Cover of the textbook Outcomes Intermediate - Student's Book

The key answer of exercise 1

The key to exercise solutions in chapter 5 - That must be stressful for the textbook Outcomes Intermediate - Student's Book with authors Hugh Dellar and Andrew Walkley from National Geographic Learning

Question

Work in pairs. Check you understand the words and phrases in bold in the sentences below. Then think of one job that each sentence could describe.

Answer

  1. competitive = lots of people want to do it;  field = an industry (media / education / engineering, etc.), or a kind of work (In the UK, a competitive field could mean working in the media, film or music industry. In Spain, it could mean working for the civil service.)
  2. well-paid = the money that you earn from this job is good; a bonus is an extra payment when you do a good job (The fact there’s a bonus included suggests some kind of sales rep or market trader.)
  3. If a job is rewarding, it’s not necessarily well paid, but it involves helping people, which makes you feel good about yourself and the work you do. (e.g. teacher, doctor, nurse, social worker, etc.)
  4. If a job is insecure, you might easily have no work and / or not get paid.; self-employed = you work for yourself with no boss; a temporary contract = a job which finishes after an agreed, short period of time (e.g. journalist, labourer) 
  5. If work is easy, it isn’t difficult, and if you have no responsibility, it doesn’t demand too much of you, and you don’t go home thinking about it or worrying about it. (e.g. shop work, being a waiter or waitress, factory work)
  6. Creative work means you need to think of new ideas and approaches all the time. (e.g. engineering, research work, designer, artists, musician, teacher, scientist)
  7. If work is stressful, you feel worried and maybe ill because of your work. If you’re under a lot of time pressure, you have to finish work in a short time (you have tight deadlines to meet or you have to work late). (e.g. jobs in the financial sector, writer, producer, programmer, manager)
  8. If a job is physically demanding, it’s hard physical work. You need to be strong and fit to do it. (e.g. labourer, building site work, factory work)
  9. If a job is varied, you don’t get bored, you get to do loads of different things.  (e.g. marketing manager, advertising agency work, creative jobs)
  10. If a job is dull, it’s boring. Admin (short for administration) and paperwork are similar:  they mean writing things down, filling in forms, updating a database, etc. usually at a desk in  an office. (e.g. office jobs, civil service jobs, accountant)