or move them there quickly. • He whisked her across the dance floor... • I was whisked away in a police car.

37. exotic: Something that is exotic is unusual and interesting, usually because it comes from or is related to a distant country. • She flits (迁移) from one exotic location to another. • pharmaceutical: n. Pharmaceuticals are medicines. • Antibiotics were of no use, neither were other pharmaceuticals. • adj. connected with the industrial production of medicine. • ...a Swiss pharmaceutical company...

38. reverse: When someone or something reverses a decision, policy, or trend, they change it to the opposite decision, policy, or trend. • They have made it clear they will not reverse the decision to increase prices... • halo: A halo is a circle of light round a person or thing, or something that looks like a circle of light. • The sun had a faint halo round it... • halo effect 光圈效应

39. novelty: Novelties are cheap toys, ornaments, or other objects that are sold as presents or souvenirs.（新奇而廉价的）小商品，小玩意儿 • At Easter, we give them plastic eggs filled with small toys, novelties and coins. • heartwarming: Something that is heart-warming causes you to feel happy, usually because something nice has happened to people. • ...the heart-warming story of enemies who discover a shared humanity. • = cheering

40. hard-earned: [only before noun] earned or achieved after a lot of effort • hard-earned money/cash etc • Don’t be too quick to part with your hard-earned cash. • a hard-earned victory

41. blond: a man who is blond has pale or yellow hair • disenchanted: If you are disenchanted with something, you are disappointed with it and no longer believe that it is good or worthwhile. • I’m disenchanted with the state of British theatre at the moment. • = disillusioned 幻想破灭

42. devastated: If you are devastated by something, you are very shocked and upset by it. • Teresa was devastated, her dreams shattered. • slip through sb.’s fingers: v. 从指缝中溜掉 • curtly: abruptly, brusquely

43. give up on: 不抱希望 • If you give up on something or someone, you decide that you will never succeed in doing what you want to with them, and you stop trying to. • He urged them not to give up on peace efforts... • My teachers gave up on me. • He’d been in a coma for six months, and doctors had almost given up on him. • At that point, I hadn’t completely given up on the marriage.

44. nothing less than: 无非是,正是;不亚于 • used to emphasize how important, serious, or impressive something is • His appearance in the show was nothing less than a sensation. • He is nothing less than a tyrant. 他简直是个暴君。 • His negligence was nothing less than criminal.他的粗心大意无异于犯罪。 • They expect nothing less than a revolution.他们盼望的正是革命。

45. Check Your Comprehension B At first the narrator was told on the phone that Revlon would take no more resumes. But she did not give up. She drove down to the place where the interview was concluded. She learned the name of the interview from the desk clerk. And later when she dined there, she found out the interview room number with the help of a cashier. She then went directly to the room and finally saw the interviewer in person. The interviewer was stunned by her courage and gave her a chance. At last her excellent performance won her the job.

46. When I was a young girl, all I could see in my hometown was the boring cornfields of Indianapolis. Hence reading the advertisements about the attractive worlds of fashion and cosmetics was a good way for me to get away from the bland reality around me. • I was taken away in my mind to some exciting foreign places that I could only go to in dreams. • At the beginning of my career, the physicians I sold pharmaceuticals to were all shocked by my differences. • But finally being different (i.e. a colored woman) helped me. Check your vocabulary A

47. Because of my better performance than other people, I changed people’s negative attitudes towards colored people. • Because the public supported me, I had another chance. • We need to have the courage to follow the voice that comes from our hearts and when I listen to this, I know that I am going to receive a miracle. Check your vocabulary A

48. Speed Up Your ReadingWrite down the main idea of the text here. This article talks about interview objectives and types of interview, and gives suggestions of how to prepare for an interview — especially what interviewees should pay attention to in providing information. It also points out some other factors that should be taken into account at the interview.