工作與職業(yè)類(lèi)話(huà)題是雅思寫(xiě)作大作文中一類(lèi)比較常見(jiàn)的話(huà)題,相比于教育類(lèi),作為學(xué)生的大部分雅思考生可能對(duì)此不太熟悉,并不像教育類(lèi)話(huà)題那樣有話(huà)可說(shuō)。比如2013年9月12日的雅思寫(xiě)作真題Countries with a long average working time are more economically successful than those countries which do not have a long working time. To what extent do you agree or disagree? 平均工作時(shí)間長(zhǎng)的國(guó)家在經(jīng)濟(jì)上更成功,你同意不同意?
作為沒(méi)有什么工作經(jīng)驗(yàn)的學(xué)生,對(duì)于工作時(shí)間長(zhǎng)短對(duì)國(guó)家的影響并不太容易分析,那么我們就一起來(lái)看一下Economist在2013年9月24日的一篇題目為Working hours--Get a life的文章是如何來(lái)論述的吧。
文章開(kāi)頭引用英國(guó)著名文學(xué)家羅素的觀點(diǎn):BERTRAND RUSSELL, the English philosopher, was not a fan of work. In his 1932 essay, “In Praise of Idleness”, he reckoned that if society were better managed the average person would only need to work four hours a day. Such a small working day would “entitle a man to the necessities and elementary comforts of life.” The rest of the day could be devoted to the pursuit of science, painting and writing.
從這一段中我們可以學(xué)習(xí)到的表達(dá)有:
1、a fan of 是…的瘋狂愛(ài)好者,這里是說(shuō)羅素不是一個(gè)工作狂(a fan of work)
2、reckon that… 斷定,在表達(dá)某人的觀點(diǎn)時(shí),可以使用這個(gè)詞語(yǔ)來(lái)替換同學(xué)們經(jīng)常使用的think, believe等。另外文章的下一段在引用John Maynard Keynes表明觀點(diǎn)時(shí)使用了moot這個(gè)動(dòng)詞,也非常好,可以用來(lái)表明“提出…問(wèn)題/觀點(diǎn)”。
3、entitle sb.to do sth. 使某人有資格/權(quán)利做某事,很多同學(xué)在大作文寫(xiě)作中動(dòng)詞貧乏,只會(huì)用make/let等詞語(yǔ),非常不地道,這里我們就可以用這個(gè)詞組,表明人們可以通過(guò)不用工作太久時(shí)間,就能夠獲得生存的必備品。
4、devote to…; the pursuit of… 致力于追求…
在接下來(lái)的文章中,兩幅圖表向我們展示了全世界人們的工作時(shí)間的變化情況,以及工作時(shí)間與創(chuàng)造的GDP之間的關(guān)系,很多表達(dá)可以使用在我們的小作文中,在2012年的雅思考試中就考察過(guò)有關(guān)工作時(shí)長(zhǎng)的柱狀圖。并且通過(guò)上述圖表,證明了工作時(shí)間越長(zhǎng),創(chuàng)造的GDP越少。
比如:The Greeks are some of the most hardworking in the OECD, putting in over 2,000 hours a year on average. Germans, on the other hand, are comparative slackers, working about 1,400 hours each year. But German productivity is about 70% higher.
1、 putting in +數(shù)據(jù),給我們提供了一種引用數(shù)據(jù)的方法
2、 comparative slackers 相對(duì)懶惰
3、 X%higher 比較級(jí)的用法
有關(guān)工作時(shí)間與人們的薪水之間的關(guān)系,文章是這樣描述的:One important question concerns whether appetite for work actually diminishes as people earn more. There are countervailing effects. On the one hand, a higher wage raises the opportunity cost of leisure time and should lead people to work more. On the other hand, a higher income should lead a worker to consume more of the stuff he or she enjoys, which presumably includes leisure.
1、 countervailing effects: 互補(bǔ)的影響,類(lèi)似于我們常用的controversial
2、 raises the opportunity cost of leisure time 提高娛樂(lè)的機(jī)會(huì)成本
文中還引用了亞當(dāng)斯密的觀點(diǎn)進(jìn)一步論證,Alternatively, the graph above might suggest that people who work fewer hours are more productive. This idea is not new. Adam Smith reckoned that[T]he man who works so moderately as to be able to work constantly, not only preserves his health the longest, but in the course of the year, executes the greatest quantity of works.
Not only… but (also)…
在文章的最后,還論述了一些例外情況,文中用了一個(gè)很好的表達(dá)There are aberrations(偏差)。這樣文章就會(huì)更有邏輯、更全面。文章以羅素的話(huà)結(jié)尾,做到了首尾呼應(yīng)So maybe we should be more self-critical about how much we work. Working less may make us more productive. And, as Russell argued, working less will guarantee “happiness and joy of life, instead of frayed nerves, weariness, and dyspepsia".
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