Total Pay

,555 - 0,988

很顯然，在美國教師的工資對比醫(yī)生和律師是不高的，以下有一段直接點明了這一點：

According to a 2006 study done by the National Education Association, 50% of teachers leave the profession within five years because of poor working conditions and low salaries.

除了國外老師的工資背景需要知道以外，還需要了解老師這個行業(yè)的福利條件，這樣寫作的時候思路就會相對較廣，比如針對第4題托福寫作考題，有時候不提高工資，提高福利也可以刺激到老師提高教學質量，如以下這一段：

Teacher’s contracts may include long-term disability insurance(長期傷殘保險), life insurance(人壽保險), and emergency/personal leave(應急事物/事假) and investment options(投資的選擇). Many teachers take advantage of the opportunity to increase their income by supervising after-school programs and other extracurricular activities(課外活動). In addition to monetary compensation(財政補償), public school teachers may also enjoy greater benefits (like health insurance健康險) compared to other occupations(職業(yè)). Merit pay systems(績效工資制度) are on the rise for teachers, paying teachers extra money based on excellent classroom evaluations, high test scores and for high success at their overall school. Also, with the advent of the internet, many teachers are now selling their lesson plans to other teachers through the web in order to earn supplemental income, most notably on http://TeachersPayTeachers.com

以上這段維基百科中對老師的描述中有一些詞組和詞匯意群可以供大家使用及參考，如welfare benefits: Long-term disability insurance(protect an employee from loss of income in the event that he or she is unable to work due to illness, injury, or accident for long period of time保護員工因為疾病、受傷或事故長時間無法工作), life insurance, and emergency/personal leave and investment options.(福利制度：保險，假期，投資)，并且已經(jīng)開始涉及托福具體寫作話題，如老師工資與學生表現(xiàn)掛鉤，并且很多學校已經(jīng)開始實施學生表現(xiàn)好就給老師額外的merit pay systems(績效)：paying teachers extra money based on excellent classroom evaluations, high test scores and for high success at their overall school。那么具體這樣做有哪些好處，怎樣針對第3題論證，我們看看老外又是如何描述的。

There is little doubt that to improve the education of public school students, the way teachers are recruited, educated, certified, hired, and tenured must be changed,” writes Rodney Clifton, a professor emeritus at the University of Manitoba and author of the report. “They must have incentives(激勵制度) to work diligently at helping students achieve academically. School level administrators, in turn, must have incentives to help teachers teach the core subjects well and to help other school personnel make valuable contributions to the students’ academic achievement.”

很顯然，這一段老外清晰的表達出了自己的觀點，老師的各種制度比如說入職，受教育，任期等等都應該改變，都應該圍繞著學生的學業(yè)表現(xiàn)來重新劃分獎勵機制，這樣有助于更好的幫助老師圍繞學生的學業(yè)展開教學。其中一些非常實用的表達有：“recruited, educated, certified, hired, and tenured must be changed(錄取，教育，資質評判，雇傭，任期)”，這句話中的“tenure”是指a contractual right of a teacher or professor not to have his or her position terminated without just cause(老師或教授不會因為不合理的理由被開除，也就是終身教授制度), “incentives to work diligently at helping students achieve academically(刺激他們更加勤奮地工作來幫助學生完成學業(yè))”，“teach the core subjects(教授核心知識)”，“school personnel(學校的人員)”。

2. 個人理財(personal finance)問題：

關于個人理財問題，這類考點不多，但是中國學生普遍不是很會寫，主要針對孩子是不是應該從小開始理財，高中要不要開設理財課，以及一般人們如何花錢比較合理這幾個方面展開的。那么為什么中國孩子不會寫呢，因為他們從小也沒有什么理財經(jīng)驗，都是爸媽給管著錢，所以一談到什么叫做personal finance management他們就傻眼了，文章中不斷出現(xiàn)這個詞組但是卻沒有充實的內容支撐。而相反，老外從小就開始培養(yǎng)孩子的獨立意識，其中一種獨立能力叫做自己管理自己的小金庫，一想到這，筆者就想起小時候學習新概念中的一篇文章“Fifty pence worth of trouble”的兩段：

Children always appreciate small gifts of money. Father, of course, provides a regular supply of pocket-money, but uncles and aunts are always a source of extra income. With some children, small sums go a long way. If sixpences are not exchanged for sweets, they rattle for months inside money-boxes.(在儲錢罐里嘎嘎作響好幾個月)Only very thrifty children manage to(成功做某事)fill up a money-box. For most of them, sixpence is a small price to pay for a satisfying bar of chocolate.

My nephew, George, has a money-box but it is always empty. Very few of the sixpences I have given him have found their way there. I gave him sixpence yesterday and advised him to save it. Instead, he bought himself sixpence worth of trouble. On his way to the sweet shop, he dropped his sixpence and it rolled along the pavement and then disappeared down a drain. George took off.

仔細分析一下這兩段簡直就是老外那些不會理財孩子蠢萌的表現(xiàn)，并且也不得不稱贊新概念文章中的語言還是經(jīng)典之經(jīng)典，開頭段那一連串的同義互換簡直就絕了：small gifts of money=a regular supply of pocket-money=a source of extra income=small sums=sixpences=Very few of the sixpences, 除此之外，“rattle”, “found their way there”, “sixpence worth of trouble”都非常形象和生動，學生如果能參照寫出如此生動的托福開頭或者中間的舉例段就再好不過了。

轉入正題，那么到底為什么要培養(yǎng)孩子的個人理財能力呢，理財具體包括什么內容呢，首先要知道孩子的理財我們先必須了解大人的理財行為是什么，我們來參考以下老外對于理財見解的原文(原文中有許多關于什么是personal finance management的介紹，解決了之前這個詞組在學生眼中的抽象性)：

1). Create an exact record of expenses over the next 30 days.(Make a List of Your Expenses: The first step in making a realistic budget(一個實際的預算) is figuring out where your money goes. To keep track, make an expense record(跟蹤，做消費記錄). Record every expense you pay by cash or cash equivalent -- check, ATM or debit card, or automatic bank withdrawal.(記錄下每一筆用現(xiàn)金或者使用支票，自動取款機取出來的錢，借記卡，或者自助銀行的取款)When you make a payment on a credit card bill(信用卡賬單), list the items paid for. At the end of the months, list seasonal, annual, semi-annual, or quarterly expenses (列出每季度，每年，每半年，每三個月的花費)you incur (引起)but did not pay during your month recording period.

2). Categorize your expenses. You may be amazed at how much money simply slips through your fingers(花錢如流水)right now. The most common are property taxes, car registration and maintenance, magazine subscriptions, tax preparation fees, insurance payments, and seasonal expenses such as summer camp fees or holiday gifts.(常見的花費主要是產權稅，車輛登記和維護，雜志訂閱，商品稅，保險金，還有些季度消費如假期野營和節(jié)假日禮物)

3). Determine your "hidden" monthly expenses: car insurance, taxes, dues, membership fees, gifts,(汽車保險，稅，手續(xù)費，會費，禮物金額) etc. and figure out how much you spend on average per month for these expenses.

4). Look for expenses that you can cut and plan on how you will cut them.(節(jié)省開支)It may be helpful to start slowly. Determine how much you will be able to put into savings each month given these cuts.

5). Open a savings account.(開一個存錢的賬戶) Each month, when you are paying your other monthly bills, write another check to cover your hidden expenses and put it into savings. When you get a bill in this category, pay it from savings.

6). Conceal or cut up your credit cards to help eliminate random purchases.(減少隨意的花費)

7). Deposit your excess money each month in savings

8). Whenever you get unexpected money - a raise, a bonus, a refund, a present - put it directly into savings to apply toward your financial goals.

看了這幾段之后同學們應該對理財這個概念不陌生也不模糊了，里面使用了大量的和理財相關的詞組和詞匯，比如說：“cash or cash equivalent -- check, ATM or debit card, or automatic bank withdrawal”, “credit card bill(信用卡賬單)”, “l(fā)ist seasonal, annual, semi-annual, or quarterly expenses”, “saving account”等等，都已給大家用橫線標出，非常實用，總的來說，老外成年人的理財指的主要是1). budget(預算);2). expend(花費);3). saving(存錢);4). income(收入)，也就是收支要平衡，然后結余的錢省下來存起來，以備不時之需，那么孩子的理財是否也是類似的呢?我們來看一下：

1). Saving is earning. First, I will teach my children to save money at early stage. This would increase the importance of money in Children. 增加孩子對錢的意識。

2). Will try to show all the expenses made for family. They need to understand how each rupee is coming and going from the pocket. 他們需要懂得每分錢是怎么掙來的和花掉的，在此“rupee”本意是盧比，在這里指代的是辛苦錢。

3). Make them understand what is needy? And what is luxury? 知道什么是需要花錢的，什么花錢就是浪費，在這里“what is luxury”并不僅僅指代的是奢侈品，而是不需要花掉的錢。

4). Will open bank account for them and ask them to deposit their savings into their account. They should feel that is their money and should know how their money is growing in the Bank account. 開賬戶存錢，這是一種投資，其中“how money is growing in the bank account”使用得非常形象。

5). Also learn them to contribute some portion of the money to the poor or needy persons. They will come to know the importance of money and the joy of giving. 培養(yǎng)正確的價值觀，錢不是萬能的，給予是快樂的。

從以上幾點可以看出，對于孩子來說，理財?shù)淖龇ê痛笕瞬畈欢?，無怪乎是一些saving, expending, 意義也和大人差不多，主要為了培養(yǎng)孩子將來對錢的價值觀和如何管理自己的財產有關系，里面使用了非常多的形象短語供大家使用。

除此之外，老外還有一些早教書籍供孩子學習一些理財知識，在這里也可以和大家普及一下，寫作文的時候可以作為例子使用：

Here are five books that teach valuable money lessons and remain favorites of our children.

1). “Lemonade in Winter” by Emily Jenkins and G. Brian Karas focuses on two siblings who make the interesting choice to open a lemonade stand(攤點) in the middle of winter. The book features a catchy refrain(吸引人的挫折) about lemonade while telling a story about how sometimes great ideas don’t turn out like you hope(如你所愿).

“Lemonade in Winter” teaches the very basics of entrepreneurship and a small amount of basic math. Age range: 2 to 7 year olds.(教育關于企業(yè)家，創(chuàng)業(yè)者的基本知識并且教授一些基本數(shù)學。)

2). “Bunny Money” by Rosemary Wells is a “Max and Ruby” story, as it centers around a pair of bunny siblings(兄弟姐妹) familiar to most parents of young children today. In this story, Ruby has saved 0 to buy her grandmother a birthday present, but various unexpected events befall(落到) Ruby and Max, causing some of that money to disappear. Will they have enough to buy the gifts for grandmother?

“Bunny Money” teaches basic money math, such as addition and subtraction, as well as the idea of a budget and how emergencies can tear through your money. Age range: 3 to 7 year olds(教授基本的數(shù)學，如加法，減法，預算，和緊急事故發(fā)生后如何需要錢的)

3). "Joseph Had a Little Overcoat" by Simms Taback tells the story of a frugal(節(jié)省的，樸素的)man who has a nice overcoat, but he wears it a lot and it begins to wear out.(磨破)Eventually, he reuses the material to make a jacket, then a vest, then various other things until it becomes a cloth button. The book won a Caldecott Medal for its wonderful drawings which not only bring Joseph’s world to life(讓Joseph重生), but also clearly show how the material from Joseph’s overcoat is reused to make other things.

“Joseph Had a Little Overcoat” teaches frugality and the idea of reusing things, because even items that are worn out can still have valuable use. Age range: 3 to 8 year olds. 教會孩子通過重復使用東西來節(jié)省，因為即使東西被用壞了也是有使用價值的。

4). “Annie’s Adventures” by Lauren Baratz-Logsted is the first in an ongoing series called “The Sisters 8” about orphaned octuplet(八胞胎孤兒) girls whose parents disappear. In this volume, the titular Annie ends up having to figure out their parents’ financial situation, including how to write checks, interpret bills and eventually pay for all of it(寫支票，理解賬單，最終買單). It’s a gentle and humorous introduction into the reality of adult finances couched in an enjoyable, simple adventure.(這是一個依賴有趣和簡單的冒險方式非常委婉和幽默地介紹成人世界的財政)

“Annie’s Adventures” teaches the basics of earning money and paying bills, including the use of checks. There are also elements (in this book and the rest of the series) of entrepreneurship, frugality and money management decisions. Age range: 6 to 12 year olds (教會了孩子賺錢和買單的基本技能，包括使用支票，以及創(chuàng)業(yè)，節(jié)省，錢的管理決定等)

5). “The Lemonade War” by Jacqueline Davies is the first in a series about two siblings who open up competing lemonade stands. The story escalates(升級)as the siblings use their skills and a few ideas about entrepreneurship to drive their “l(fā)emonade war” to amusing heights.(把戰(zhàn)爭推向了新高度)

“The Lemonade War” teaches the basics of entrepreneurship, planning and money management in the context of an enjoyable adventure story that hits upon the lives of upper elementary children. Age range: 8 to 12 year olds(使用適合高階段有趣的冒險故事教會了人們創(chuàng)業(yè)精神，計劃和管理錢財)

3. 孩子學習要不要money reward的問題：

接著我們來看關于錢的另外幾個問題，其中一個是孩子要不要使用錢來刺激學習，這個不管在國內還是國外都是一個比較常見的現(xiàn)象，可能在中國更加頻繁一些，所以這個題目相對來說不是很難，我們來看看老外是如何解析的：

Many parents who are willing to pay their children for good grades will argue that it is a child’s job to go to school and learn. Therefore, they should be compensated for positive results just as they are at their jobs. If you ask me, this would be the weakest argument for those on the “pro” side of this practice. Logically speaking, it does make sense, but one could counter that not all jobs are rewarded with money. Parents do not clean the house for money. People at unpaid internships get nothing but experience and networking opportunities.Some “jobs” serve not as money-making opportunities, but as character and experience builders. For example, personal growth is one of the main benefits of learning in a classroom with fellow students, which should be payment enough for children.

這一段使用了駁論法，主要針對一些人同意孩子應該用錢來鼓勵這個點是行不通的進行說理，認為孩子在學校學習得更多的是經(jīng)驗和與人相處的技能，而不僅僅是學業(yè)上的進步，因此不應該用錢來鼓勵孩子，不應該讓孩子認為學習就是賺錢的過程。

Another “pro” argument is that the promise of money for grades increases the students’ drive for success and good marks soon follow. Salespeople often get bonuses for high sales numbers, so why not apply this same philosophy to your student in hopes that the potential for income increases effort? One argument against this line of thinking is that kids do not understand the importance of earning money and often don’t really need their own money. If the money does not matter to them, the grades won’t matter. Thus, the promise of getting paid as a reward for good grades is not really a reward. The same argument can be applied to a child that you pay to do tasks around the house. If it comes to a choice of earning to mow the lawn or continuing to play Halo, the kid may not care about the money; he would rather continue his game. To be effective, you must first teach your children how to handle money.

這段同樣使用了駁論法，先是提出一部分人贊同的想法就是可以用錢來鼓勵孩子，就像成人世界中用錢來鼓勵銷售一樣的道理，但是問題是孩子并不理解錢的重要性，這樣即使給孩子錢作為獎勵，一旦孩子覺得錢并不重要，這樣學習的動力自然也就沒有了(作者還舉了例子)，所以要用錢來獎勵孩子不如先教會孩子如何處理錢的問題。

This practice can also get the parents into a bad mindset (使得家長有錯誤的想法)of thinking money is all that matters to the kid. If a student is struggling, will these parents do everything in their power to have a conversation with teachers or assist with the child’s homework? Would the parents take away driving privileges and time away from friends? Or would they simply threaten to stop paying the kid money? Is the threat of lost money truly enough to entice the student to buckle down and do what is necessary to turn things around in school?

這一段直接點明了給孩子錢作為獎勵的問題：比如錢是衡量一切的標準，家長會為此剝奪孩子的課余時間?等等這段里面使用了許多有用的短語，如：“get into a bad mindset”可以代替“wrong thinking”, “do everything in their power”可以代替“try their best”, 以及“driving privileges”(開車的特權), “entice sb. to do sth”(誘惑某人做某事),“buckle down(盡全力做某事)”, “do what is necessary to turn things around”(做應該做的事使情況好轉)。

4. 公共交通上花錢(pay for public transportation)問題：

其次：對于老百姓要不要在公共交通上花錢，中國孩子一般都會覺得老外的福利好，對于這種福利肯定也不會錯過，所以一般會寫不贊同，然后把責任轉嫁到政府頭上去，覺得政府應該這樣，政府應該那樣，政府就是萬能的救世主，很多考官看到中國孩子的作文都覺得很有意思，因為想法確實會有區(qū)別，實際上老外也是很糾結的，一部分認為贊同，一部分認為不贊同，但是大部分還是覺得我們應該自行付這筆費用：

人們應該自行去付公共交通工具的費用：

理由一(不會給政府、納稅者和交通造成壓力)：

I think that public transportation should be paid for by the people using it, because a lot of people who do not own a vehicle use it to go to and from work. I do not think that the government should pay for public transportation. There are a lot of people who use public transportation to travel to and from work because they do not own a vehicle, or choose not to use it to go to work. I think that they have the income to pay for a ride to and from work. I think that if the government started to foot the bill(承擔費用) for public transportation, then everyone would park their vehicles(在這里是不再使用車的形象表達) and take the bus to work, especially with the cost of gas now. This will only put a bigger burden on(造成更重的負擔) the taxpayers who are more than likely working class(工薪階層) Americans who do drive to work, in their own vehicles, and have to purchase their own gas. This would not be at all fair to them.

Free public transport may be misused(被濫用) by people and may affect the financial status(影響財政地位)of government. Present culture of(當前) paying for their travel is the best way of transport. If public travelling is made free it may be misused by some people. It may also affect the financial status of government. Even they may suffer from loss of income(受到收入減少的影響) from transport department. Some may have unnecessary travel(不必要的旅行)affecting others. It may lead to congestion and crowd(擁堵) in public transport.

理由二(政府應該資助那些更核心的方面，而交通費用并不核心，也不貴)：

All public transport should not be free and paid for by the government because there are more impotent things(無能為力的事情需要被負擔) to pay for. In my opinion, there are more important things that the government should support and fully cover(完全承擔), like hospitals, fire and police departments, and maybe even schools.(政府應該承擔如醫(yī)院，救火，警察部門甚至是學校的費用) They could even support child care or children hospitals more, because they can't be fully free. Transport is cheap enough as it is.(當前的交通費用已經(jīng)很便宜了)The government can't pay for everything.

Public transport should not be paid for by the governments because it cannot be afforded. Public transport should not be free and paid for by the government because government cannot afford to pay for it unless other vital services to the general public are cut drastically. The possibility of free public transportation falls far below the necessities of other services and should be prioritized according to importance of maintaining a viable society.

人們不應該自行去付公共交通工具的費用：

理由一(增加就業(yè)，促進經(jīng)濟發(fā)展)：

Good for the Common People in the Economy I'm not for entitlements, but when the government pays for a good or service and it benefits the economy as a whole it's not an entitlement. If everyone can get from point A to point B whenever they have to for free this creates the potential for great upward mobility.(造成一個潛在的增加流動性的危險) This would reduce unemployment as job opportunities could be searched for in a wider area for people without cars. We should include not just intracity but intercity(不僅僅是市內交通，更要發(fā)展城市間的交通) and even magnet trains (甚至是磁懸浮列車)to allow for even interstate commutation(洲際交流) between states further away from each other.

理由二(環(huán)保，省錢：這個點是中國孩子想不到的，因為國外，特別是美國公共交通如火車汽車等的費用有時候比自己開車多多了，后面作者還舉了一個10美元的小例子)：

Good for the ecosystem. It would save the planet from global warming and in turn(反過來) would save money because more people would be using the same car saving millions. It costs almost for a one way trip across town and for many people this could pay for dinner.(單程過一個鎮(zhèn)子幾乎要花掉10美金并且對于很多人來說這個錢都可以付晚餐了)On top of this it (除此之外)would reduce congestion on the road. More public transport would reduce global warming by taking cars off our roads.(更多的公共交通會通過減少車從而減少全球變暖狀況)

Free public transport would reduce the number of cars on the road. Global warming is a serious issue and, if public transport was free, more people would use it, taking cars off the road. 1 train could take 2000 cars off the road. A public transport system with 20 trains could take 40,000 cars off the road. Some people would simply choose to not own cars, further reducing the number of cars on the road. Across dozens of cities in a nation and thousands world-wide, the result of free public transport would be dramatic in cutting vehicle emissions and combating global warming.(減少汽車尾氣以及抵抗全球變暖)

5. 關于開車人要在繁忙街道付額外費用的問題driver should pay additional fee in busy street or not：

這個問題實際上和上個要不要給公共交通付錢問題比較類似，牽扯到的話題主要是環(huán)保，政府的職能以及每個公民的義務，所以觀點和詞匯上比較相近，就不贅述了。

第三類：關于錢的話題(和錢的關系不大，主要通過錢來衡量事物的重要性)：

這類話題的題目非常多，主要集中在政府應不應該花錢在這方面或者那方面，個人要不要花錢在這方面或那方面，公司，機構，組織，學校要不要花錢在這方面或那方面，主要針對藝術，體育設施，旅游，員工工資激勵，學校設施，短期娛樂，長期投資，環(huán)保等消費或花費上，當然還有一些比較偏和細小的話題，比如要不要花錢在寵物身上，廣告上等。這類話題其實和錢關系不是太大，只是想通過錢來表現(xiàn)哪個方面更重要，所以在這些問題的思路上主要還是根據(jù)個體事物的特點出發(fā)，比如政府應該在基礎設施上花多的錢還是在音樂廳美術館上花更多的錢，這種題目就可以分別討論基礎設施的優(yōu)缺點以及美術館音樂廳這些娛樂方式的優(yōu)缺點，從中選出自己認為的最優(yōu)項，但是同時同學們也不應該忽視這些方面是不是需要錢來資助這個逆向思維。這些個別的話題特點我們將放在以后的政府類，教育類中詳細討論。

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