Reading Comprehension #4 - Upper-Intermediate

Read the article and complete the gaps (1–5) with the sentences (A–E).

Think carefully before you choose. The world of work has changed so much over the past couple of decades that it can often be quite challenging to decide which career path to follow. (0) Some people are very lucky and have a vocation. They know exactly what they want to do and have always done so. For others, however, the choices can be far harder to make. When you consider that you might well be spending fifty years in the workplace, as the retirement age rises, you will realise just how important it is to spend some time thinking about what it is you really want to do. Of course, we are not all lucky enough to have the ‘perfect’ job. How many people do you know who can honestly say they wake up every morning excited about the day ahead with all its demands and challenges? (1) _________________________ It’s more a case of ‘well it’s almost the weekend’. Most people would say that they just ‘fell’ into the line of work they’re doing. They knew someone who knew someone or they just happened to be in the right place at the right time. After that, there’s a natural progression. (2) ______________________ Increasingly, however, in this age of technology, people are choosing to work from home rather than going out to work. (3) ________________________________ It is an environment which needs to function, the only difference being that there you are likely to be working on your own, which in itself can be problematic if isolation does not suit your temperament. (4) _________________________________ You need to have a clear division between home as a place to relax and home as a place to work, ideally with a separate office so that you can shut the door at the end of the working day. This existence is not for everyone and is something that should be considered very carefully.  It is hard to predict how working patterns will change over the next twenty years as unemployment levels rise, but I imagine that the workplace as we know it will disappear as more and more people find new ways to work. (5) __________________________________ Only time will tell.

 

Complete the gaps (1–5) using these sentences (A–F). There is one extra sentence.

Some people are very lucky and have a vocation.

A One job leads to another and you acquire various skills along the way..

B Working from home means you have to be very disciplined and focused.

C Perhaps there will be a return to smaller communities becoming more self-sufficient.

D I for one, can’t think of anyone.

E And home is a ‘workplace’ in much the same way as the traditional workplace.

 

 

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