Last week I talked with some of my students about what they wanted to do after they graduated, and what kind of job prospects they thought they had.
Given that I teach students who are training to be doctors, I was surprised to find that most thought that they would not be able to get the jobs they wanted without “outside help”. “What kind of help is that?” I asked, expecting them to tell me that they would need a relative or family friend to help them out.
“Surgery(外科手术)”, one replied.
I was pretty alarmed by that response. It seems that the graduates of today are increasingly willing to go under the knife to get ahead of others when it comes to getting a job.
One girl told me that she was considering surgery to increase her height. “They break your legs, put in special extending screws, and slowly expand the gap between the two ends of the bone as it re-grows, you can get at least 5 cm taller!”
At that point, I was shocked. I am short, I can’t deny that, but I don’t think I would put myself through months of agony(痛苦) just to be a few centimeters taller. I don’t even bother to wear shoes with thick soles, as I’m not trying to hide the fact that I am just not tall!
It seems to me that there is a trend toward wanting “perfection”, and that is an ideal that just does not exist in reality.
No one is born perfect, yet magazines, TV shows and movies present images of thin, tall, beautiful people as being the norm. Advertisements for slimming aids, beauty treatments and cosmetic surgery clinics fill the pages of newspapers, further creating an idea that “perfection” is a requirement, and that it must be purchased, no matter what the cost.
In my opinion, skills, rather than appearance, should determine how successful a person is in his chosen career.
小题1:We can know from the passage that the author works as ________.
A．a doctor
B．a model
C．a teacher
D．a reporter小题2:Many graduates today turn to cosmetic s surgery to ________.
A．marry a better man\woman
B．become a model
C．get an advantage over others in job-hunt
D．attract more admirers小题3:According to the passage, the author believes that ________.
A．everyone should purchase perfection, whatever the cost
B．it’s right for graduates to ask for others to help them out in hunting for jobs
C．it is one’s appearance instead of skills that really matters in one’s career
D．media are to blame for misleading young people in their seeking for surgery小题4:The best title for the passage should be “________”.
A．Young Graduates Have Higher Expectation
B．Young Graduates Look to Surgery for Better Jobs
C．Young Graduates’ Opinion About Cosmetic Surgery
D．Young Graduates Face a Different Situation in Job-hunt
