level 4 unit 1
part 1
visiting a friend
Christina is on a two-week vacation. This is the first vacation she has had for a long time. The last vacation she took was more than two years ago.Now she is visiting a friend in San Francisco. Her friend and her husband are living near the center of the city. He works for a start-up company in Silicon Valley. While he is working, she works part-time at a department store. Christina hasn't seen her friend for a long time. The last time they saw each other was three years ago. At that time ,they were both working at a department store. Then Christina quit her job and started her own business. She designs women's clothing. She has two employees now and her company is slowly growing. Christina has come to San Francisco by herself. Her husband didn't come because he has to work. He tried to start a company two years ago,but it didn't work out. His company failed after only a few months. So now he's working at another company and saving money. Once he saves enough money, he plans to start another company. He doesn't want to give up. This is the second time Christina has been to San Francisco. The first time was when she was a high school student. That was more than ten years ago. During that trip she was only in San Francisco for a few days. After that she went to Los Angeles and New York. This time she and her friend plan to relax and have fun.
level 4 unit 3
Time distribution
Look at these two pie graphs.They show how these two people spend their days,not including weekends.The one on the top shows how Emma divides up her days.She is a designer who works for a large company.
As Emma's graph shows,the biggest portion of her day is spent working.She work an average of eight hours a day,which is one third of her day.She gets an average of six hours of sleep,which is twenty five percent of her day.That's less sleep than Martin gets.According to his graph,he gets an average of seven hours of sleep, which is about 29% of his day.On the other hand, Martin,who is an engineer,works more hours than Emma does.Martin averages 9 hours a day at work,compared to Emma's eight.That's 37.5% compared to 33%.Other factors shown in the graphs include time for meals and commuting to work.Other activities include getting dressed and household chores,such as doing laundry and paying bills.As you can see, for Martin, commuting is taking a large amount of his time.If he could reduce his commute times,he would have more time for other things.And it isn't just the time.When the traffic is really heavy,his commute is stressful.It would great if he could work from home one or two days a week.His life would be more enjoyable.
And looking at Emma's graph,we see that she probably needs more sleep.Perhaps she should spend a bit less time socializing with her friends.On the other hand,socializing with her friends is something she really values.As for putting on makeup,she isn't willing to change that.For her, exercising ,socializing and staying beautiful help her deal with the stress of work.In conclusion,Emma and Martin both wish that there were more hours in the day.
Job satisfaction factors
This next graph shows how various factors compare in importance to 1350 job applicants.These applicants were between 20 and 25 years old.They were asked to list which factors were most important in a good job.As the graph shows, money was the most important factor for 25% of the applicants.However, other factors were also important.The second most important factor was the work environment.In other words, for many, money isn't everything.People want to like where they work.In fact, if we combine work environment and co-workers,the total is 35%.This is well above the 25% for salary and benefits.Taking together,they are more important than salary and benefits.Career path is also important，especially for younger applicants.They want to see that their job helps build a successful career.For old workers,this may not be as important.Older workers often put a higher value on the balance between life and work.What do you think?
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