自考英语二(新版)原文Unit4TheJoyofWork.doc

Unit 4 The Joy of Work
A Famous Quote:
Labour is often the father of pleasure.
- Francios – Marie Arouet (Voltaire)
Francios – Marie Arouet (Voltaire)(1694-1778), French poet, dramatist, historian, and philosopher. He was and outspoken and aggressive enemy of every injustice, especially of religious intolerance. His works are an outstanding embodiment of the principles of the French Enlightenment.
Text A Works Is a Blessing
Pre-reading Questions
1. Do you often help your parents with the household chores? What do you usually do to help them?
2. Have you had any experience of doing part-time jobs to help support yourself and your family? What did you think about it?

I grew up in Lakeland, LA, one of 12 children. We all lived on my parents’ subsistence farm. We grew cotton, sugar cane, corn, hogs, and chickens and had a large garden, but it didn’t bring in much cash. So when I was 12, I got a part-time job on a dairy farm down the road, helping to milk cows. We milked 65 cows at 5 in the morning and again at 2 in the afternoon, seven days a week.
In the kitchen on Saturday before daylight, I remember complaining to my father and grandfather about having to go milk those cows. My father said, “Ya know, boy, to work is a blessing.”
I looked at those two men who had worked harder than I ever had – my father eking out a living on that farm and my grandfather farming and working as a carpenter during the Depression. I had a feeling I had been told something really important, but it took many years before it sank in.
Going to college was a rare privilege for a kid from Lakeland. My father told me if I picked something to study that I liked doing, I’d always look forward to my work. But he also added, “Even having a job you hate is better than not having a job at all.” I wanted to be a farmer, but I joined the ROTC program to help pay for college. And what started out as an obligation to the Army became a way of life that I stayed committed to for 37 years, three months and three days.
In the late 1980s, during a visit to Bangladesh, I saw a woman with a baby on her back, breaking bricks with a hammer. I asked a Bangladesh military escort why they weren’t using a machine, which would have been a lot easier. He told me a machine would put that lady out of work. Breaking those bricks meant she could earn enough money to feed herself and her baby that day. And as bad as that woman’s job was, it was enough to keep a small family alive. It remained me of my father’s words: To work is a blessing.
Serving in the U.S. Army overseas, I saw a lot of people like that woman in Bangladesh. And I have come to believe that people without jobs are not free. They are victims of crime, the ideology of terrorism, poor health, depression and social unrest. These victims become the illegal immigrants, the slaves of human trafficking, the drug dealers, and street gang members. I have seen it over and over again on the U.S. border, in Somalia, the Congo, Afghanistan and in New Orleans. People who have jobs can have a home, send their kids to school, develop a sense of pride, contribute to the good of the community, and even help other. When we can work, we are free. We are blessed.
I don’t think I will ever quit working. I’m retired from the Army, but I’m still working to help people be prepared for disaster. And I may get to do a little farming someday, too. I’m not going to stop. I believe in my father’s words. I believe in the blessing of work.

Text B How to Start Your Own Business
Pre-reading Questions:
1. Do you hope to start your own business? What would you like to do?
2. What do you know about the necessary conditions for starting a business?

The paradox of starting your own business lies in the simultaneous challenge and rewards, making it an experience unlike any other. So many businesses fail, and most entrepreneurs exclude themselves from the possibility. The tragic reality is that when business fail, the passion often dies with it. By following some sound advice and being prepared for the process, you will decrease your chances of losing a lot more than you bargained for. I have recently started a business and have learned some crucial lessons in the process that I feel privileged to share with you.
1. Identify your motivation. Why do you want to start your own business? To have more time? To make more money? To be your own boss? To have creative control over what you love to do? Write out all of your motivating factors and prioritize them. When you see them listed, you might see a pattern in that you’re just unhappy at your current job and starting your own business isn’t the answer.
2. Identify your passion. What do you love to do? What skills and knowledge do you uniquely bring to the table? What gets you excited about your work? Keep that passion at the forefront of your business plan, your marketing strategies, and your daily routine. If you keep your passion in plain sight, you will stay focused on the purpose of your business and not solely on the logistics.
3. Identify your market. If you are starting your business locally, research your competitor. Determine if there is room in the market for your business. What will you do differently to draw in customers? What niche market are the other businesses missing? If you are starting an Internet company, research the requirements for your own unique Web presence. Your business cannot survive without customers, so do enough research on the front end to determine if there enough potential clients to keep your business alive.
4. Identify your finance. If you have ever purchased a new home, you know that the financial obligations extend beyond the down payment and the mortgage. You have to buy furniture, trash cans, a garage door openers, light fixtures and landscaping equipment, and before you know it, you’re far exceeded your financial boundaries. That can happen just as easily in a business. Do exhaustive financial planning. Meet with a financial advisor or someone at you bank to examine the financial viability of your business and the process of getting it up and running. Plan wisely and do not assume the best about your business. Be prepared for financial loss and get advice on how to alleviate that burden in the future.
5. Identify your support system. Seek out advice from seasoned business owners, even those in your own field. Develop relationships with people who can offer sound advice and criticism that you might not see. If there is a business owner in your community or in your network that you aspire to model, examine his or her business practices and how they handle various situations. Ask for counsel before big decisions, and even create your own makeshift Board of Directors to help guide you in the planning and start-up process.
Once you have all of these elements in place, you are prepared to start the process of developing a business plan, applying for a license, establishing a marketing presence, etc. Owning your own business can be unparalleled in the professional world, and if you surround yourself with wise counsel, you can have a career that daily feeds your passion.