http://www.theguardian.

com/travel/2011/aug/19/gap-year-important-future-employment

Relax - a gap year's supposed to be fun

The despair-cobbled road to working life looms, so why be sensible now? Forget doing good work or
improving your CV – just have a blast.
5
Emma Kennedy , The Guardian, Friday 19 August 2011

Given that the current climate for the recently released graduate is akin to that of
an expendable crew member trapped in an airlock with the Predator, it's entirely
10 understandable that every last scrap of free time should be devoted to furthering
chances of future employment. The urge to hang around hopefully by the
photocopier at a City law firm or carry trays of coffee enthusiastically round an
advertising agency while sporting an impossible haircut must be overwhelming.
But to anyone experiencing this urge I say stop. Stop in your bloody tracks.

15 There is a good and fine reason why gap years are called gaps. They're supposed to
be what they say on the tin. They're a hiatus from the madness. You've just spent
every year since your memory began in formal education. You've been hunched
over books, writing essays and taking exams since TIME BEGAN.

You're probably a bit tired. Oh look. What's that in the distance? It's the dark and brambly pathway to the
20 rest of your working life. It's covered in the cobbles of despair and smells of boredom. Why in the name of
HELL do you want to get on it without tossing yourself to the wild winds of gay abandon first? Smash the
emergency glass, press the big red button and just STOP. Step off the Yellow Brick Road, get mixed up
with some flying monkeys and throw yourself into all manner of trouble. Trust me. IT'S YOUR LAST
CHANCE.

25 I took a gap year. I managed to be in an earthquake, got sprayed by a skunk and found myself in a never-
to-be-repeated scenario whereby I was kidnapped by a dwarf in a red Ferrari. I was penniless, had nothing
to sleep in and gave serious thought to actual begging. But this is what being young and stupid is about.

It's all part of the grand scheme of things. You've got the rest of your life to be sensible and responsible.
Let your hair down, say farewell to rhyme and reason and go and fling yourself on a bus. Chances are you
30 will learn more about yourself than you ever will sitting behind a desk sucking a ballpoint pen. You'll see
the world and you'll come home with a rucksack full of stories and experiences that you can draw on for
the rest of your life.

I had not one penny when I went on my gap year. I did a couple of jobs here and there to get me from A to
B but I was footloose and fancy-free. And I can happily declare that despite the hardship, despite the total
35 madness, I had the time of my tiny life. My gap year made me the person I am today and no amount of
work experience will ever give you the joy of a summer sprawling ahead of you with nothing but an open
road and not the first clue what you're going to do from one day to the next.

So forget about being sensible. Forget about money. You've got the rest of your life to earn that. Take a
deep breath and go wander through a meadow, swim an ocean, cross a desert, climb a mountain, traverse a
40 continent, come back broke and I can guarantee you'll be nothing but fulfilled and happy.
 Relax - a gap year's supposed to be fun
1) Find possible explanations for the following words.
to loom (l.3)  to get away to come closer to appear as a vague form, large and
threatening
45 akin to (l.8)  far from close to opposed to
an airlock (l.9) a compartment to go from one air pressure to another
 an air shortage when it’s difficult to breathe  a preventive device to avoid shocks
to sport (l.13) to display to be embarrassed about  to be happy
a hiatus (l.16) a break  a riddle  some help
50 brambly (l.19)  frightening  difficult hopeful
sprawling (l.36)  spread out  falling  threatening

2) Fill in with a word from the text

1. To get the most of a gap year, you need to ………………………………… into some skill-
55 developing activities.
2. He has always been ………………………..….: wise and cautious, taking the right decisions.
3. When you are able to do as you please, unconstrained by social ties or responsibilities, you are
…………………………………………………...
4. The …………………………… majority of students who took a gap year gained maturity.
60 5. The most amazing of all was that she ……………………………………. her dreams as well.
6. People reported being happier when engaged in what they were doing rather than allowing
their minds to ……………………………….

3) Explain these expressions and say what they reveal about the writer’s point of view.
65 The despair-cobbled road to working life looms (l.3)
They're a hiatus from the madness. (l.16)
Smash the emergency glass, press the big red button and just STOP. (l.21-22)

4) Check on the internet what these expressions refer to and thus, what they imply.
70 the Yellow Brick Road (l.22) flying monkeys (l.22)

5) Discuss:
This is what being young and stupid is about. (l.27)
Your working life (is) covered in the cobbles of despair and smells of boredom. (l.20)
75
6) Observe and compare, explain the differences in tenses.
You've just spent every year since your memory began in formal education.
You've been hunched over books, writing essays and taking exams since TIME BEGAN.
I took a gap year. I managed to be in an earthquake (and) got sprayed by a skunk.
80
7) Simple past/ present perfect?
1. The practice of taking time out ………………….. (develop) in the United Kingdom in the
1960s.
2. In 2010, taking a deferred year …………………… (increase) among school, college and
85 university leavers, as this is seen as an option for future career development.
3. In India, the practice of taking time out after secondary school education, popularly called a
drop year, ………………. (be) on a steep rise in recent years.
4. In the USA, taking a year out ……………………….. (recently/ become) slightly more
common for Americans, but it remains the exception.
 90 5. Some 40,000 Americans ………………………… (participate) in 2013 in sabbatical
programmes, an increase of almost 20% since 2006

95 1) FOR / SINCE?

2) Fill in with a word from the text

1. To get the most of a gap year, you need to toss yourself into some skill-developing activities.
100 2. He has always been sensible: wise and cautious, taking the right decisions.
3. When you are able to do as you please, unconstrained by social ties or responsibilities, you are
footloose and fancy-free.
4. The overwhelming majority of students who took a gap year gained maturity.
5. The most amazing of all was that she fulfilled her dreams as well.
105 People reported being happier when engaged in what they were doing rather than allowing their
minds to wander

The yellow brick road is an element in the novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The road functions as a guideline
110 for Dorothy to follow, as it leads to the Emerald City where the Wizard is.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, of enough impact between the books and the 1939 movie to have taken their own
place in popular culture, regularly referenced in comedic or ironic situations as a source of evil or fear.
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