1、专业英语八级（作文）模拟试卷 87及答案与解析 一、 PART V WRITING 1 Japan is known for its culture of workaholic for long. Now the Japanese government is considering stepping into stop the madness, with plans to submit legislation that would make five dags of paid vacation mandatory every year. The following article gives
2、more details of this policy. Write an article of NO LESS THAN 300 words, in which you should: 1. summarize the article briefly, and then 2. express your opinion towards the regulation, especially whether we need similar regulations in China. In Japan, It Soon May Be Illegal Not to Take Vacation Wake
3、 up at 7:30, commute to work, spend 13 hours in the office, run for the last train home, eat, and crash into to bed. The next day, rinse and repeat. Welcome to the insane working hours of a Japanese “salaryman“ during crunch times at work. Its a schedule that sometimes leads to what the Japanese cal
4、l karoshi death by overwork. Now, in an attempt to help, the Japanese government is considering a plan to force workers to take five vacation days a year. “People are literally working themselves to death,“ says Jeffrey Johnson, a researcher at the University of Maryland who studied the phenomenon o
5、f karoshi. “Theres an accumulation of case studies of people who worked extremely intense hours, and then died when they were relatively young.“ A Japanese nonprofit set up by the families left behind lists one typical example: Mr. Kanameda, who worked as many as 110 hours every week at a snack food
6、 company, and died at 34. Like the U.S., where only half of workers took a single vacation day last year, Japan has a culture that makes people reluctant to take time off. “People truly believe the harder they work, the better they are,“ says Johnson. “And theres this kind of samurai commitment to t
7、heir employers, this devotion to duty that enables people to lose that almost instinctual self-protection.“ The problem isnt just long hours, but the intensity of work. Some jobs also incorporate the philosophy of kaizen continuous improvement which asks employees to ruthlessly eliminate any second
8、of downtime on the job. If the government ends up forcing people to take vacations, that may help. “Its putting limits on the degree to which people can have this kind of socialized work is more important than anything else kind of philosophy take over their entire lives,“ says Johnson. “During that
9、 rest period, their body gets to recalibrate. It takes quite a while if youve had a very intense period of stress. Maybe longer than a typical vacation. But any vacation does help.“ If Japan needs to force workers to take vacations, then the U.S. might want to do the same (a few forward-thinking com
10、panies already are). In a year, U.S. workers work 1,800 hours more than any other country in the world, including Japan. The less money an American worker makes, the less likely they are to take any vacation days. “When we do go on vacation, we bring all these electronic devices to wire us in,“ John
11、son says. “We cant help it. But all of this is one of the reasons theres so much growth in things like mindfulness meditation ways of trying to calm the body and quiet the mind. Its happening because theres such a great need for it in our society.“ 2 Nowadays, with advancements in technology, especi
12、ally the Internet, it really doesnt take much to start your own company. The percentage of college students choosing to start their own businesses right after graduation has risen globally for three consecutive years, a survey shows. The following two excerpts are about this trend. Write an article
13、of NO LESS THAN 300 words, in which you should: 1. summarize the main opinions of both excerpts, and then 2. express your opinion towards the trend, especially whether it is wise for graduates to start a business right out of college. Excerpt 1 With a gloomy job market for recent graduates, its beco
14、ming more common for students to start their own businesses when they leave school. For example, Ohio is not known for its entrepreneurship, ranking 33 in the U.S., but more students are attempting to be their own bosses. “Were seeing is a lot of kids are coming out and starting businesses. Theyre y
15、oung and creative and have great ideas,“ said Aaron Delidou, managing partner at Provest Properties in Dayton, which helps entrepreneurs interested in starting a business. Many of these recent graduates are taking advantage of unexplored niches in the tech market. Murphy created a book business call
16、ed Murfbooks, but its not a traditional indie bookstore. Murphy buys books by the truckload, sorts them at his warehouse, and sells them online to Amazon and wholesalers. If the book is too beat up to be sold, he sells them to recycling companies. But its not just tech companies being created for th
17、e young entrepreneurs. Emily Meyer, who graduated from the University of Dayton in May, started College Base Camp in December with her partner Justin DArcy, hoping to give high school kids a better idea of what they want to do with their lives before they go into college. Delidou said its better for
18、 young people to start early, rather than waiting. “If youre 40 years old with a family, you have responsibilities,“ Delidou said. “When youre young and single you have more resources at your disposal and fewer responsibilities.“ Excerpt 2 Recent graduates also have some fears related to the risks i
19、nvolved in business startup. Only 21 percent believe that starting their own businesses offers more security than getting a job. “The Mark Zuckerbergs of the world make startups look easy, but the cold hard facts are that 9 out of 10 new businesses fail in the first five years,“ notes Carol Roth, a
20、Chicago-based business strategist who has helped her startup clients raise over $1 billion in capital. Before you make up your mind about which way to go, Roth says, take a hard, honest look at your motivation for starting a company. Too many entrepreneurial wannabes of all ages (not just new grads)
21、 are “looking to get rich, escape the corporate grind, and work shorter hours with more free time,“ she observes. With that in mind, are you sure you want to leap in head first? If not, Carol Roth has a suggestion: Get a job in the industry where you eventually want to establish your business as a w
22、ay to learn “how to manage vendor relationships, market your product, deal with customers, and keep detailed books.“ Clearly, having a great idea for starting a business isnt enough. Theres a skills gap and a confidence gap that could keep the next generation of entrepreneurs from bringing their dre
23、ams of business ownership to life. 3 Getting employed is no longer an easy task for undergraduate students. That is why some have taken the initiative to work for free internship, to beat against the odds of finding a job. Some experts say this only does more harm than good to undergraduate students
24、, because they are actually selling themselves short. The following article provides detailed information about this issue. Write an article of NO LESS THAN 800 words, in which you should: 1. summarize briefly the article; 2. give your comment. When Does Internship Become Labor Exploitation? As the
25、“intern economy“ grows, young adults, unions, and other workers are starting to ask: When does an internship stop being a mutually beneficial experience and start being free or cheap labor? So why are younger workers increasingly willing to work for free? Unemployment among workers 16 to 24 is over
26、20 percent. Thats the official unemployment rate which means its only accounting for young adults actively looking for work. It doesnt include folks who have given up. It gets worse. Youth unemployment has been exceptionally high since 2008. By your early 20s, most employers already expect you to ha
27、ve had some meaningful work experience. But what if the employment opportunities simply didnt exist for most of your adult life? Its important to realize that 21- to 25-year-olds out there have spent most of their adult lives in a crippling recession with very limited job opportunities. It shouldnt
28、be too surprising that wed see a growing number of twenty-somethings, and even older, willing to work for free just to gain work experience that may lead to employability. And that is what were seeing. Internships can be exactly that: a means to gain real world, professional work experience and make
29、 contacts in a chosen industry. However, employers can also easily take advantage of this source of free work. Mikael Naramore, owner of Terrestrial Media, a media company in Muskegon, Michigan, has worked on both sides of the internship experience, as an intern and as an employer with an intern. “W
30、hen I interned, I could dig in and explore my chosen career, learn on-the-job skills, and be exposed to top people in the field, which for me was way better than sitting in a classroom. I truly feel Im the better for it.“ When talking about exploitation of interns, Naramore said, “The point of inter
31、ning is exposure to a professional environment. Including the professionals! Without that experience, its just good old fashioned exploitation. It goes too far in my opinion when theres no oversight and the internment period is open-ended.“ Some unions would agree with the comment about exploitation
32、 as they are turning their attention to the overuse of free labor, often from young workers eager to get into the workforce with their skills. Most notably, Huffington Post has been criticized for its widespread use of “interns“ or unpaid writing and design staff. The U.S. Department of Labor has cr
33、eated a handy, informational page with updated rules and regulations regarding internships, particularly unpaid internships. This is useful for employers who want to make sure they are acting both ethically and legally. And, its helpful for workers who want to protect their own interests. 4 To flee
34、or not to flee from the first-tier cities, which has been a question confronting most graduates in recent years. From the following two excerpts, you can find that both kinds of cities have adherents. Write an article of NO LESS THAN 300 words, in which you should: 1. summarize both articles, and th
35、en 2. provide your own choice and reasons. Excerpt 1 Chinas Big Fish Graduates Seek Smaller Ponds The top cities, like Beijing and Shanghai, seem to be losing their glamour and fast-rising second-tier cities like Chengdu, Dalian and Wuhan are offering graduates more employment possibilities and perh
36、aps a better quality of life. Skyrocketing living costs, high pressure, pollution and traffic problems have dissuaded many from staying in the traditional powerhouses of graduate employment, according to sociologist Zhou Keda. More importantly, he says, graduates are not just being pushed away by th
37、e negatives, but are being pulled in by the positives. Second-tier cities have been working hard to provide top-notch facilities in fields like education and medical care. A lot of help and support is available to new businesses and environmental concerns are often considerably less. While preferent
38、ial policies and salary breaks attract the intelligent and the ambitious, top cities are struggling to curb excessive population growth. The expansion of high-speed rail has greatly reduced journey times throughout the country, also contributing to the loss of admirers of first-tier cities. “Previou
39、sly we talked about fleeing Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Now, it is more like a natural flow based on more uniform urban development,“ said Xiong Hanzhong, founder of the Beijing youth stress management center. He describes the trend as a “normal and rational“ development. Excerpt 2 Graduates Fi
40、nd First-Tier Cities Still Appealing First-tier cities like Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai are still more popular among university graduates, according to a recent employment survey. It showed 63 percent of respondents hope to stay in first-tier cities for at least one year after graduation this ye
41、ar. Last year, the figure was 38 percent. Liu Xingyang, a senior consultant at the agency, said graduates now feel this way mainly because of the increasing return of people to big cities after hoping to settle in lower-cost small cities. In the past two years, some people left first-tier cities whe
42、re they worked and went back to their hometowns or sought jobs in second-tier cities or even small places because in first-tier cities, housing prices have become too high, he said. But many people could not get used to smaller cities because in such places, social connections, rather than abilities
43、, usually determine ones promotions or social status. Some graduates even found they could not easily communicate with people from the area because of “cultural differences“, so many started to return to big cities, Liu said. “Such phenomena have been largely reported by the media, sparking many uni
44、versity graduates desire to work in first-tier cities,“ he said. Liu said first-tier cities are attractive to university graduates because they have more opportunities, greater development platforms, a fairer competitive environment, and a more diversified cultural environment. 专业英语八级（作文）模拟试卷 87答案与解
45、析 一、 PART V WRITING 1 【正确答案】 On Mandatory Vacations The greed of employers and increasingly fierce competition make it all the stressful to work in the present society. Karoshi, or death resulting from excessive work, is an emerging phenomenon among salarymen who are becoming overloaded with work. J
46、apan and the USA are two industrialized countries where employees suffer from the intensity of work. The impact is so alarming that the two governments plan to force people to take vacations. I think such a compulsory approach is essential for the health of all employees and in turn for the benefits
47、 of employers and the countries who adopt the policy of mandatory holidays. Endless work makes employees suffer, physically and psychologically, so much so that some even die young in their thirties. In response to this situation, a mandatory policy is necessary which regulates that employees should
48、 take at least five days off their work. Nowadays it is not uncommon that employees sacrifice their paid leaves either willingly or reluctantly. However, if taking vacations becomes legally binding, then few people would risk violating the law and as a consequence employees will relax and rehabilita
49、te themselves for better physical conditions. My view is that such a policy should be adopted by the Chinese government as well. China, with its booming economy, is developing at an alarming speed on the way to an industrialized country, and like the situation in most developed countries, phenomenon occurs that many salarymen in China are plagued by sub-health conditions. Since a declining level of health not only adversely affects the well-being of individuals but also aggravates the governments financial burden of medical care, t
