24. maturitní otázka zangličtiny

Jobs, my future plans

Introduction

Every person on the world must have a supply of money, that is spent on expenses for living. And, of course, the usual way to earn money is to have a job. There is an uncountable amount of various proffessions, some are only for men, some only for women, some for the young, some for the elderly. The entire economy could be divided into three spheres – primary, secondary and terciary. Now I will explain what does it mean and what is the role of a certain sphere today, compared with history. Then I will talk about some problems of employment and at last I tell you something about my future plans.

Agriculture

The primary sphere means agriculture, fishing, hunting, wood cutting and mining. To sum up, the primary sphere are all the branches of economy, which use natural sources. The basic role of agriculture is to produce food and some materials for industry. The agriculture can be divided into plant and animal production. The plant production depends on natural conditions – climate, type of soil, height upon the sea level. The most important plants are cereals – wheat, maize, rice. Then there is fruit (citruses, bananas, apples, cherries, vine) and vegetable (potatoes, peas, beans, lettuce, carrot, cauliflower, onion). Another group of plants are oil plants, like rape, soya and coconut palm. The industry needs technical plants, for example cotton, tobacco, sugar beet, flax and hop-plant. Some plants similar to grass are used for feeding animals.

The animals are bred both for making food and for industrial production. Cows are kept all over the world, they are used for milk, meat, bones and skin. About 30% of bred animals are pigs, Australia is famous for breeding sheep, mainly for wool. The rest are fowls (chicken,...) which give us meat and eggs. For some countries, fishing is an important source of food. Not only fish are seeked, but also lobsters, shrimps, crabs and mussels. The forests grow in two lines – the northern and tropical. Wood is used especially for building and making furniture. On the other hand, we have to protect the forests, because they produce oxygen and give a shelter to many animal species. They are connected with hunting, mainly for animals’ fur.

Industry

The secondary sphere means industry. Factories produce various items, some are used for final usage (cars, computers, sport equipment), some for getting raw materials (oil towers, oil tankers, mine equipment), some for industry (equipment of factories, power stations) and some for agriculture (tractors, harvesters). Other items are buildings, which are important for services – schools, hospitals, banks and shops. There are many branches of industry, which cooperate with each other. There are many factors important for a factory to come into being. In the beginning of industry (industrial revolution) it was mainly the supply of raw materials and water and the size of an area. Later, supply of workers, transport expenses and the amount of users were added. Today, educated and qualified people, scientific base and financial power are important. And we can not forget affecting the environment.

The most important raw materials are fuels (coal, oil, gas and uranium), ores (iron, chromium, nickel, manganese, bauxite) and other metals (copper). Among the non-metal materials, phosphates, salt and sulphur are used. A separate group are the precious metals (gold, silver, platinum), which were connected with many cruel events in the past. One of the basic branch of industry is energetics, which produces electrical energy for the other branches. There are coal, water and atomic power stations, today people try to use also the alternative sources of energy. The other branches are metallurgy (making steel, aluminium...), machinery (heavy machines, cars, robots, household equipment), chemical industry (plastics, medicaments, cosmetics), textile industry (clothes, shoes), food industry, and the industry of glass and pottery. An important role in industry is played by the transport, of course the freight transport. But passenger transport is also needed. There are various types of transport – railway, road, water, air, pipe and information.

Services

The terciary sphere means services to people. It includes shops, travel agencies, restaurants, museums and galleries, offices, banks, church organisations, hospitals, schools, and also science. Altogether they are called non-productive economy. The number of people employed in services is different in different countries – the more developed country, the more people in services. One of the most expanding branches of services is tourism, people travel to seas, lakes, mountains, nature monuments, cities or spas.

Today’s problems

Compared with some periods from the history, the social-economic situation is remarkably better. However, there are some troubles. The most important one is unemployment – despite somebody’s wish and ability to work, he / she can’t get a job. Usually it is because there is only a little need for his / her sort of qualification. Compared with the situation in the past, when to get workers was a problem, today it is the opposite – workers are not able to find a job. The most serious situation is in non-developed countries, where the number of people is growing fastly and the local factories are closing down, or there are not any at all. In the Czech Republic, the areas with the highest number of unemployed people are the northern Bohemia and northern Moravia – there used to be a great number of professions in mining and metallurgy, but today there are not so many jobs as in the past. In the recent years, there is a trend to work in a foreign country for a couple of years to gain experience.

My future plans

I study the Electrotechnical faculty of the Czech technical university and I have chosen the branch of electrical engines. Actually, I would like to work somewhere around railway locomotives, because I am interested in them and I think I understand the basic facts of their function. I would like to get some experience in some company before my graduation, or also try studying abroad for a couple of months. I hope at least some of my wishes come true.