2.4.  Write two or three paragraphs about the job you think you are best-suited to. Use the active vocabulary.

2.5. Speech practice.

• Describe a job that you would or wouldn’t like to have and explain what skills and type of personality are required for it.

• You are a boss at a design office. What kind of people would you like in your staff?

III. Daily routine

3.1. Put each of the following words in its correct place below.

Attitude To Work And Leisure

constructively rewarding challenge conditioned aimless regimentation initiative creativity scope aspire 9 to 5 fulfillment

Most adults (a) ……… to more leisure but, in fact, not many people have the necessary (b) ……. to use the free time they already have very (c) ……. . The sad fact is that we need work because it imposes the discipline we need. Life seems (d) …….. and we secretly look forward to our work again. We dream about personal (e) ……. but probably find it more in our work than in our leisure time. This depends on age. The young are free from work and responsibility, and freedom comes naturally to them. However, after they begin jobs they become (f) …….. to work. They find they need it, however much they complain about its routine and (g) …….. . Obviously this again depends on the kind of work. Those with (h) …….. jobs, or jobs which require (i) …….. , receive genuine satisfaction from their work, but most of us are in conventional (j) …….. jobs which offer little (k) ……... for imagination. We leave our work only to face a leisure that we find difficult to cope with. Our mistake is in regarding leisure as a chance to do nothing, whereas in fact it should be looked on as (l) ……. .

3.2.  Read the text and answer the questions that follow the text.

Mark Twain pointed out that if work were so pleasant, the rich would keep it for themselves. But however much people may think they dislike work, everyone has a deep psychological need for it. Everyone wants to be valued, and wages and salaries are the visible proof that we matter. But some kinds of work like bringing up children and housework are not usually seen as “proper jobs”. The only “proper” job is one that provides paid employment. Being paid for a job in our society means higher personal status.

Of course we would also prefer work to be useful, pleasant and interesting - and also well paid. But you don't really have to enjoy your work to get pleasure from it. The fact that we have to overcome some difficulties in some way gives us pleasure. For example, having to be in a particular place at a particular time, working as part of a team towards a common goal, gives us a sense of purpose. Without work people may become untidy and lazy, and find they are unable to enjoy the leisure time which is available to them. When some people retire from work, they lose their sense of value and purpose. For most of their lives their personality, self-image and status have been defined by work. Without it they lose appetite for life. People who suddenly lose their jobs can find the situation particularly difficult. At a single stroke they lose all the advantages and status that a paid job provides. In a culture dominated by work, they are seen by those with jobs as incompetent and lazy. It is little wonder that stress and illness occur more frequently among the unemployed.

Employment is now changing, however. Information technology has already changed the world of work. For many the idea of a job is no longer realistic. Many people fear they will lose their jobs, and some have to accept the possibility of part-time work. Even the workplace itself may become a thing of the past because thanks to computers more and more people will work at home. This means that we may no longer be able to depend on work to define our position in society, and that we will have to find new ways to give our lives a sense of value and purpose.

• Can you use your free time constructively? Do you display initiative in your work and spending your spare time?

• Have you ever found it difficult to cope with your leisure?

• When we work we get tired and aspire to have leisure. What happens when we get it? Are we satisfied? Why / why not?

• Why do most people need work?

• Would you like to have a conventional 9 to 5 job or a challenging one? Why?