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近年来,「公务员」成了越来越多年轻人的职业选择。
国家公务员局网站发布的数据显示,2022年,国考的平均竞争比为68:1,在最热门的十大岗位中,报录比最高达20813:1。
现在年轻人为何纷纷选择考公?上周《经济学人》的一篇文章讨论了这一现象,我从中精选了语言点比较丰富的一段话,带同学们读一读。
2.「不稳定的」除了unstable还可以怎么说?同学们先独立阅读原文,读不懂的地方不要紧,后面会逐句讲解。
When job prospects turn precarious, job aspirations turn conservative. College-leavers now crave stable jobs over dynamic ones. State-owned enterprises are their first choice, preferred by 44%, according to Zhaopin. Private enterprises lost popularity. Young people also seem keen to join the civil service. They have displayed a similar enthusiasm for the civil-service entrance exam (or kaogong) as they have shown for the postgraduate test. There were 46 civil-service test-takers per opening in the most recent exam, according to the government. Luo Zhiheng, an economist at Yuekuai Securities, describes the rush to take the test as “kaogong fever”. He contrasts it with the confidence with which civil servants quit their safe, dry jobs in the 1990s to dive “into the sea” of private employment.①When job prospects turn precarious, job aspirations turn conservative. 当就业前景不再明朗,人们的求职意向也开始趋于保守。- ✍🏻 语篇分析:①句描述一个普遍规律:当就业前景不明朗,人们求职意向会趋向保守。
- turn 此处是个系动词,指「变得,变为」,后面可跟形容词。
- prospects 为复数名词,指「前景,前途」(the chances of being successful)。job prospects 便指「就业前景」。「前景好」,我们可以说:bright / good prospects。「前景不好」,一般用:bleak / dim / poor prospects 我们再来看美剧&电影里的两个例子:
Roger would call me up to New York to dangle prospects.
I'm 27 years old. I've no money and no prospects. precarious [prɪ'keəriəs] 本义为「摇晃的,不稳的」,还可喻指「不稳定的,危险的」(A precarious situation is likely to get worse),与stable相对。
以后我们想表达「不稳定的工作」,也可以用precarious jobs 这个词。
再举一个电影《泰坦尼克号》里的例子:
This is not a game. Our situation is precarious.
- aspiration [aspəˈreɪʃən] 指 「渴望,抱负,志向」(a strong desire to have or do sth),常以复数形式出现。比如:political aspirations 政治抱负。
- aspire [əˈspʌɪə] 为动词,指「追求,渴望,有志于」(to desire and work towards achieving something important)。短语 aspire to do sth, aspire to sth 指「有志于某事」。
分别看几个例子:
She aspired to a scientific career. 她有志于科学事业。
《经济学人》一篇关于B站的文章有这样一句话:Instead of promising to change the world, the firm aspires merely to “enrich the everyday life of young generations in China”.它没有宣扬要改变世界,仅仅是希望“丰富中国当代年轻人的日常生活”。
aspirant 作形容词,指「野心勃勃的」,作名词表示「有抱负者、雄心勃勃的人」(an ambitious and aspiring young person)。
aspiring [əˈspaɪərɪŋ] 为形容词,指「有抱负的,有志向的」(hoping to be successful in a particular job, activity, or way of life)。比如:
Many aspiring young artists are advised to learn by copying the masters.
许多胸怀抱负的年轻画家被建议通过临摹大师的作品来学习绘画。
- conservative [kənˈsəːvətɪv] 作形容词,指「保守的,守旧的」(not liking changes or new ideas)。
- conservative 作名词,则表示「保守的人」,也可指「保守党」。
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②College-leavers now crave stable jobs over dynamic ones.高校毕业生如今更渴望稳定的工作,而非有活力的工作。
- ✍🏻 语篇分析:②句承接①句,具体说明目前大学毕业生的求职意向:更加渴望稳定的工作,而非有活力的工作。
- 近义词还有long for sth, yearn for sth, desire sth,都可以替换want sth very much。
- craving [ˈkreɪvɪŋ] 为可数名词,指「渴望,热望」(an extremely strong desire for something)。a craving for sth 指「对…的渴望」。比如: She had a craving for some chocolate. 她很想吃点巧克力。
- over 这个介词,可表示「更喜欢」(if you choose one thing over another, you choose that thing rather than the other)。比如:crave A over B 指「渴望A多于渴望B」。choose A over B 指「选择A,而不选择B」。比如:I always choose the fish over the meat courses in this restaurant. 在餐厅我永远指点鱼,不点其他肉。
- dynamic 为形容词,指「有活力的」。dynamic jobs 指「有活力但不太稳定的工作」,是一个高频搭配,同学们积累下来。反义词则是:secure / stable jobs。
③State-owned enterprises are their first choice, preferred by 44%, according to Zhaopin. ④Private enterprises lost popularity.智联招聘调研数据显示,国企是毕业生首选,占比达44%,民营企业已不再受欢迎。- ✍🏻 语篇分析:③引用数据,说明国企成首选。④句对比:私企不再受欢迎。
- state-owned enterprises 为「国有企业」,可以缩写为SOEs。
- private enterprises 指「私营企业」相对。enterprise 也可改写成company或firm。
- 「事业单位」则叫作 public institutions。
- enterprise [ˈɛntəprʌɪz] 为可数名词,指「公司,组织,企业」(a company, organization, or business),比如:state-owned /public enterprise 国有企业 / 公共事业单位,small and medium-sized enterprises 中小型企业。
- My first choice of college was Stanford. 我的第一志愿是斯坦福大学。Greece was our first choice for a vacation, but all the flights were full. 希腊是我们度假的首选,但是所有航班机票都卖完了。
- popularity 来源于形容词popular,指「普及;流行」(the state of being liked, enjoyed or supported by a large number of people)。
⑤Young people also seem keen to join the civil service. ⑥They have displayed a similar enthusiasm for the civil-service entrance exam (or kaogong) as they have shown for the postgraduate test. 年轻人似乎也乐于加入政府部门,他们对公务员考试(“考公”)表现出与考研类似的热情。- ✍🏻 语篇分析:⑤⑥句指出求职意向转变的另一表现:考公热兴起。
- the civil service 指「政府文职机构,行政部门」。
- civil servant 指「公务员,文职人员」。
- the civil-service entrance exam 也就是我们所说的「公务员考试」。
- be keen to do sth / be keen on doing sth指「热衷于做某事,渴望做某事」(wanting to do sth or wanting sth to happen very much),可替换我们熟悉的be eager to do sth。《南华早报》一篇关于生育率的文章也用到了这个词:Why aren’t young people keen on having children these days? 为什么如今的年轻人不再热衷于生育了呢?
- display [dɪˈspleɪ] 为动词,指「显示,显露」(to clearly show a feeling, attitude, or quality by what you do or say),后面常跟某种情感、态度,可替换基础词show。比如:She displayed no emotion on the witness stand. 她在证人席上面无表情。
⑦There were 46 civil-service test-takers per opening in the most recent exam, according to the government.根据政府发布的数据,在最近一次公务员考试中,平均每个岗位有 46 人报名。
per [pɜːr] 为介词,指「每」(for each)。比如:per hour 每小时 per head 每个人
opening 为可数名词,指「职位的空缺」(An opening is a job that is available.)。
比如:We don't have any openings now, but we'll call you if something comes up.我们现在没有职位空缺,一旦有的话我们会给你打电话。
⑧Luo Zhiheng, an economist at Yuekuai Securities, describes the rush to take the test as “kaogong fever”.来自Yuekuai证券的经济学家罗智恒(音)将人们一窝蜂参加公考的现象描述为「考公热」。
- ✍🏻 语篇分析:⑧引用一位专家的话,指出这一现象被称为考公热。
- rush 作动词,指「冲」,作名词,可表示「冲向...的热潮」。短语the rush to do sth 即「做...的热潮」。文中the rush to take the test 便指「参与考试的热潮」,即「考公热」。再举个例子:the rush to put computers in all schools 给所有学校都安装电脑的热潮。
- fever [ˈfiːvə] 为名词,不仅可指「发烧」,还可喻指「激动,狂热,兴奋」(a state of great excitement)。看过《老友记》的同学都知道,Monica很喜欢小孩,有一次Chandler恐婚症发作,就吐槽Monica有宝宝狂爱症:have a baby fever。
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craze [kreɪz] 为crazy的名词形式,也可表示「一时的狂热」。
我们平时说「XX热」,可以译为n.+ craze。比如:
「考研热」:the graduate exam craze
「直播热」:the live-streaming craze。
考研英语里还考过一个词mania,也可表示「...狂,...热」,来自于形容词mad。
比如:Keep-fit mania has hit some of the girls in the office.办公室部分女孩中兴起了健身热。
⑨ He contrasts it with the confidence with which civil servants quit their safe, dry jobs in the 1990s to dive “into the sea” of private employment.他将其与20世纪90年代公务员离开稳定枯燥的岗位,信心满满奔赴私企的「下海潮」做对比。
- ✍🏻 语篇分析:⑨句承接⑧句,指出专家将「考公热」和曾经的「下海热」对比,形成强烈反差,说明就业环境确实发生了巨大变化,与本段开头相呼应。
- 句子的主干是:He contrasts it with the confidence什么自信呢?后面有一个with which引导的定语从句,修饰the confidence:with which civil servants quit their safe, dry jobs in the 1990s to dive “into the sea” of private employment which 为关系词,指代confidence,在定语从句中充当介词with的宾语。我们把先行词代入到句子,把定语从句再单独拎出来,句子即:Civil servants quit their safe, dry jobs in the 1990s to dive “into the sea” of private employment [with the confidence]。
- 这里safe, dry jobs 便是用逗号连接了两个形容词,修饰jobs,指「稳定、无聊的工作」。
- contrast A with B 指「对比A和B」。
- A contrasts with B 指「A和B有明显差异,A和B对比鲜明」。
- contrast [ˈkɑːn.træst] 还可作名词,指「明显的差异;对照」。短语 by contrast 和 in contrast 指「相比之下」。我们在作文里可以用这个词引出对比。
- 比如《经济学人》一篇分析印度是否能代替中国的文章曾引用研究称:China was the most dominant trading country since imperial Britain. India, by contrast, is a trade minnow. 中国是自大英帝国以来最具主导地位的贸易国。相比之下,印度只是一个贸易小国。[写作推荐]
- 如果我们想表达具体「与...相比」,可以说:In contrast to A, B...注意这个短语的潜台词是「B与A不同」。
- 比如考研英语一2016年 Text 1 里有这样一句话:In contrast to France’s actions, Denmark’s fashion industry agreed last month on rules and sanctions regarding the age, health, and other characteristics of models. 与法国的举措不同,丹⻨时尚行业上个月就关于模特年龄、健康及其他特征的规定和处罚达成了一致。[写作推荐]
- dry 为形容词,在这里指「乏味的,无趣的」(boring, very serious, and without humour),类似于中文里的「干巴巴」。比如:In schools, science is often presented in a dry and uninteresting manner. 在学校里,科学往往用枯燥乏味的方式来讲授。
- dry 还可指「无酒的,禁酒的」比如:Kuwait’s a dry country. 科威特是个禁酒的国家。
Yeah, I had a feeling this was gonna be a dry wedding. - run dry 原本指河流「干涸,枯竭」,比如:The wells in most villages in the region have run dry. 这个地区多数村庄的水井都已干涸。现在可引申为指「耗尽」。比如:Vaccine supplies started to run dry as the flu outbreak reached epidemic proportions. 由于流感爆发已大肆流行,疫苗供应开始消耗殆尽。[熟词僻义]
- dive 本来是「跳水」的意思,dive “into the sea” 说的便是改革开放后公职人员辞职下海的现象。
- dive 还可指「暴跌,突然下降」(to fall suddenly).
我们在东航坠机事件这篇文章还遇见一个词:
nosedive [ˈnəʊzdaɪv] 鼻子朝下的跳水,指「俯冲」,非常有冲击力画面感的一个词。它既可作名词,也可作动词。
nosedive和dive一样,可用来表示价格、费用、状况「暴跌,急剧下跌」。比如:Building costs have nosedived. 建筑费用猛跌下来。
再来看电影《爱在日落黄昏后》里的一个例子:男主说女主没有赴约,自己的人生一落千丈,一蹶不振,他就用的nosedive这个词。
I flew all the way over there, you blew the thing off. My life's been a big nosedive since, but it is not a problem.
- private employment 指「私营部门」,相当于the private sector。联合国文件里有一句话也用到了这个词:They have equal rights and duties in public or private employment and, in particular, the right to equal pay. 不论在公共还是私营部门,男女均享有平等的权利,尤其是平等的报酬权。
When job prospects turn precarious, job aspirations turn conservative. College-leavers now crave stable jobs over dynamic ones. State-owned enterprises are their first choice, preferred by 44%, according to Zhaopin. Private enterprises lost popularity. Young people also seem keen to join the civil service. They have displayed a similar enthusiasm for the civil-service entrance exam (or kaogong) as they have shown for the postgraduate test. There were 46 civil-service test-takers per opening in the most recent exam, according to the government. Luo Zhiheng, an economist at Yuekuai Securities, describes the rush to take the test as “kaogong fever”. He contrasts it with the confidence with which civil servants quit their safe, dry jobs in the 1990s to dive “into the sea” of private employment.当就业前景不再明朗,人们的职业理想也开始趋向保守。高校毕业生如今更渴望稳定的工作,而非有活力的工作。国企是毕业生的首选,招聘网的数据显示,44%的大学生青睐国企。私营企业已不再受欢迎。年轻人似乎也乐于加入政府部门,他们对公务员考试(“考公”)表现出与考研类似的热情。政府数据显示,在最近的一次考试中,平均每个岗位有 46 人报名。来自Yuekuai证券的经济学家罗智恒(音)将人们一窝蜂参加公考的现象描述为「公考热」,并将其与20世纪90年代公务员离开稳定枯燥的岗位,信心满满奔赴私企的「下海潮」做对比。就业前景:job prospects
前景好:bright / good prospects
前景不好:bleak / dim / poor prospects
职业理想:job aspirations
保守的:conservative
大学毕业生:college-leavers, university-leavers, graduates
有活力的工作:dynamic jobs
不稳定的工作:precarious jobs
稳定的工作:stable / secure jobs
稳定无趣的工作:dry, safe jobs
国有企业:state-owned enterprises
私营企业:private enterprises
事业单位:public institutions
首选:first choice
加入政府部门:join the civil service
公务员;文职人员:civil servant
公务员考试:the civil-service entrance exam
职位的空缺:openings
做某事的热潮,对…的狂热:the rush to do sth
私营部门:private employment
考研热:the graduate exam craze
🔖 高频短语
渴望:crave sth
渴望A多于渴望B:crave A over B
选择A,而不选择B:choose A over B
- 对…的热情:the enthusiasm for sth / doing sth
- 赶忙 / 赶紧做某事:rush to do sth
- 热衷于做某事,渴望做某事:be keen to do sth / be keen on doing sth对比A和B:contrast A and / with B
... 热:n.+ craze, n+fever, n+mania
🔖 实用句型
某事物越来越受欢迎:sth is growing in / gaining popularity.
某事物不再受欢迎:sth loses popularity (among sb)
相比之下:by contrast
与A相比,B:In contrast to A, B...
🔖 语法点
介词+关系代词引导的定语从句
两个并列形容词可以用逗号连接
这周的外刊精读专栏就到这里!同学们记得点击在看👀,点赞👍,不错过下一次更新![]()