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Unit 7
Today's Youth
After-Class Reading
PASSAGE I Me, Stuart, Mum and Dad
On Saturday, I introduced my parents to Stuart. After he'd left I went back into the kitchen to ask my parents what they thought of him. Perhaps I'm old fashioned[1], or maybe I'm just looking for criticism, but I always like my parents to meet my boyfriends. I think it's good for both parties. If nothing else, it enables me to see the guy from a different point of view and it tells me whether I'm onto a good thing or not.[2]
Boys tend to divide into two categories where my parents are concerned. They either shrink into themselves[3] and leave me to do the talking, or else they'll be really outgoing and confident and stand up well to the interrogation. On the whole I like the second type best, especially those who aren't afraid to give their own opinions. I haven't subjected many shy ones to the torture[4], because I like boys who have something to say for themselves, and anyway, it's embarrassing.
Stuart definitely falls into category two. He's very outspoken, offensive even, and he'll argue about anything just for the sake of arguing. He also criticizes, and with my parents he picked on private education. My sister's at a private school and he challenged my parents on it. I thought my mother was going to die on the spot. Still, he likes his opinions to be known and I don't think he really upset anyone.
Although he was a bit rude to my parents, I didn't feel angry with him, because, as I said, I like people to be confident in that way, and also because, for some perverse reason, I like it if my parents don't like the people I associate with. I'm not quite sure why I feel like this, perhaps I unconsciously try to widen the gap between my parents and me. I do, I think, do things which I know they disapprove of because it makes me feel more free from them. My parents represent everything that is ordinary about life, and I want to be different from them. I'll probably grow out of it[5].
I'm not saying that I'm entirely motivated by a desire to displease my parents, but it does come into a lot of things,[6] for instance I go on a lot of political demonstrations. I don't just go to annoy them. I believe very strongly in the causes, but it's a way of showing my parents that I can look after myself. I like the feeling that I have a voice of my own, and that hundreds of people share my opinions. The last march I went on[7] was in October, and it was the biggest ever in Britain. It'll go down in history and I was there. That's really fantastic, a lovely feeling of power.
But I'm getting off the subject, Stuart and my mother and father, ma and pa or whatever[8].
They didn't actively dislike him, but they kind of[9] warned me about him. They said not to take anything he said too seriously, especially his political views. That annoyed me because I like to feel that nobody influences me, especially someone like Stuart. (I have always been slightly suspicious of people who are completely, in every respect, radically left-wing[10]. I don't think they ever consider their ideas and their implications properly.) Anyway, I told my parents that nobody influences me, but I know it was a lie because every person you're close to influences you in some way, especially when you're young and the other person is like Stuart, a very strong character.
They were careful not to be too critical. They hedged delicately[11] and did not mention anything which I would say was irrelevant (like his appearance). Although they didn't like his views, I think, in a way, they liked how he talked. He's very articulate and I know he's clever.
So they'll let me carry on seeing him, and like everything else, he'll be an escape for me, he'll stand for what I'd like to be. I don't admire his principles and motives, but I admire his courage because I can never really break away from my comfortable, safe, boring family. If I associate with people who have broken away, do things that they do, maybe I'll convince someone that I am different. Maybe one day I'll really get away. But I'll more likely just, as I said, grow out of it. I'll probably get married, have kids, and I'll watch them and try to shelter them the way my parents do for me. But maybe they'll be all right.[12] Perhaps they'll be the ones that change the world and all that. We've got the right ideas but we haven't got the will power. It's not important enough. Perhaps my kids will be different. I hope so. Because I just don't care.[13] (797 words)
Proper Name
Stuart
（男子名）斯图尔特
New Words
articulate
adj. expressing or able to express thoughts and feelings clearly and effectively 表达力强的
e.g. I) The assistant manager was bright and articulate.
II) The most articulate interviewees are not necessarily the best people for the job.
displease *
v. annoy somebody or make somebody angry or upset 使不愉快；使生气
e.g. I) Nothing displeases me more than loud talking.
II) By failing to obey your mother you displeased her.
embarrassing *
adj. making you feel ashamed, nervous, or uncomfortable 令人为难的
e.g. I) He said something that would be embarrassing for me to repeat.
II) This incident put the Americans in an embarrassing position.
interrogation
n. the act or process of questioning someone closely and thoroughly for a long time, sometimes using threatening behavior 讯问；审问
irrelevant*
adj. not relevant 不相干的；离题的
e.g. I) Your own personal wishes are irrelevant to us; the decision is ours.
II) The complaints raised against the proposal were really irrelevant, so we ignored them.
motive
n. something that causes a person to act in a certain way 动机，目的
e.g. I) This appears to be a crime without a motive.
II) Do you have any reason to suspect her motives?
mum
n. (informal) mother
pa
n. (informal) father
perverse
adj. willfully determined not to do what is expected or desired 违反常情的
Phrases and Expressions
and (all) that
and so on; and all such things 等等，诸如此类
e.g. I ) Poverty compelled him to sell his house, clothes, and all that.
II ) There were lots of sandwiches and pies and that but I wasn't really hungry.
break away from
end one's connections with a group, organization, way of thinking, etc.摆脱，放弃；脱离（团体、组织、某种思想体系）
e.g. I) Can't you break away from old habits?
II) He broke away from his family and all they stand for and has gone to live in Japan.
carry on
continue 继续做；坚持
e.g. I ) They ignored me and carried on with their conversation.
II) She intends to carry on studying after the course has finished.
disapprove of
have an unfavorable opinion of someone or something 不赞成，不同意
e.g. I ) Her mother disapproved of her fiance.
II ) His parents strongly disapproved of him leaving college before he had finished his course.
get off the subject
start talking about something else instead of what you were supposed to be talking about 离题
e.g. Somehow they got off the subject of foreign trade altogether.
go down in history be remembered 裁入史册
e.g. I) They will go down in history for their brave deeds.
II) Let the twenty-first century go down in history as the century of planning.
kind of
to some extent; in some ways 有几分
e.g. I) I kind of hoped he'd dance with me.
II) I guess they're kind of mad at me for getting them up so early.
on the whole
everything considered; in general 总的看来；大体上，基本上.
e.g. I) On the whole, I agree with you.
II) On the whole our stay there was quite enjoyable.
or else
otherwise; if not 否则，如果不
e.g. I) Hurry up or else you'll be late.
II) You'd better go to bed now or else you'll be tired in the morning.
pick on (informal)
choose somebody or something for punishment, blame, or an unpleasant job, especially repeatedly and unfairly 选择（某人或某物）作受罚（受责备，干不愉快工作）的对象
e.g. I) He always picked on small points to criticize.
II) The examiner can pick on any student to answer questions.
stand for
represent; symbolize 代表
e.g. I) They differ from us, they stand for capitalism.
II) Oxford dictionaries stood for accuracy throughout the world.
stand up to
meet (danger, difficulty, etc.) without fear 敢于面对，勇敢地对待
e.g. I) A soldier must stand up to danger.
II) Anna stood up to the snarling (吠叫的) dog that leaped toward her.
where ... is concerned
as far as ... is concerned 就......来说，就......而论
e.g. I) Where money is concerned, I always try to be very careful.
II) They seem to be very casual where school discipline is concerned.
PASSAGE II College Pressures
Dear Carlos: I desperately need a dean's excuse for my chemistry midterm which will begin in about 1 hour.[1] All I can say is that I wasted this week. I've fallen incredibly, inconceivably behind.
Carlos: Help! I'm anxious to hear from you. I'll be in my room and won't leave it until I hear from you. Tomorrow is the last day for...
Carlos: Probably by Friday I'll be able to get back to my studies. Right now I'm going to take a long walk. This whole thing has taken a lot out of me.
Who are these miserable people making urgent requests for help, scribbling notes so laden with anxiety? They are men and women who belong to Branford College, one of the twelve residential colleges at Yale University, and the messages are just a few of hundreds that they left for their dean, Carlos Hortas-often slipped under his door at 4 A. M.
But students like the ones who wrote those notes can also be found on campuses from coast to coast. Nobody could doubt that the notes are real. In their urgency and their gallows humor[2] they are authentic voices of a generation that is panicky to succeed.
My own connection with the message writers is that I am master of Branford College. I live on the campus and know the students well. If they went to Carlos to ask how to get through tomorrow, they come to me to ask how to get through the rest of their lives.
Mainly I try to remind them that the road ahead is a long one and that it will have more unexpected turns than they think. There will be plenty of time to change jobs, change careers, change whole attitudes and approaches. They don't want to hear such liberating news.[3] They want a map-right now-that they can follow unswervingly to career security, financial security. Social Security[4] and, presumably, a prepaid grave.
What I wish for all students is some release from the threatening grip of the future. I wish them a chance to savor each segment of their education as an experience in itself and not as a grim preparation for the next step. I wish them the right to experiment, to trip and fall, to learn that defeat instructive as victory and is not the end of the world.
My wish, of course, is naive. One of the few rights that America does not proclaim is the right to fail. Achievement is the national god, worshipped in our media- the million-dollar athlete, the wealthy executive-and glorified in our praise of possessions.[5] In the presence of such a potent state religion, the young are growing up old.[6]
"In the late 1960s," one dean told me, "the typical question that I got from students was ' Why is there so much suffering in the world?' or ' How can I make a contribution?' Today it's ' Do you think it would look better for getting into law school if I did a double major[7] in history and political science, or just majored in one of them?'"
Note the emphasis on looking better. The transcript has become a sacred document, the passport to security. How one appears on paper is more important than how one appears in person. A is for Admirable and B is for Borderline, even though, in Yale's official system of grading, A means "excellent" and B means "very good". Today, looking very good is no longer good enough, especially for students who hope to go on to law school or medical school.[8] They know that entrance into the better schools will be an entrance into the better law firms and better medical practices where they will make a lot of money. They also know that the odds are harsh.[9] Yale Law School, for instance, accepts 170 students from an applicant pool of 3,700; Harvard enrolls 550 from a pool of 7,000.
The pressure is almost as heavy on students who just want to graduate and get a job. Long gone are the days when students journeyed through college with a certain relaxation, sampling a wide variety of courses-music, art, philosophy, classics, poetry-that would send them out as liberally educated men and women. If I were an employer I would rather employ graduates who have this range and curiosity than those who narrowly pursued safe subjects and high grades. I know countless students whose inquiring minds excite me. I like to hear their ideas. I don't know if they are getting As or Cs, and I don't care. I also like them as people. The country needs them, and they will find satisfying jobs. I tell them to relax. They can't.
Nor can I blame them. They live in a brutal economy. Today it is not unusual for a student, even if he works part time at college and full time during the summer, to have $ 5,000 in loans after four years-loans that he must start to repay within one year after graduation. How could he not feel under pressure throughout college to prepare for this day of reckoning?
Along with economic pressure goes parental pressure.[10] Inevitably, the two are deeply intertwined.
I see many students taking pre-medical courses[11] with joyless tenacity. They go off to their labs as if they were going to the dentist.[12] It saddens me because I know them in other corners[13] of their life as cheerful people.
"Do you want to go to medical school?" I ask them.
"I guess so, " they say, without conviction, or "Not really."
"Then why are you going?"
"Well, my parents want me to be a doctor. They're paying all this money and..."
Poor students, poor parents. They are caught in one of the oldest webs of love and duty and guilt.[14] The parents mean well; they are trying to steer their sons and daughters toward a secure future. But the sons and daughters want to major in history or classics or philosophy-subjects with no "practical" value. Where's the payoff on the humanities?[15] It's not easy to persuade such loving parents that the humanities do indeed pay off. The intellectual faculties developed by studying subjects like history and classics-an ability to synthesize and relate, to weigh cause and effect, to see events in perspective[16]-are just the faculties that make creative leaders in business or almost any general field. Still, many fathers would rather put their money on courses that point toward a specific profession-courses that are pre-law, pre-medical, pre-business, or, as I sometimes heard it put, "pre-rich[17]".
Peer pressure and self-induced pressure are also intertwined, and they begin almost at the beginning of freshman year.
"I had a freshman student I'll call Linda," one dean told me, "who came in and said she was under terrible pressure because her roommate, Barbara, was much brighter and studied all the time. I couldn't tell her that Barbara had come in two hours earlier to say the same thing about Linda."
The story is almost funny-except that it's not.[18] It's symptomatic of all the pressures put together. When every student thinks every other student is working harder and doing better, the only solution is to study harder still. I see students going off to the library every night after dinner and coming back when it closes at midnight. I hear the clacking of computer keyboards in the hours before dawn. I see the tension in their eyes when exams are approaching and papers are due: " Will I get everything done"
24 Probably they won't. They will get sick. They will get "blocked."[19] Hey Carlos, help! (1280 words)
Proper Names
Branford College
布兰福德学院（耶鲁大学的一个学院）
Carlos Hortas
（男子名）卡洛斯.奥尔塔斯
Linda
（女子名）琳达
Yale University
耶鲁大学（美国一所著名大学）
New Words
admirable *
adj. excellent; praiseworthy 极好的；令人钦佩的
e.g. I) The trains ran with admirable precision.
II) His self-control in such difficult circumstances was admirable.
applicant
n. a person who applies for or requests something; a candidate 申请人
e.g. I) There is a long waiting list of applicants for jobs.
II) As the wages were low, there were no applicants for the position.
clack
v. (cause to) make one or more quick sharp sounds 发出咔嗒声；使咔嗒咔嗒地响
e.g. The big old-fashioned alarm clock was clacking noisily.
gallows
n. the wooden frame on which criminals used to be killed by hanging from a rope 绞架；绞刑
gallons humor humor which makes very unpleasant or dangerous things or people seem funny 黑色幽默
grim
adj.
1) causing great fear or anxiety 严酷的，令人害怕的
e.g. I) There is more grim news from the war zone.
II) The staff now face the grim prospect of redundancy （裁员）.
2) (informal) unpleasant; not cheerful (非正式)不愉快的，讨厌的
e.g. I) I've had a grim day.
II) After all this training, it's a bit grim to be told you are not even in the team.
hey
interj. This word is used to call attention or to express pleasure, surprise, bewilderment, etc. 喂，嘿
e.g. Hey, what are you doing here?
inconceivably *
adv. unimaginably 不可思议地
inquiring
adj. showing an interest in knowing about things 爱探索的，好问的
e.g. Teachers should encourage children to have an inquiring mind.
instructive *
adj. giving useful information 有教益的，有启发的
e.g. This was a very instructive experience for her.
intertwine
v. twine together(使)缠绕在一起
be intertwined be closely connected with each other
e.g. The problems of crime and unemployment are closely intertwined.
joyless *
adj. without any happiness at all 不快乐的；沉闷无趣的
e.g. I hope I never become as joyless as they have become.
liberally *
adv. chiefly towards the broadening of the mind, not specially to professional or technical needs （指教育）着重于智力的开阔和通才
loan
n. a sum of money lent at interest 贷款
e.g. I) We took out a loan to expand the business.
II) We are repaying the loan over a three-year period.
midterm*
n. an examination given halfway through a school term 期中考试
panicky*
adj. very nervous or anxious 恐慌的
e.g. Jane gets a bit panicky before interviews.
payoff *
n. reward; the good results of a particular series of actions 报酬；报偿
e.g. I) The payoff for his years of patient research was a Nobel Prize.
II) One of the immediate payoffs was an increase in productivity.
poetry
n. poetic works; poems; verse 诗篇，诗歌
e.g. a book of English poetry, modern poetry, a poetry book
prepaid *
adj. paid in advance 已支付的，预付的
e.g. The company sent me a prepaid envelope for me to return my order form in.
reckoning
n. the settlement of accounts, as between two companies 结帐，清算
residential
adj.
1) that people live in 提供住宿的
e.g. a residential college
2) (used about a place or area) that has houses rather than offices, large shops or factories 居住的；住宅的
e.g. The school was in a residential part of town.
sadden *
v. cause somebody to feel sad 使伤心；使悲哀
e.g. He was greatly saddened to hear of the death of his old schoolfriend.
symptomatic *
adj. acting as a symptom 征兆的，表明......的症候
e.g. I) A persistent cough may be symptomatic of tuberculosis (肺结核).
II) Their refusal to take part in the inquiry is symptomatic of their distrust of the police.
tenacity
n. the quality of being tenacious 坚韧
transcript
n. an official school report on the record of a student, listing subjects studied, grades received, etc. 学生成绩报告单
unswervingly
adv. firmly 坚定地
urgent
adj. needing immediate attention 急迫的,紧急的
e.g. I) It's not urgent; I'll tell you about it later.
II) Most of the motorway network is in urgent need of repair.
Phrases and Expressions
along with
together with 跟......一块
e.g. I) Along with hundreds of others, she lost her job when the factory closed.
II) I returned his book along with his file of notes.
fall behind
lag in pace or progress 落后，跟不上
e.g. I) We can't afford to fall behind our competitors in using new technology.
II) I don't know how we can help those students who have fallen behind in their studies.
from coast to coast
in every part of a large country which has two or more coasts 全国各地
e.g. From coast to coast this newspaper has been attacked.
get through
manage to live through; survive 度过
e.g. I) It's going to be hard to get through the next couple of days.
II) It was a terrible time financially but I got through it and then things improved.
pay off
have profitable results 使人得益
e.g. I) That last move just didn't pay off.
II) This looks like being an occasion when hard work will pay off later rather than sooner.
take a lot out of somebody
make somebody feel very tired and weak because he has used a lot of energy 使（某人）疲乏
e.g. I) All this worry and anxiety has taken a lot out of her.
II) Talking in a foreign language all day takes a lot out of you.
PASSAGE III Postgraduate Paralysis
Thousands of college graduates received their diplomas this year in fear or even embarrassment. They were not proud of themselves, nor eager to take on the real world. Instead, they thought of themselves as failures. These are the graduates who have not been offered fat salaries and generous benefits. They are the ones who won't be going to work as lawyers, investment bankers and engineers. They have taken the right courses, gotten good grades and gone through some on-campus job interviews. But because they weren't offered the perfect job-no, that exciting career-seemingly guaranteed to all those who make the right moves, they are sitting at home, victims of postgraduate paralysis.[1]
This may come as a surprise to anyone who has read about the fabulous job offers tendered[2] to recent graduates. However, those of us who are parents of children in this age group know that such offers are relatively rare and that many liberal-arts students[3] graduate with the belief that the prospective workplace may not have a place for them.
Consider my daughter: she graduated from college with a degree in economics two years ago.
She was offered a job by a recruiter who came to her campus-but it was with a trucking firm in South Carolina, as a dispatch-management trainee. She turned it down. It was her parents' first clue that she had a problem.
It seems economists don't work for trucking firms. Nor do Midwestern children want to live in the South before they become arthritic.[4] Yet even at home in Minneapolis, our daughter couldn't seem to find anything to apply for. Her father told her to make the rounds of the personnel agencies. But she was so horrified by the demeaning atmosphere at one that she refused to visit any others.[5]
Then one day, when she was looking at the Sunday paper and complaining that there was nothing in it, I told her there had to be something. "Look at this," I commanded. "And this! And this!" I circled a number of jobs in the first two columns I skimmed. But Maureen protested: "I don't want to be an administrative assistant."
It was then that her father and I realized that what she had been looking for in the paper was a career, not a job. And ever since, we have watched the children of friends suffer from this same delusion.
No one, it seems, has told them that a career is an evolutionary process.[6]
When I graduated from college 25 years ago, I never expected to find a job that was in itself a career. In those days, we were told we knew nothing, but that upon graduation we would have the tools to learn. And learn we did-on the job. I began by doing grunt work in the customer-service department at National Geographic magazine. In due time, I wound up with a career; indeed, owning and running a firm that publishes research reports for architects and real-estate developers.
Apparently, schools have changed their approach. Today's students are told they know everything in order to succeed in a career. Career talk often begins in seventh grade or earlier, and the career is offered as the reward one receives upon graduation. No one is satisfied with this system. Businesses complain that they get new graduates who are unhappy with anything less than high-level, decision-making jobs as their first assignments. And parents are shocked that the child without a job can graduate traumatized by the fear of rejection.[7]
As I see it, parents are a principal cause of the problem. Who among us hasn't thought "What's wrong with that kid?" when we hear that a recent college graduate is a cashier at a grocery store because "he can't find a job." At the same time, how many of us can put the screws on a son and convince him that he must abandon his idea of a career and take up the idea of finding work?
This is a distasteful task, especially when we have shipped our children off to expensive colleges, believing that simply by footing the tuition bill we are making them economically secure.[8] The kids believe this, too, but the reality is that when they graduate, they are no more prepared for careers than we were.[9]
It is not a disgrace to go out and pound the pavement. I used just this expression the other day with my son's friend. Though he had graduated in December with a degree in philosophy, he has not yet found a job. He had never heard the saying[10] before. He is bright, personable and would do well in almost any kind of business. But he complains that he can't find work in the want ads-he has not visited any personnel agencies-and so he talks about going to law school, instead. He was crushed by not having been recruited before graduation.[11]
This brings me back to my daughter. After some yelling and screaming by her parents, she did make the rounds of headhunters and found one who specialized in entry-level positions. This gentleman was wonderful; he helped her assess her skills and prepared her for interviews. She also read the newspapers and answered different types of ads. Not surprisingly, she got many responses. After a few weeks she had the exhilarating experience of having three job offers at once. Two were the products of answering newspaper ads and one came through the headhunter's efforts. She landed an excellent position as an insurance underwriter-a job she didn't even know existed when she graduated.
Happy in her job, Maureen also fell in love; and when she began to look for employment in Chicago where she and her husband will live, she needed no help from her parents. She was confident and aggressive. She used headhunters, the want ads, her friends and ours. She had a new resource-business contacts. Yet as she was typing letters one day, I offered some sympathy about how hard it is to hunt for a job.
"It's OK, Mom," she said. "This isn't like the first time. Now I know how to look for a job!"
And she found one as a senior underwriter. Now she'll make more money and more decisions.
It's beginning to look like a career. (1050 words)
Proper Names
Minneapolis
(地名)明尼阿波利斯(美国城市,位于明尼苏达州东南部)
National Geographic
《国家地理》杂志
New Words
administrative*
adj. connected with the work of managing or organizing a company, institution, mark. 行政的，管理的
e.g. I) She has an administrative job in the University.
II) The council met to discuss purely administrative affairs.
architect
n. a person whose job is to design buildings 建筑师
arthritic
adj. Suffering from arthritis 患关节炎的
banker*
n. someone who works in a bank in an important position 银行家
crush
v.
1) destroy completely, especially by the use of great force 压垮，压倒，压服，镇压
e.g. I) The young lady was crushed by their insults.
II) His hopes were crushed by the chairman's remark.
2) press something so hard that it breaks or is damaged 压碎，碾碎
e.g. I) He gave the impression of being able to crush a grown man in those hairy arms.
II) Don't pack the cakes at the bottom of the box or they'll get crushed.
delusion
n. a false belief 错觉
e.g. Frank is under the delusion that he can do any job better than anyone else.
demeaning
adj. causing (oneself) to lose one's sense of personal pride 降低身份的；有辱人格的
e.g. It was very demeaning to have to ask her permission for everything I wanted to do.
diploma
n. an official paper showing that a person has successfully finished a course of study or passed an examination 毕业文凭，毕业证书
e.g. I) His wife has a diploma in fashion design.
II) Are you on the degree course or the diploma course?
disgrace
n. shame or loss of honor and respect 出丑，耻辱，丢脸
e.g. There is no disgrace in being poor.
dispatch
1) n. the sending off of a messenger, letter, troops, etc. 派遣，调遣，发送
2) v. send to a place or for a particular purpose派遣，调遣，发送
e.g. I) The supervisor would dispatch a crew to repair the damage.
II) The books will be dispatched from our warehouse tomorrow to your address.
distasteful *
adj. Very unpleasant or morally offensive 不愉快的，讨厌的
e.g. The press's tireless investigation of the private lives of celebrities is distasteful to most of us.
economically *
adv. in a way connected with economics 经济上地
e.g. I) Twenty years ago, the country was extremely unevenly developed economically.
II) Economically (speaking), the country is in a very healthy state.
estate
n. a piece of land on which buildings (of a stated type) have all been built together in a planned way （上有大片建筑物的）土地，区
e.g. Singapore's industrial estates are comparable to those of any Western city.
real estate
land and buildings 房地产
e.g. a real-estate developer 房地产开发商
evolutionary*
adj. of or resulting from evolution; developing gradually 进化的，演变的
e.g. the evolutionary process
fabulous
adj. very good; excellent极好的，极妙的
e.g. I) You look fabulous.
II) We had a fabulous time at the party.
grunt
adj. ordinary and routine 普通的
headhunter*
n. (informal) a person who tries to attract specially able people to jobs, especially by offering them better pay and more responsibility 物色人才的人
pavement
n. the side of the street where pedestrians walk 人行道
personable
adj. attractive in appearance or character 英俊的；风度好的
postgraduate *
1) adj. (of studies, etc.) done at a university after one has received one's first degree 研究生的
e.g. a postgraduate course, postgraduate studies
2) n. a person who has obtained a first degree at a university and is studying or doing research for an advanced degree or qualification 研究生
e.g. The university has 2,200 undergraduates and 800 postgraduates.
screw
n. a nail-like metal fastener, having a thin end with a spiral groove and a head with a slot 螺丝钉
e.g. A screw is forced into wood by twisting it with a screw-driver （螺丝刀）.
put the screws on (somebody) (informal)
force (someone) to do as one wishes, especially by increasing pressure and threats (以威胁或施加压力等手段)强使（某人）做（某事）
e.g. The boss will really put the screws on him to work overtime.
trainee*
n. someone who is being trained for a job 接受训练的人
e.g. The trainees were shown around each of the departments.
traumatized
adj. anguished or shocked 受到创伤的
trucking*
n. the business of taking goods from place to place by road 货车运输业
underwriter*
n. a person who makes insurance contracts 保险商；保险业务受理人
Phrases and Expressions
in due time
eventually 在一定的时候；最终
e.g. I) In due time you will realize all this.
II) There is no doubt that every home will have a computer in due time.
make the rounds of
go around from one place to another, usually as part of a job or in order to ask for work 来回执行任务或找工作
e.g. I) The production manager made the rounds of the workshops every day.
II) She has been making the rounds of theatrical offices, looking for a job.
pound the pavement (informal)
walk the streets repeatedly, so as to find work 徘徊街头找职业
e.g. Jennifer has been pounding the pavement for months, looking for a job.
take on
accept as a challenge 接受......的挑战
e.g. I) The company plans to take on the competition at home and abroad.
II) They weren't afraid to take on big business.
take up
adopt 采纳（观点等）；采取（某种态度）
e.g. I hated to see him taking up this hard, uncompromising attitude.
turn down
refuse or reject 拒绝
e.g. I) They turned down his request for promotion.
II) He proposed to her, but she turned him down.
wind up
(informal) get into the stated, usually unpleasant condition or place as an accidental or unintentional result of one's actions or behavior (以......)告终；落得个（......的下场）
e.g. I) He'll wind up in jail if he isn't careful.
II) You'll wind up failing your exams if you go on like this.
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