Ex1: Read the text
My future career
What do you want to be when you grow up? We have heard this question many times during our school years. Perhaps, it was difficult for us to give a definite answer earlier. But now we understand that the time to choose our future profession has come. Finishing school is the beginning of an independent life for millions of school-leavers. Many roads are open before us: technical schools, colleges and universities. Centuries ago there were only a few jobs: people were farmers, bakers, butchers or carpenters. Today there are thousands of different kinds of jobs, and new ones are constantly appearing. No wonder that it is not an easy thing to make the right choice.
When choosing a future career, we should consider different factors. In my opinion, money is one of the most important factors when you make a choice. There are highly paid jobs and low-paid jobs. For example, a businessman, a president or a film star, are highly paid jobs. A worker, a doctor or an engineer, are low-paid jobs. I think everybody wants to earn as much money as possible. Training, promotional prospects and conditions should be also taken into account.
On the other hand, it's good when you get satisfaction from your job. It is very important to choose a profession that suits your interests. In my opinion, a job should be interesting and socially important. Some jobs are considered to be more suitable for men and others for women. For example, the professions of secretary or nurse are more suitable for women. A lifeguard or a pilot are more likely the jobs for men. You should also decide whether you want to work indoors or outdoors.
To make the right choice, you should take into account your traits of character. It goes without saying that to become a good doctor you must be patient, caring and kind. Teacher's work requires love for children, profound knowledge of subjects, and the ability to explain. A secretary has to be efficient and careful in order to do her work quickly and accurately. Salespeople need to be friendly and persuasive, to get people buy their products.
There are so many people who influence us in choosing our occupation. Parents and friends play a very important role in our choices.
My father works for an international company as a managing director. It is a highly paid job and it offers a lot of opportunities. You can travel abroad and meet different people. My father is a friendly person and he is easy to talk to. He thinks that I must choose my future profession according to my taste and preferences. I respect him and I want to become a businessman, too.
I have always been interested in economics and I am good at Maths. I have an aptitude for working with people, and I think I'm rather communicative and have good social skills. I have good analytical abilities and I am good at problem-solving. Besides, I am good at English. English has become the standard language for all kinds of international business communications. To know English today is absolutely necessary for every businessman. To become a successful businessman you should know a lot. So after finishing school I want to enter the university and to study marketing or management. Management deals mainly with people. A manager is a person who directly supervises people in an organization. Managers spend a great deal of time communicating, coordinating and making decisions affecting the daily operations of their organization. Almost everything, a manager does, involves decisions, and in decision-making there is always uncertainty and risk. So managing is a very interesting, but difficult, job.
Marketing deals with market research and commercial activity in general. It involves analyzing business situations, evaluating market opportunities, developing market strategies and controlling their implementation. It is important for a specialist in marketing to be flexible and prepared to make adjustments where necessary, as it is unlikely that any marketing plan will succeed exactly as planned.
I haven't decided yet what to study. But I still have time to think and to choose.
Ex 2: Think and answer the questions with the help of the text:
1. What types of jobs were popular earlier?
2. What factors we should consider when we choose a future career?
3. What jobs are considered to be highly paid and low-paid?
4. Should a job suit your interest or not? Explain why.
5. What jobs are considered to be suitable for men? And for women?
With the help of computers the Internet has entered into our life. It became an integral part of a life of each person. Now people cannot live a day without checking of mail and visiting their favourite sites. The Internet is not only the assistant in daily work, it is also the other world in which there are mail boxes, libraries, photo galleries, games, shops. By means of the Internet people can travel to different cities, visit tourist places, communicate with people.
Recently many people ask a question: " Is the Internet harmful or useful? ". I think, that on this question there is no certain answer. In fact on the one hand the Internet is a very good and useful thing. And on the other hand it has many negative functions: dependence, the waste of time, money, health.
Certainly, the Internet can be the excellent assistant in information search. But if we spend a lot of time on the Internet we`ll have some problems. We lose a touch with the real world, get in a full dependence on a computer. I think, that it is important to learn to distinguish a side between a real life and a life on the Internet. For that it is necessary to understand, what is really important on the Internet and what is not . And then the Internet will be not the terrible enemy, but the indispensable assistant.