1.

Building Vocabulary and Study Skills

Focusing on Words from the Academic word List Fill in the blanks with words from the
Academic Word List in the box. When you finish, turn back to the reading, Paragraph 8, and
check your answers

areas economy jobs traditionally

benefits enormous labor varies
computer job secure
creating job security temporary

The situation ___________

1 from country to country, but in today's ___________
2 there is

generally less job security worldwide. Even in Japan, where people _________
3 had a very

_______ job for life, there is now no promise of a lifetime ___________with

5 the same company.
4

One reason for the lack of ________

6 is the worldwide decrease in manufacturing ___________
7 .

Another reason is employers' need to hold down costs. This has resulted in two

_________________changes
8 for the workforce. First, employers are ________________more
9 and

more ___________
11 jobs because they don't need to pay health insurance or other ___________to
10

employees in these positions, as they would to people in permanent posts. Second, more and more

companies are outsourcing. In other words, they are closing offices and factories and sending work

to other ___________of
12 the country or to other countries where _________
13
is cheaper. This

happens with factory work and __________

14 programming. Also, the call center industry is on the

move-mostly to India.

Answer key:
1) Varies
2) Economy
3) Traditionally
4) Secure
 5) Job
6) Job security
7) Jobs
8) Enormous
9) Creating
10) Temporary
11) Benefits
12) Areas
13) Labor
14) Computer

2. UNDERSTANDING AND CREATING ADJECTIVE AND NOUN PHRASES

Some words often appear together in phrases. In some phrases, there is a hyphen (-). If you have a
question about whether to use a hyphen, look up the word in a dictionary.
Example
Many people have to accept part-time jobs.
The last word of a phrase is usually a noun or an adjective. The first word may be anoun, an
adjective, or an adverb.

Example
city life (noun + noun)
social sciences (adjective + noun)
especially interesting (adverb + adjective)

Understanding Adjective and Noun Phrases In each sentence below, add a word to complete the
adjective or noun phrase. Choose from the following words:

career dream personnel unemployment

city job self
classified mass shopping
computer part traffic

1. He looked through ______________ the ads and hoped to find his _______ job.
2. In that country, the ....................'rate is very high, and many people have to accept
______________ time jobs temporarily. This sometimes causes depression and loss of
______________ confidence.
 3. Some advantages of ______________life are the ______________ centers and
______________ transit systems. A disadvantage, though, is the problem of
______________ jarns.
4. Because she likes technology, her ______________counselor told her about the many
possible .jobs in ______________ science.
5. When I began ______________ hunting last year, I put in my application at the
______________ office of many companies.

Answer key:
1) classified / dream
2) unemployment / part / self
3) city / shopping / mass / traffic
4) career / computer
5) job / personnel

3. UNDERSTANDING COMPOUND WORDS

Some words belong together in "compounds" (long words that consist of smaller words).

Example
I talked to a salesclerk at the supermarket.

Understanding Compound Words Read the compound words in Column A

below. Draw a line between the two words of each compound word. Then match the compound
words with the definitions in Column B. The first one is done as an example
Column A Column B
1. _______ over/seas a. terrible traffic jam
2. _______ drawback b. too much work
3. _______ overcrowding c. people who are working
4. _______ gridlock d. using the Internet
5. _______ worldwide e. disadvantage
6. _______ overwork f. improve
7. _______ workforce g. one's experience and education
8. _______ upgrade h. in another country across an
9. _______ online ocean
10. _______ background i. everywhere in the world
j. too many people in one place

Answer key:
1.h. over / seas
2. e. draw / back
3. j. over / crowding
4. a. grid / lock
5. i. world / wide
6. b. over / work
7. c. work / force
8. f. up / grade
9. d. on / line
10. g. back / ground