20. (20170909) Your friends have the opportunity to choose either one of two types of majors (fields of study). Which one of the following two majors do you think is a better choice, and why?

— A major that would allow him to finish years of study and get a degree sooner (so that he would begin to work full-time quickly).

— A major that requires many years of study that would provide him with more employment opportunities and offers in the future.

头脑风暴

你认为你的朋友该选择下列哪种专业？

——可以更早毕业，拿到学位，更早开始全职工作的专业。

——需要更长时间的学习，但未来的就业机会会更多的专业。

我们来分析两种选择的优缺点。

更早：

优点：可以节省学费，更早地获得经济独立；更早参加工作意味着可以积累更多的工作经验。

缺点：修习的时间不够，可能导致学业不精。

更晚：

优点：在自己的专业领域内积累更多的知识，为以后的工作打下更坚实的基础；更多的就业机会意味着更多的选择，可以挑选一个最适合自己的。

缺点：经济独立更晚，给家里造成更大的负担。

范文思路

论点：应该选择需要更长时间的学习，但未来的就业机会会更多的专业。

理由一：积累更多的专业知识。

理由二：毕业后有更多的选择。

理由三：针对经济负担，可以通过做兼职来解决。

范文文本

As we are entering an era with gradually increasing pace of life, a type of major that allows earlier graduation has come into light. If my friend were to choose between such a major and one that requires more years of study but offers more employment opportunities upon graduation, I would still recommend that he choose the more old fashioned major, namely, the latter, provided that he is equally passionate about both.

First of all, more years of study provide him the opportunity to amass more knowledge in his professional field before entering the job market. Nowadays, as we place more and more attention on the bachelor's degree itself, rather than what that degree represents, a swarm of unqualified college graduates have entered the job market, unable to meet the requirements of their employers due to their insufficient skills, thus disappointing their superiors and damaging the reputation of the new generation. This is an especially common phenomenon for graduates with a computer science degree. As a career in programming becomes more and more desirable over the years, an increasing amount of students rush into universities, studying computer science. However, not all of them have what it takes to become qualified employees after they graduate, and a large part of the reason lies in being able to obtain a degree without meeting a rigorous standard. As a result, I tend to believe that acquiring more knowledge and forging more skills is a great fruit yielded by more years of study.

Second of all, with more employment opportunities, they have the ability to choose the most suitable job for themselves. I consider this imperative because without such a choice, a person could end up in a position that he loathes so deeply that it makes his entire life a misery. For example, my uncle graduated with a degree in a particular field in engineering and had no choice but to become a mechanic for a local manufacturer. For years he has complained about how miserable he is at work and how he would give up anything to switch to another job. However, right now, engineering is the only thing he knows and thus it would be impossible for him to locate another job in which he would qualify. His constant whining and negative attitude eventually drove my aunt away and now he has become a lonely and grumpy old man. I am fairly certain that my friend would not want to end up like my uncle, which is why I recommend the major with more employment opportunities.

Admittedly, a delayed graduation could add to the financial burden on my friend and his family. However, I believe that he can solve such an issue by finding a part-time job in his junior or senior years to alleviate the financial stress. For example, as an English major, he could be a translator or an interpreter for international corporations; as an engineering major, he could find a paid internship at Google or Facebook in order to earn a few extra dollars. If it turns out that he has trouble finding a part-time job related to his professional field, he could always do so on campus as a librarian or a waiter at the university cafeteria. All in all, financial burden should not be the obstacle that discourages him from pursuing his major.

In a nutshell, due to the aforementioned reasons, I believe that he should pursue a major that requires more years to graduate but provides more job offers in the future.

语料积累

place more attention on 更加关注

a swarm of 一大群的

imperative 必要的

drive sb. away 把某人赶走（有时指离婚）

grumpy 脾气暴躁的，爱抱怨的

alleviate 减轻

aforementioned 上述的