学术英语社科 Academic English for Social Sciences. 3 Unemployment Unemployment has been a...

学术英语社科Academic English for Social Sciences

3UnemploymentUnemployment has been a serious global social issue in recent years. Both politicians and economists are making great efforts tofind ways to reduce the unemployment rate, though the result is not always satisfactory. The texts in this unit may give you someinsights into this issue.

Unit 3Unemployment

Unit Contents

Text A

Text B

Text C

Listening

Speaking

Writing

Lead-in

• Lead-in

– Lead-in task

Unit 3Unemployment

Lead-in

Task 1 Watch a video clip and complete the following sentences according to the information you have heard.

Unit 3Unemployment

1 Eric, president of CollegeClickTV.com, is invited to give college grads ________________.

2 College grads of this generation have _______________ which is an advantage that not everybody has.

tips of finding a job

incredible talents

Lead-inUnit 3Unemployment

3 College grads who have _________________ or ____________ are more likely to find jobs.

4 College grads can apply to graduate school right now for __________________ and higher education, in order to ride out this recession and this extremely ______________.

5 Knowledge is power and education will always _________________. Now watch it again and check your answers.

working experiencedo Internships

a professional degree

weak job market

pay off in a long-term

• Text A

– Critical reading and thinking

– Difficult sentences

– English language for

academic purpose• Specialized vocabulary• Collocations• Signpost language• Formal English

Unit 3Unemployment

Text A

Critical reading and thinking of Text A

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Text Analysis

Read Text A and answer the following questions.

1 Why can losing a job be the most distressing economic event in a person’s life?

Because people rely on their labor earnings to maintain their standard of living, get income and get a sense of personal accomplishment.

Text A


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Text Analysis

2 What happens to a country when it keeps its workers as fully employed as possible?

3 What are the two categories of the unemployment problem?

The result of it is achieving a higher level of GDP.

They are long-run problem and short-run problem.

Text ACritical reading and thinking of Text A

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Text Analysis

We can consider whether unemployment is a short-term or long-term condition. Long-term means it is a big problem; short-term means it is not a big problem.

5 What does sectoral shift (结构性变化 ) mean?

Sectoral shift means the change in the composition of demand among industries or regions.

4 How can we judge how serious the problem of unemployment is?

Text A


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Text Analysis

6 What ways can be used to facilitate job search?

There are many ways to facilitate job search, for example, government program, government-run employment agencies, public training programs, newspaper ads, Internet job sites, university placement offices, headhunters and word of mouth.

Text A


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Text Analysis

7 Do you have suggestions that may help the government tackle the problem of unemployment?

Then Do Task 1 and Task 4 on Page 50 and 51.

Text A

Difficult sentences

Unit 3

Unemployment

• It is not surprising, therefore, that politicians campaigning for office often speak about how their proposed policies will help create jobs. (Para. 1)

→ “Office” in this sentence means a position in a large and powerful organization, especially a government. It can be used in phrases “run for office (try to be elected)” or “take office (begin to work in a position)”.

Text ADifficult sentences

Unit 3

Unemployment

• Even if some frictional unemployment is inevitable, the precise amount is not. (Para. 9)

→ Even if we cannot avoid frictional unemployment, we can affect the extent of frictional unemployment.

Specialized vocabulary

• natural rate of unemployment

• GDP

• cyclical unemployment

• sectoral shift

Text A

English language for academic purpose

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自然失业率

国内生产总值

周期性失业

结构性变化

Collocations

Text AEnglish language for academic purpose

• maintain standards of living• a sense of personal accomplishment• reduce self-esteem• campaign for office• stand idle• ups and downs• job vacancies• cut back on production and employment• facilitate job search• give out information

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Signpost language

• Comparison: Similarly; likewise; both; same; resemble; parallels; in the same manner

• Contrast: on the other hand; in / by contrast; however; while; whereas; nevertheless;

different; instead (of); conversely; rather than

Text AEnglish language for academic purpose

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Comparison and contrast signals & clue words

Text AUnit 3Unemployment

2

Replace the underlined words in the following sentences with the ones that are more daily-life.


Formal English

1 … and information about job candidates and job vacancies is disseminated slowly among the many firms and households in the economy. widely spread

2 At the same time, cheaper petrol stimulates car sales, so car-producing firms raise production and employment.

encourages

3 Government programs try to facilitate job search in various ways.

help

Text AUnit 3Unemployment

2

Replace the underlined words in the following sentences with the ones that are more daily-life.


Formal English

4 … and that they reduce the inequities inherent in a constantly changing market economy. existing naturally

never changing

5 These critics contend that the government is no better — and most likely worse — at disseminating the right information to the right workers and deciding what kinds of worker training would be most valuable. argue

6 Although the economy will always have some unemployment, its natural rate is not immutable.

7 But how we choose to organize our society can profoundly influence how prevalent a problem it is. deeply / greatly

Text A

Critical reading and thinking

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Task 1 Text A is an expository writing and can be roughly divided into five parts. Write down the main idea of each part.Parts Paragraphs Main idea

I 1-2

II 3-4

III 5-8

IV 9-11

V 12

Suggested answers

Losing a job can be most distressing economic event in a person’s life.

Two categories of the problem of unemployment

The reason why economies experience some unemployment

The ways in which policymakers can help the unemployment.

The natural rate of unemployment is not immutable.

Text A


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Task 2 Answer the following questions.

Suggested answers

1 What can people get from their work?Apart from financial gains, people can get from their work a sense of accomplishment.2 What does a job loss mean to a person?Job less often not only means a lower living standard, anxiety about the future, but also self-esteem. 3 What do natural rate of unemployment and cyclical unemployment refer to?Natural rate of unemployment refers to the amount of unemployment that the economy normally experiences.Cyclical unemployment refers to the year-to-year fluctuations in unemployment around its natural rate.

Text A


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Suggested answers

4 In what way can we judge how serious the problem of unemployment is?One way to judge the seriousness of the unemployment situation is to consider whether the unemployment is a short-term or a long-term condition. If the latter is true, the unemployment situation is then serious.

5 What is job search? How does it lead to some unemployment?Job search is the process of matching workers with appropriate jobs. When the information about job candidates and job vacancies is disseminated slowly among firms and people in the economy, job search can lead to some kind of unemployment.

Text A


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Task 3 Work in groups of 3-4 and discuss the following questions. Try to make your claim clear and give enough evidence.

Suggested answers

1 Should the government get involved in the process of job search?

2 Is unemployment a simple problem with a simple solution?

3 Do you have some suggestions that may help the government tackle the problem of unemployment?

Text A


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Task 4 Work in pairs. Decide whether the following workers are more likely to experience short-term or long-term unemployment, and give your explanations.

Suggested answers

1 A short-order cook who loses his job when a new restaurant opens across the street.

2 A manufacturing worker who loses his job at a plant in an isolated area.

3 An expert welder (焊工 ) with little formal education who loses his job when the company installs automatic welding machinery.

Text A


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Suggested answers

8 What are the ways to reduce the amount of frictional unemployment?The first way is by a quicker spreading of the information about job openings and worker availability, and the second way is by reducing the time it takes unemployed workers to find new jobs.

9 What can help spread information about job openings and job candidates?Employment agencies, newspaper ads, internet job sites, university placement offices, headhunters, word of mouth can all help spread information about jobs and candidates.

Language building-up

Text ASuggested answers

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Task 1 Specialized vocabulary

1 Match the words in Column A with those in Column B.

Column A Column B

1. labor a. job

2. economic b. training

3. create c. economy

4. laid-off d. unemployment

5. unemployment e. force

6. job f. event

7. cut back on g. search

8. market h. worker

9. on-the-job i. rate

10. frictional j. production and employment

e

f

a

h

i

g

j

c

b

d



Unit 3Unemployment

Task 1 Specialized vocabulary2 Translate the terms you have got into Chinese.

1. labor force

2. economic event

3. create jobs

4. laid-off workers

5. unemployment rate

6. job search

7. cut back on production and employment8. market economy

10. frictional unemployment

9. on-the-job training

劳动力经济事件

创造就业机会失业工人

失业率寻找工作

减少生产和就业

市场经济在职培训

摩擦性失业



Unit 3Unemployment


3 Complete the following sentences with the correct form of some of the above terms.

1 Data for 2005 shows that 52% of women were in the _________, in contrast to 71% of men.

2 Today, most countries that once had centrally planned economies are trying to develop ________________.

3 The _________________is defined as the percentage of the labor force that is unemployed.

labor force

market economies

unemployment rate



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3 Complete the following sentences with the correct form of some of the above terms.

4 Because _________stops when a worker takes a new job.

5 Economic calendar is relevant to investors who want to stay up-to-date and informed on current _______________ throughout the week.

6 _____________________ arises because, in many occupations, people changing jobs naturally must go through a period of unemployment between jobs, possibly because searching for a new job requires time.

job search

economic events

Frictional unemployment



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Task 2 Signpost language

2 Complete the following sentences with the correct form of the words and expressions in the above box. There may be more than one correct answer.

1 You should talk to your teacher _________ just complaining to me about it.2 Analysts believe that the healthy results can be attributed to an increase in _____________ trade interest rate fluctuations.3 I read a lot as a child, but my daughter, __________, just seems interested in television.4 The son followed his father’s example and, ________, the daughter modeled herself on her mother.

instead of

as opposed toby contrast

similarly



Unit 3Unemployment

Task 2 Signpost language

2 Complete the following sentences with the correct form of the words and expressions in the above box. There may be more than one correct answer.

5 The philosopher Scott Buchanan once observed in conversation that science _________ theater.6 The heat in Arizona is ____________ the heat here. It’s very dry.7 Some paradigms have achieved limited success in some areas; _____others do better in yet other areas.8 You want to help your kids as much as you can, but _______________, you’ve got to be careful to help them learn on their own.

resemblesdifferent from

while

on the other hand

• Text B

– Lead in

– Critical reading

– Difficult sentences

– English language for

academic purpose

Unit 3Unemployment

Text B

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Understanding argument

Understanding argument is an important skill for critical reading. Text B of this unit offers a chance to develop this aspect of critical reading. The author presents the two sides of the argument.

Lead-in

Text B

Text analysis

Structure of Text B

Unit 3Unemployment

Lead-in

Debate topic

Pros’ argument Cons’ argument:

Supporting detailsSupporting details

Text B

Critical reading ： questions for discussion

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Discuss the following question:

Why unemployment rate is so high?

Text BUnit 3Unemployment

•Some economists’ argument: There are jobs there, just not the right candidates to fill them

Supporting details: structural unemployment; mismatch (skills & locations mismatch with available jobs); uncertainty about future regulations; …

Critical reading: questions for discussion


•Most people’s argument: employers aren’t hiring enough workers

Supporting details: depressed demand is hurting business; structural unemployment is minor side; no unique imbalance between skills & jobs; the driving factor is the huge drop in demand

Critical reading ： questions for discussion


•The author’s attitude:

Although the writer seems to be objectively presenting the two sides of the argument, the way he presents the arguments of the two sides and the way he ends the article indicate that he is more in favor of the argument that the unemployment situation in the US is not just structural unemployment.

Critical reading: questions for discussion

Text B

Difficult sentences

Unit 3Unemployment

• The bigger issue is mismatch. (Para. 3)

→ What is more important is the mismatch between job vacancies and qualified workers for the jobs.

Text B

Difficult sentences

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• Only 22% said they could find few or no qualified job applicants, about half the level reported before the recession. (Para. 13)

→ It was hard for 22% of small businesses to find qualified job applicants. In contrast more than 40% of small business could not find qualified job applicants before the recession.

Text B

Difficult sentences

Unit 3Unemployment

• While the housing crisis is keeping people in place, Shierholz doubts that a lack of mobility isthe problem. (Para. 14)

→ Although the housing crisis is limiting people’s freedom to move in order to search job opportunities, Shierholz does not think this is the main cause of the problem of unemployment.

Text B

Difficult sentences

Unit 3Unemployment

• ... they just aren’t big enough to swallow up the swells of unemployed job seekers. (Para. 15)

→ … the states just aren’t big enough to absorb so many unemployed job seekers.

Text B

Difficult sentences

Unit 3Unemployment

• “The thing you’d expect to see with even isolated labor shortages would be low unemployment, high job growth, and wage increases,” she said. “We are not seeing that” (Para. 21)

→ Labours shortage normally bring with them low unemployment, high job growth, and wage increases, but that is not what is happening now.

Specialized vocabulary

• structural unemployment

•labor market

•underwater houseowner

•unemployment benefit

•housing bubble

Text B


Unit 3Unemployment

结构性失业

劳动力市场

“ 溺水屋”屋主

失业救济

房地产泡沫

Collocations

Text BEnglish language for academic purpose

• a rising tide of prominent economists

• worsening imbalance

• in search of

• depressed demand

• at best, at worst

• fix the economy

• qualified job applicants

Unit 3Unemployment

Collocations

Text BEnglish language for academic purpose

• a lack of mobility

• housing crisis

• swallow up

• the bursting of the housing bubble

• at the peak of the housing boom

• a tight supply of job candidates

• pick up

Unit 3Unemployment

Text B


Unit 3Unemployment

Task 1 The tree diagram below illustrates the main points of the text. Complete it according to the text.

Suggested answers

Debate topic: __________________________ Why unemployment is so high?

Argument by some economists:______________________________________________________

Argument by most people: ____________________________

Supporting details: (2) ____________________

Supporting details: (1) ________________________________

There are jobs out there, just not

the right candidates to fill them.Employers just aren't hiring enough.

Text B


Unit 3Unemployment Suggested answers

(1)•The culprit is so-called structural unemployment – a serious imbalance in labor markets that has left a large pool of unemployed workers in the wrong place, or with the wrong skills, to take advantage of job opportunities.•The kinds of skills the unemployed have and the locations where they live are not particularly good matches with available jobs,•Uncertainty about future regulations and taxes and longer-term unemployment benefits can make unemployed job seekers less willing to take jobs at low wages.

(2)•Depressed demand is hurting businesses and causing them to cut back on staff, so there aren't enough jobs to go around. •Structural unemployment is, at best, a minor side issue.•There is no unique imbalance between skills and available jobs.•The huge drop in demand is the driving factor.

Supporting details

Text B



Task 2 Work in pairs and discuss the following questions.

1 What is the author’s purpose in writing this article?

2 What is the author’s attitude toward the high rate of unemployment? Does he support Kocherlakota’s argument or the opposing side’s idea? Use examples to illustrate your point.

The writer seems to be objectively reporting the two sides of the argument. The way he presents it however indicates that he supports the opposing side’s idea. He first presents Kocherlakota’s arguments, then draws on other people’s analysis to rebut Kocherlakota’s arguments in great detail. The ending of the article also highlights the argument of the opposing side.

Text B



Researching

Work in groups of 4-5. Visit the website of the National Bureau of Statistics of China and conduct a survey about the current unemployment situation in China.

1 Find out the unemployment rates of recent two years.

2 Compare the statistics and find the differences.

3 Think about the possible reasons and solutions.

4 Analyze your findings and make a presentation to the class.

• Text C

–Critical reading

Unit 3Unemployment

Text C

Complete the following table about the different measures of the total income of a country.

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Measure Categories of income included Categories of income excluded

GDP

GNP

NNP

National income

Suggested answers

the total value of all goods and services produced in a country, in one year

income received from abroad

the total income earned by a nation’s permanent residents or nationals regardless of where they earn it

income that foreigners earn in your country

the total income of a nation’s residents (GNP) losses from depreciation

the total income earned by a nation’s residents in the production of goods and services

indirect business taxes (such as sales taxes)

• Listening

– Note-taking forms

– Listening tasks

Unit 3Unemployment

Listening: Note-taking forms (See Page 61)

Listening

Academic activities

Note-taking strategies:

•Write only the key words.•You don’t need complete sentences.•Use abbreviations (short forms) and symbols when possible.

Unit 3Unemployment

Signals for important information

Listening

• Don’t forget that . . . Let me stress that . . .

• It is important to note / remember that . . . You need to remember that . . .

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Signals to Stop Taking Notes

Listening

•You can find this in your handout . . . This won’t be on your test . . .

•You don’t have to write all this down . . . This information is in your book . . .

Unit 3Unemployment

Listening

Task 1 Listen to a lecture twice about the benefits of beauty. Complete the following notes according to what you have heard. Pay attention to the form it uses.

Unit 3Unemployment

Listening tasks

1 What are the findings of the study conducted by Hamermesh and Biddle?

1.1 Hamermesh and Biddle found that ___________.

1.2 People who are deemed to be more attractive than average ___________________________________________.

1.3 People of average looks ______________________________ __________________________________.

1.4 Similar results were found for men and women.

beauty pays

earn 5 percent more than people of average looks

considered less attractive than averageearn 5 to 10 percent more than people

Listening

Unit 3Unemployment

Listening tasks

2 What explains these differences in wages? Interpretations:

2.1 _________________________________________________ ____________________.

2.2 _________________________________________________.

2.3 _____________________________________.

productivity and wages

Good looks are themselves a type of innate ability determining

Reported beauty is an indirect measure of other types of ability

The beauty premium is a type of discrimination

Listening

Task 2 Listen to the lecture again and decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F).

Unit 3Unemployment

Listening tasks

1 It can be implied from the lecture that the actor Brad Pitt doesn’t have a large income.

2 Labor economists Daniel Hamermesh and Jeff Biddle published their study in the American Economic Review.

3 The interviewers were asked to rate each respondent’s educational background.

4 Hamermesh and Biddle only examined how much the wages of the respondents depended on physical appearance.

F

F

F

T

• Speaking

Unit 3Unemployment

– Making an argument

Making an argument

Speaking

•An argument consists of two parts: a thesis statement or claim; evidence that supports the claim. (See Text B of this unit)

•Some expressions used in making arguments:

Unit 3Unemployment

(1) Expressing opinions:

It would seem to me that… As far as I am able to judge, … My belief/interpretation is … From what understand…

(2) Providing evidence:

As evidenced in … A good case in point is … An example can be seen … Consider the case of …

Speaking

Task According to the findings of the China’s Sixth Population Census, aging issue is getting more and more serious. The aged population have become a heavy burden of the national economy. To solve this problem, some argue that a two-child policy should be implemented while others maintain that the one-child policy should remain unaltered. Hold a debate about the issue.

Unit 3Unemployment

Mock debate

1 Work in groups of 4 or 6. Divide the group into two teams and each takes one side of the argument.2 Search the Internet for related facts and statistics after class.3 Prepare your arguments and supporting facts by brainstorming together.4 Carry out the debate in class. You may refer to the strategies of making an argument.

• Writing

– Writing a literature review

– Writing tasks

Unit 3Unemployment

Writing

Unit 3Unemployment

Literature review Reviewing literature often involves summarizing

the reading. Here are some basic steps for making a summary.

• Find the main ideas which are often to be found in topic sentences.

• Delete details and examples, unimportant or subsidiary information, anecdotes, illustrations, data etc.

• Rearrange words and sentences. Combine your notes into a piece of continuous writing.

WritingUnit 3Unemployment

Literature review

• In literature review what is most important however is not summarizing for its own sake. You summarize others’ work either to support your points or to criticize the work before you introduce your points.

• In the end remember to make sure your purpose of summarizing is clear, the meaning is the same with the original, the writing is your own, and acknowledge other people's work.

Writing

Summary of the research:______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.

Conclusion:________________________________________________________________________________________________________.

Unit 3Unemployment

Writing tasks

Complete the following notes about how the author of the sample literature review summarizes and synthesizes the previous research.

the experiment

The writing summarizes Charness and Dufwenberg’s experiment. It details the background, methods, conclusions, and limitations of

renders it possible for the researcher to develop a research design The limitations of Charness and Dufwenberg’s experiment study

Do the following tasks:

1. Find out main points of Text A ;

2. Preview Task1 and Task 2 on page 73;

3. Mark the specialized vocabulary and explain them.

4. Underline the collocations you think important.

Get ready for Unit 4Unit 3Unemployment

学术英语社科 Academic English for Social Sciences. 3 Unemployment Unemployment has been a...

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Transcript of 学术英语社科 Academic English for Social Sciences. 3 Unemployment Unemployment has been a...

学术英语 社科 Academic English for Social Sciences. 3 Unemployment Unemployment has been a...

Documents

Transcript of 学术英语 社科 Academic English for Social Sciences. 3 Unemployment Unemployment has been a...

学术英语社科 Academic English for Social Sciences. 3 Unemployment Unemployment has been a...

Transcript of 学术英语社科 Academic English for Social Sciences. 3 Unemployment Unemployment has been a...