20090820 -- For Love or Money (1)

For Love or Money

Is it more important to work at a job that pays well or one that makes you happy?

Every day millions of people wake up, get dressed and go to work. For some, time spent on a project at work is the highlight of their day, but for others, the happiness doesn't come until payday. The average worker spends about 2,140 hours a year at work. Should all this time spent working bring joy to the soul or should it just be endured for the benefits the money brings?

Conversation A

Beth: Hey, Adam. I'm worried about my sister Courtney. She's in college and has just declared art as her major.
Adam: Why does that worry you? I've seen her stuff. She's very talented.

Beth: I know. But I'm afraid that once she graduates she won't be able to make ends meet. Most artists only make about 60 percent of what the average worker makes a year. Plus, it's harder for art majors to find full-time work. But she doesn't seem too concerned.

Adam: But you're forgetting that there's more to choosing a career than making money. Countney loves art and that's what's important. Even if she's not rolling in dough, she'll be happy and emotionally satisfied.

Beth: But she'll have bills to pay. It's going to be hard for her to sustain a decent lifestyle on what an artist makes.



highlight n. 最重要的部份/最精采的部份
=> the most exciting/interesting
eg: Carl has laugh every Friday with his best friend, Tom. It's the highlight of his week.
eg: Visiting the Eiffel Tower is one of the highlights of the city tour of Paris.
eg: Highlights of the football game will be shown on the evening news.

make ends meet 收支相抵
=> have enough money to buy the things that you need
eg: The poor farmer has to work in the fields every day just to make ends meet.


dough n. (俚)錢/現款
roll in dough 很有錢/賺大錢
=> make a lot of money
eg: Ronnie is rolling in dough now that he owns three successful restaurants.
eg: Henry is now rolling in dough after the successful opening of his own computer company.
eg: Betty might be dressed simply, but actually she's rolling in dough.

decent 像樣的/還不錯的/過得去的
=> regular/normal
eg: As a musician, it is hard to make a decent wage unless you are very popular.
eg: This old lady lives in a decent apartment.
eg: The homeless child is now living in decent conditions with his foster family(寄養家庭).

decent adj. 正派的
eg: Eric finally found a decent job.

declare
=> choose

//== Chat room ==//

decent adj. 像樣的/還不錯的
a decent lifestyle 舒服的生活

descent n. 下降/降落
=> drop/fall

descent 血統/遺傳
=> ancestry
eg: of German-British descent 德國和英國的後裔

descendant

dissent v. 反對/不贊同
=> to disagree

//== Grammer on th go ==//

But you're forgetting that there's more to choosing a career than making money.

there's more to choosing something than something else
=> remind people to have a great perspective on something
=> sometimes it's easy to get trapped into a narrow way of thinking
=> when this happen, it's good to be reminded to take a wide of point of view
=> not to be so limited in our perspective

eg: There's more to being a good student than getting high test scores.
eg: There's more to be a pet-owner than giving your animal food and water.