In 1950, a young man would have found it much easier than it is today to get and keep a job in the auto industry. And in that year the average autoworker could meet monthly mortgage (抵押贷款) payments on an average home with just 13.4 percent of his take-home pay. Today a similar mortgage would claim more than twice that share of his monthly earnings.
Other members of the autoworker's family, however, might be less inclined to trade the present for the past. His retired parents would certainly have had less economic security back then. Throughout much of the 1960s, more than a quarter of men and women age 65 and older lived below the poverty level, compared to less than 10 percent in 2010.
In most states, his wife could not have taken out a loan or a credit card in her own name. In 42 states, a homemaker had no legal claim on the earnings of her husband. And nowhere did a wife have legal protection against family violence.
Most black workers would not want to return to a time when, on average, they earned 40 percent less than their white counterparts (职位相对的人), while racially restrictive agreements largely prevented them from buying into the suburban neighborhoods being built for white working-class families.
Today, new problems have emerged in the process of resolving old ones, but the solution is not to go back to the past. Some people may long for an era when divorce was still hard to come by. The spread of no-fault divorce has reduced the bargaining power of whichever spouse is more interested in continuing the relationship. And the breakup of such marriages has caused pain for many families.
The growing diversity of family life comes with new possibilities as well as new challenges. According to a recent poll, more than 80 percent of Americans believe that their current family is as close as the one in which they grew up, or closer. Finding ways to improve the lives of the remaining 20 percent seems more realistic than trying to restore an imaginary golden age.
"Don't take many English courses; they won't help you get a decent job." "Sign up for management classes, so you'll be ready to join the family business when you graduate." Sound (1) ______? Many of us have heard suggestions like these (2) ______ by parents or others close to us. Such comments often seem quite reasonable.
Why, then, should suggestions like these be taken with (3) ______? The reason is they relate to decisions you should make. You are the one who must (4) ______ their consequences.
One of the worst reasons to follow a particular path in life is that other people want you to.
Decisions that affect your life should be your decisions-decisions you make after you've considered various (5) ______ and chosen the path that suits you best.
Making your own decisions does not mean that you should (6) ______ the suggestions of others. For instance, your parents do have their own unique experiences that may make their advice helpful, and having (7) ______ in a great deal of your personal history, they may have a clear view of your strengths and weaknesses. Still, their views are not necessarily accurate.
They may still see you as a child, (8) ______ care and protection. Or they may see only your strengths. Or, in some unfortunate cases, they may (9) ______ your flaws and shortcomings.
People will always be giving you advice. Ultimately, though, you have to make your own (10) ______.
Some managers have noticed recently that the employees in the company are taking advantage of the policy of having breaks. The workers have two l5-minute breaks per (1) ________. However, the two breaks are lasting (2) ________ as 25 to 30 minutes each. The workers complain that the factory work is so (3) ________ that they need longer breaks. Also the dining hall is so (4) ________ that it takes too long to walk there and back. But the company is losing hundreds of work hours each year. Should employees be paid for the time they are not working? The general manager has to call a meeting to (5) ________ this matter.
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In the humanities, authors write to inform you in many ways. These methods can be (1) _______ into three types of informational writing: factual, descriptive, and process.
Factual writing provides (2) _______ information on an author, composer, or artist or on a type of music, literature, or art. Examples of factual writing include notes on a book jacket or (3) _______ cover and longer pieces, such as an article describing a style of music which you might read in a music (4) _______ course. This kind of writing provides a (5) _______ for your study of the humanities.
As its name (6) _______, descriptive writing simply describes, or provides an (7) _______ of, a piece of music, art, or literature. For example, descriptive writing might list the colors an artist used in a painting or the (8) _______ a composer included in a musical composition, so as to make pictures or sounds in the reader’s mind by calling up specific details of the work. (9) _______________________.
Process writing explains a series of actions that bring about a result. (10) __________________. This kind of writing is often found in art, where understanding how an art has created a certain effect is important. (11) _____________________________.