For London-based Michelle Brideau, 10 years in the travel industry felt like an eternity(永恒). What started as low pay and high stress — but great perks(外快) — had evolved(進(jìn)化) into low pay, high stress, no perks and lots of competition from the internet. (開(kāi)始的時(shí)候收入低，壓力大，但是有不少外快，后來(lái)演變成了收入低，壓力大，卻沒(méi)有了外快，而且還要面臨來(lái)自因特網(wǎng)的巨大競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。)

　　Brideau was ready for a change. She considered running a mobile coffee cart for commuters(定期上下班的人)in her neighborhood but the idea of London winters spent outside quickly nixed(對(duì)……說(shuō)不;否決)those plans. (她考慮針對(duì)定期上下班的人搞一個(gè)咖啡推車(chē)，但是想到要在外面度過(guò)倫敦的冬天，她很快就否決了這些計(jì)劃。)She decided on a career in technology.

　　The problem: no experience.

　　At some point in almost everyone’s career comes the desire to change fields and try something completely different. But one of the most common stumbling blocks(絆腳石)to making a dramatic career change is a lack of experience in the new field. Gaining that experience often means taking what can feel like a giant step backwards in your career, whether it’s by re-entering the student world or signing on for an internship(見(jiàn)習(xí)). (為了獲得經(jīng)驗(yàn)，你要沒(méi)有重新進(jìn)入學(xué)生的世界，或者報(bào)名參加實(shí)習(xí)，這都會(huì)讓你感覺(jué)自己的事業(yè)往后退了一大步。)Choices like these can be financially draining(耗盡的) in the short term, but the long-term hope is that they will pay off before too long.

　　Back to basics

　　Brideau needed to learn to code if she was going to launch a career in technology. But she’d been under the impression it would take years of schoolwork to learn what she needed to in order to make the switch, she said in an email. Then she heard about the Makers Academy, a highly selective coding program in London that teaches web development. The intensive(密集的，高強(qiáng)度的) 10-week program, (it now costs £7200 and is three months long) meant Brideau was studying code whenever she “wasn’t eating or sleeping.”

　　With the coding experience under her belt, Brideau spent two months looking for the right job or internship. “I made sure to get out into the developer community as much as possible: meet ups, events, conferences, job fairs and such,” she said. “I also went to interviews, was invited to do code exercises as part of the job application process and I continued to study at home.”

　　Eventually, through the connections she made, Brideau landed a six-month paid code-writing internship at London-based Enternships, which places students and recent graduates in positions with starts ups(剛成立的公司) and small businesses. Once her internship is over, she hopes to find a position as a junior coder.

　　“The hardest part was taking the leap to doing something so completely different than I have ever done previously,” said Brideau. She likened(將……比作)it to the move she had made from Canada to the UK. “You keep moving forward with a lot of unanswered questions not knowing how it will all turn out until one day you find yourself at home in your new surroundings.”(你一直往前走，心里有很多無(wú)解的問(wèn)題，也不知道終點(diǎn)在哪里，直到有一天，你發(fā)現(xiàn)自己熟悉了新的環(huán)境。)

　　Internships represent one of the best ways to gain experience and get a foot in the door(加入，進(jìn)入) in today’s project-based economy, said Larry Stybel, a principal at Stybel Peabody & Associates Inc, a leadership coaching and senior outplacement firm in Waltham, Massachusetts.

　　It’s important to define your “compensation”(補(bǔ)償) before starting an internship, according to Stybel. It can be more than monetary(金錢(qián)的). “It could be a title for your resume or a commitment for a good reference,” he said. If you don’t ask for what you want, at some point you are going to “feel like you’re being taken advantage of.

　　Get experience in less time-intensive ways

　　Obviously, not everyone can afford to pay thousands of dollars or euros for a three-month class — or take the time off for coursework or a full-time internship. But you can still get valuable experience. Many jobs have become more project-oriented in recent years, said Stybel. So, for example, helping out or learning the ropes(找竅門(mén)，熟悉情況) by working on the company’s website, therefore, can be done during off hours or on the weekends and from home.

　　Work shadowing(跟學(xué)) and volunteer positions are other ways to build up experience without leaving your current position, according to Sab Byrne, online editor of Careershifters.org, a London-based career-change advice website. If someone in your organisation is working at a role that interests you, ask if you can shadow them for a few hours or offer to help out on a short-term project. You can also reach out to people in your networks or your university alumni association(校友會(huì)) for recommendations of people who might be willing to have you shadow them.

　　“People are generally amenable(順從的，愿意的)to this if they think you will help them, rather than get in the way,” said Byrne in an email. “This 'informal' work shadowing is a great way to build up contacts, test drive a career option to see if it is right for you and start to build up some experience.”

　　Another low-cost, low-time way to gain skills and experience: tutorial websites, both free and subscription-based, can help you become an “expert” in specific skills in a short time. Consider a tutorial on how to create a blog or website to showcase(展示) your work and expertise(專(zhuān)業(yè)技能).

　　“You could even create mini-projects for yourself that you treat as work to build up your portfolio(求職時(shí)的整套資料), so you have something to show employers,” said Byrne.

　　Vocabulary

　　eternity 永遠(yuǎn);永恒(eternal，永遠(yuǎn)的)

　　perk 外快;額外的收入

　　evolve 進(jìn)化

　　commuter 定期上下班的人

　　stumbling block 絆腳石

　　internship 實(shí)習(xí);見(jiàn)習(xí)

　　draining 耗盡的

　　intensive 高強(qiáng)度的;密集的

　　start up 剛開(kāi)的公司

　　liken ... to... 把......比作......

　　get a foot in the door in... 加入......

　　compensation 補(bǔ)償

　　monetary 金錢(qián)的

　　learn the ropes 學(xué)習(xí)竅門(mén)，熟悉情況

　　shadow sb. 跟學(xué)......

　　alumni 校友

　　amenable 順從的，愿意的

　　showcase 展示

　　expertise 專(zhuān)業(yè)知識(shí);專(zhuān)業(yè)技能

　　portfolio 求職的整套資料;檔案袋

　　Comprehension Questions

　　What do you think are the reason why people want to change their career?

　　Gaining experience can be very time-costly. What are the less time-intensive ways suggested by Byrne to gain work experience?

　　讀真題，記詞匯

　　1. Ghlorophyll, although exquisitely evolved to capture the energy of sunlight, can sometimes be overwhelmed by it, especially in situations of drought, low temperatures, or nutrient deficiency. (劍10T3P2)

　　參考譯文：葉綠素雖進(jìn)化為專(zhuān)門(mén)吸收太陽(yáng)能，但是尤其是在干旱、低溫或是養(yǎng)分不足的情況下，容易受損。

　　2. A modern hard-core sociobiologist might even go so far as to claim that this aggressive instinct evolved as an advantageous trait, having been of survival value to our ancestors in their struggle against the hardships of life on the plains and in the caves, ultimately finding its way into our genetic make-up as a remnant of our ancient animal ways.(劍5T1P2)

　　參考譯文：現(xiàn)代社會(huì)生物學(xué)家的中堅(jiān)分子甚至?xí)�稱(chēng)這種侵略性的本能是作為一種優(yōu)勢(shì)特征進(jìn)化而來(lái)的，當(dāng)我們的祖先在巖洞中和平原上與艱苦的生活作斗爭(zhēng)時(shí)，這種本能對(duì)他們的生存起到了重要的作用。因此，這種本能最終作為遠(yuǎn)古時(shí)人類(lèi)動(dòng)物行為的遺留產(chǎn)物融入到我們的基因當(dāng)中。

　　3. There appears to be a qualitative difference in the way the intellectually highly able think, compared with more average-ability or older pupils, for whom external regulation by the teacher often compensates for lack of internal regulation.(劍10T2P2)

　　參考譯文：相比于能力中等的學(xué)生或者更大的學(xué)生，智商高的學(xué)生的思考方式似乎有本質(zhì)上的差別，對(duì)于中等學(xué)生來(lái)說(shuō)，老師的外部監(jiān)管通常能彌補(bǔ)他們自控的不足。

　　4. This phenomenon has been emphasized by the relocation of some industries, particularly those which are labour intensive, to reduce production costs, even though the production site is hundreds or even thousands of kilometres away from the final assembly plant or away from users.(劍10T1P2)

　　參考譯文：一些企業(yè)為了減少生產(chǎn)成本而重新選址的做法強(qiáng)化了這個(gè)現(xiàn)象，特別是那些勞動(dòng)密集型的企業(yè)，即使生產(chǎn)地距離最后的裝配工廠或者消費(fèi)者幾百甚至幾千公里。