A.E. Arraiolos - E.B. 2,3 / Sec. Cunha Rivara English Test – 11h Form March 2012 Teachers: Dina Costa
Read the text attentively.
Who are tomorrow’s knowledge workers?
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Test A
New technologies were developed to release humans from physical work in the environment of complex business relations. A surging wave of technological innovations gave birth to the Concept of “knowledge workplace”. It consists of numerous technologies like instant messaging, e-learning, voice over Internet Protocol, radio frequency identification, teleconferencing and many others, used by today’s “knowledge worker” (term introduced by Peter Drucker). Knowledge workplace has dramatically increased efficiency and with the flood of innovation it is tough to tell what the workplace of tomorrow will look like. Only one thing remains clear: it will constantly progress according to and in the direction of the knowledge workers’ skills and needs. Therefore, it makes sense to study the human component of the workplace of tomorrow. Tomorrow’s knowledge workers are of my age and younger. They are called Generation Y, or Net Generation. Internet, cell phones and computers are as indispensable for them as mail service and typewriters were for their parents. They are the early adopters of new gadgets and technologies. Brought up in the age of liberalism, they are highly individualistic and democratic at the same time. They love to have fun and do not love to defer it until the weekends: they download mp3s and video clips via Internet and enjoy them continually. Their main distinction is that they wake up every day thinking the world will be different and are eager to embrace this change. Self-confident and decisive, they do not miss out on life and know what they want. The workplace they would fit should induce in them the feelings of freedom, fulfilment and belonging. In fact, new sorting of human work is likely to emerge: “off-site – on-site worker” versus today’s white and blue-collar division. “Off-site” workers will perform their tasks from outside, not necessarily their homes, and maintain constant contact with the office by teleconferencing and mobile devices. On-site employees will work in the traditional way and/or conduct tasks requiring immediate presence. Their duties will mainly involve smoothing the information stream for information technology and software. I believe the future workforce will expect from their workplace more than fiscal compensation. What they will need most is the feeling and state of achievement and fulfilment. Chingiz Maatkerimov, Kyrgystan, January 2006 (abridged) www.generation-europe.eu.com/ knowledge worker (title) – A person whose occupation is predominantly concerned with generating or interpreting information, as contrasted with manual labour.
I A Scan the text and find evidence for the following statements. 1. The primary goal for developing new technologies was to make our jobs easier. 2. The constant surge of new ideas makes it difficult to forecast the workplace of the future. 3. The workers of tomorrow will show a strong desire to accept new ideas and situations. 4. Tomorrow’s employees will prefer success and fulfilment to high wages. B Find a synonym for the word/ explanation. 1. free (paragraph 1) 2. rapidly rising (paragraph 1) 3. very difficult; hard (paragraph 1) 4. devices that are very useful for a particular job (paragraph 2) 5. put it off, postpone it (paragraph 2) 6. keen enthusiastic (paragraph 2) 7. cause or produce (paragraph 3) C Give complete answers to these questions about the text. 1. Explain the concept of “knowledge workplace”. 2. Who are tomorrow’s knowledge workers? Mention their most important skills/qualities. 3. What is the difference between “off-site – on-site worker”? 4. Give another title to the text and justify your choice. 5. In your opinion what is the impact of new technologies on the world of work. D What are these work-related words? Complete them with the missing letters. 1. All the people working or available to work, as in a nation, company, industry, or on a project. W_______E 2. Fixed compensation for services, paid to a person on a regular, monthly basis. S_ _ _ _ Y 3. Payment for labour or services to a worker, especially remuneration on an hourly, daily, or weekly basis or by the piece. W__E 4. A move to a more important job or rank in a company or an organization. P _ _ _ _ _ _ _N 5. A person or business that employs one or more people for wages or salary. E______R 6. All the workers employed in an organization considered as a group. S_ _ _ F 7. An increase in salary. R_ _ _ E (USA)
II A Use the words in the box to fill in the blank spaces. life/ decades/ achieved/ world / co-workers/ business/ increasingly/ employees/ communicate/ distant The technological advances (1) in the past few (2) have brought about a revolution in the (3) world, affecting nearly all aspects of a working (4). People can reach others throughout the world in a matter of seconds, with cost being (5) negligible. (6) no longer need to be physically with their clients and (7); instead they can (8) effectively at home, at a (9) office, across the (10), and even in their car or on an airplane.
B Rewrite the sentences or react to them as suggested. 1. He worked hard all day though he wasn’t feeling well. Despite the fact… In spite of not… 2. She never told us a thing about him. Never… 3. I didn’t stay home last night. I wish… 4. We didn’t know they were planning to sell their house. Little… 5. I didn’t want to work from home, but Sue persuaded me. Although… 6. I can’t go out because of the heavy rain. If only… 7. As soon as I heard she had been dismissed, I called her. No sooner… III Composition Write about 120 – 150 words on the following topic: Working abroad: Discuss the main reasons which might lead people to leave their native country; advantages, disadvantages and problems. Include your personal perspective and say whether you would like to work abroad or not and why.
