“When I grow up， I want to be...”

    Almost all of us have thought about，or been asked to think about，our future careers. Our answers may differ greatly. Even now your aspirations(志向，抱负)may have changed from when you were in primary school.

    However，it seems that career choices aren't only based on personal taste. In a survey carried out by Teens， doctors，lawyers，and bankers were some of most popular careers that people said they hoped to follow. This is similar to a survey carried out in the UK in May 2016 by job website—Co.uk，in which medicine was the top choice among UK teenagers aged between 13 and 17.

    Medicine and law are two of the oldest and best known professions. Their prestige (威望) may come from the fact that doctors and lawyers are much­respected members of society，and they make good money. What's more， these professions are often seen as a sign of upward social class.

    It is equally unsurprising that banking is now one of the most common career choices. Youngsters worldwide think of banking and see the money rolling in. Wealth is increasingly becoming one of the most important indicators(标志) of a successful career.

    However，not every child has the makings of doctor， lawyer， or banker. They are those who see achievement and happiness in other areas. As the Teens' survey discovered，a variety of unconventional(非传统的) jobs—coffee shop owner，waiter at a fast food restaurant—are among teenagers' career choices. They can be equally interesting and rewarding jobs.

    With every choice comes responsibility and challenge，and all career paths require specific education and training，you have to learn to balance optimism(乐观主义)and confidence with being realistic about your particular talents and skills.

The University of Sheffield

English Language Teaching Center

Come and learn English in a safe, friendly city—Sheffield, close to a beautiful National Park.

We offer courses in:

Academic, General and Business English.

We provide :

A choice of homestay

Or residential accommodation

Plenty of leisure activities.

    Whether you want to study for a few weeks of a year, for university preparation, work of general interest, we have the course for you.

Contact us on: elt@sheffield. ac.uk

http://www.shef.ac.uk/eltc

    One of the latest trends（趋势） in American Childcare is Chinese au pairs. Au Pair in Stamford, Conn, for example, has got increasing numbers of request for Chinese au pairs from aero to around 4, 000 since 2004. And that's true all across the country.

    “I thought it would be useful for him to learn Chinese at an early age” Joseph Stocke, the managing director of a company, says of his 2-year old son. “I would at least like to give him the chance to use the language in the future, ” After only six months of being cared by 25-year-old woman from China, the boy can already understand basic Chinese daily expressions, his dad says.

    Li Drake, a Chinese native raising two children in Minnesota with an American husband, had another reason for looking for an au pair from China. She didn't want her children to miss out on their roots. ” Because I am Chinese, my husband and I wanted the children to keep exposed to(接触) the language and culture. ” she says.

    “Staying with a native speaker is better for children than simply sitting in a classroom,” says Suzanne Flynn, a professor in language education of Children. ”But parents must understand that just one year with au pair is unlikely to produce wonders. Complete mastery demands continued learning until the age of 10 or 12. ”

    The popularity if au pairs from China has been strengthened by the increasing numbers of American parents who want their children who want their children to learn Chinese. It is expected that American demand for au pairs will continue to rise in the next few years.

    In this day and age taking a photograph is easier than ever. There are cameras built into our phones, computers, iPods…The way we share photos has also changed. There was a time when you'd print your photos and put them into photo albums, but because of the advance in technology, all in technology, all this has changed.

    Not only do we have what seems like an endless amount of space to store photos on our devices, but we also have the Internet, especially social media. Social networks such as Facebook allow us to post our pictures and albums to share friends and family.

    While you could argue this easy ability to store, share and enjoy photos is fantastic, it could also be said that photographs have lost some of their meaning. I have over 1000 pictures on my smart phone and several thousand stored on my computer. I love posting my pictures on Facebook. Sometimes, however, I try to ask myself, will I really want to look back at this picture of a coffee or a selfie taken in a bathroom by myself? Probably not.

    Even though I'm guilty about sometimes taking meaningless and boring pictures like this, a couple of years ago, I decided to find a way to make my photographs more meaningful. How did I do this? Disposable （一次性）cameras! When I go on a trip, I always try to take a disposable camera. With only 27 pictures you can take, you really think about the photograph straight away. And finally, it's so much fun to get the pictures developed and look through them again.

    I admit that I couldn't live without social media or taking photographs with my smart phone, but I do think taking photographs has become less meaningful. That's why I'll continue using disposable cameras. It's a great way to make your photographs more meaningful.

    "Be proud of what you do"(对你所做的感到骄傲), my father always told me, "whether you are a boss （老板）or a cleaner", When I was 15, I got a summer job in a hospital, I was told that my duties would include sweeping floors. I smiled and remembered Dad's words. Even though my job was the lowest, it made me feel excited. I saw it as a challenge because it was my first job. I learned to be on time and tried to do everything well. In return(作为回报), I was treated with respect（尊重） by doctors, nurses and patients. Each morning I imagined that the dirty dishes would make patients more sick if I were not there to wash them clean. After breakfast was done, I started sweeping the floors of all patient rooms and cleaning toilets. Though I was tired, I wanted the job to be done well, people would say, "That young boy really does a good job." That gave me a pride. Working in the hospital taught me that being proud of one's job is important. It does not matter whether the job is sweeping floors or managing a large business. Though every job I have ever had, my father's words have always stayed with me, I have swept floors, and I have been a manager（经理）. I think Dad would be proud of me!

    According to official government figures, there are more than twice as many kangaroos as people in Australia, and many Australians consider them pests(有害动物). Landholding farmers say that the country's estimated 50 million kangaroos damage their crops and compete with livestock for scarce resources. Australia's insurance industry says that kangaroos are involved in more than 80 percent of the 20,000-plus vehicle-animal collisions reported each year. In the country's underpopulated region, the common belief is that kangaroo numbers have swollen to “plague proportions."

    In the absence of traditional hunters, the thinking goes, killing kangaroos is critical to balancing the ecology and boosting the rural economy. A government-sanctioned(政府认可的) industry, based on the commercial harvest of kangaroo meat and hides, exported $29 million in products in 2017 and supports about 4,000 jobs. Today meat, hides, and leather from kangaroos have been exported to 56 countries. Global brands such as Nike, Puma, and Adidas buy strong, supple “k-leather" to make athletic gear. And kangaroo meat is finding its way into more and more grocery stores.

    Advocates point out that low-fat, high-protein kangaroo meat comes from an animal more environmentally friendly than greenhouse gas-emitting sheep and cattle. John Kelly, former executive director of the Kangaroo Industry Association of Australia, says, “Harvesting our food and fibers from animals adapted to Australia's fragile rangelands is extremely wise and sustainable. Many ecologists will tell you that there is no more humane way of producing red meat."

    Opponents(反对者) of the industry call the killing inhumane, unsustainable, and unnecessary. Population estimates are highly debatable, they say, but “plague proportions" are biologically implausible. Little kangaroos grow slowly, and many die, so kangaroo populations can expand by only 10 to 15 percent a year, and then only under the best of circumstances. Dwayne Bannon-Harrison, a member of the Yuin people of New South Wales, says the idea that kangaroos are destroying the country is laughable. “They've been walking this land a lot longer than people have," he says. “How could something that's been here for thousands of years be 'destroying' the country? I don't understand the logic in that."

    Can Australians' conflicting attitudes toward kangaroos be reconciled(和解)? George Wilson says that if kangaroos were privately owned, then graziers(放牧人)—working independently or through wildlife conservancies—would protect the animals, treating them as possessions. They could feed them, lease them, breed them and charge hunter a fee for access. “If you want to conserve something," Wilson says, “you have to give it a value. Animals that are considered pests don't have value."

    Privatization could also help reduce grazing pressures. If kangaroos were more valuable than cattle or sheep, farmers would keep less live-stock, which could be good for the environment. Under this scheme, landholders would work with the kangaroo industry on branding, marketing and quality control. The government's role would be oversight and regulation.