I. Supply the missing paragraph (20 points)
The following passage is incomplete with one paragraph missing. Study the following passage carefully and write a paragraph of about 100 words. Make sure that the tone and vocabulary you use are in unity with the passage provided
To Change or Not to Change?
In the modern workplace there is no longer the attitude that “a job is for life.”Nowadays, many people take the option to change jobs, while others prefer not to. In my opinion, there are both good and bad points of the above attitudes.
One of the main benefits of staying in one job is security. Changing an employer often means a period of instability, where one may have to think about moving house, or temporarily losing a steady source of income. Staying in one job means these problems are avoided. Another benefit of not changing an occupation is that one is able to gain a lot of experience and expertise in his specific profession, thus enhancing job security. One’s company may recognize his loyalty and reward his service. On the other hand, those who often change jobs may be seen as unreliable and lacking in experience; thus employers might be reluctant to hire and invest training in them.
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Overall, it can be said that the disadvantages of changing jobs are the advantages of staying put, and vice versa. In my opinion, changing jobs every once in a while is of more benefit.
II. Write an outline (20 points)
Read the following passage carefully and compose a“topic outline”for it.
May I Help You?
The world is rapidly changing from an industrial economy to a service economy. There are fewer and fewer small factories and farms. As a result, a decreasing number of people are employed in manufacturing. How many shoemakers or bakers do you know? You probably don't
know any, but you do know the advertising people for the shoemakers and salespeople for oven
manufacturers. In a service economy such as ours, there are service providers and consumers,
who receive a service. According to the authority of the provider, there are three basic relationships between service providers and consumers: customer and salesperson, student and
teacher, and patient and doctor.
In the retail industry, people often say,“The customer is always right.” What they mean is that a salesperson never argues with a customer. If a 350-pound man wants to buy a pink bikini swimsuit, that's his business. The salesperson is there to make the customer feel good about shopping at that particular store so that he'll come back again and again. A salesperson can try to interest the customer in a different style, but she never tells the customer what to do. In the service relationship between the customer and the salesperson, the customer has all the authority.
The relationship between a student and a teacher is different all over the world. It also varies depending on the age of the student. We tend to accept that“the teacher is always right”through the years of compulsory education. However, once people are old enough to make some choices about their education, the relationship changes. If you want to learn to play the piano, for example, you will probably look for a teacher who will teach you in the way you want to learn. Nevertheless, you still believe that your teacher knows much more about the subject than you do, so in this service relationship, the teacher has medium level of authority.
Certain service providers have such specialized skills and knowledge that we tend to allow them complete authority in making decisions about what is the best. The doctor-patient relationship is an example of such a relationship. We expect (rightly or wrongly) that the doctor is such an expert that if she says,“You need surgery,”we usually don't say,“No, thank you. ”However, the medical profession is changing as many patients are becoming better educated about their conditions. It is now common practice in many parts of the world to get a second doctor's opinion about how to treat a serious illness. Even so, in the traditional doctor-patient relationship, it is the doctor who has most, if not all, of the authority.
In conclusion, most of us will be on both sides in a service relationship at some point in our lives. You may be a customer at noon and a salesperson at 1 p.m. You may be a teacher at the age of twenty-eight and a student at the age of fifty-eight. If you become an expert in a certain field, such as engineering, medicine, law, or psychology, you may be a client or patient one day and the service provider the next. However, you will never be both at the same time, and providing great service to your clients will still be based on the fundamental principle of understanding what your customer wants and needs.
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III. Compose an essay (60 points)
Some people say that computers have made life easier and more convenient. Other people say that computers have made life more complex and stressful. What is your opinion?
Write an essay of about 300 words discussing this issue with the title given.
Do Computers Make Our Life Easier?
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