VOA标准英语2009年-Young Gain Job Advantage in Post- Communis

By Peter Fedynsky
Gdynia, Poland
04 November 2009
 

 
A red banner with hammer and sickle¹ is seen outside the Polish Embassy in Moscow (File)
The symbol of Communism - the hammer and sickle - represents the main tools of physical labor² used by industrial and agricultural workers. But the collapse³ of the Iron Curtain 20 years ago coincided with a decline in heavy industry and the rise of the Internet and knowledge-based companies. 

The Gdansk Shipyard, birthplace of the Solidarity⁴ Trade Union that led the struggle against Communism in Poland, was a place where thousands of workers could expect a lifetime of employment under the old state-supported system. Thirty four year veteran Ludwig Pradzynski says there are few young people there today.

 
Shipyard in Gdansk, cradle of Poland's anti-communist Solidarity movement, has shrunk to a shadow of its communist-era self
Pradzynski says the reason young people are not working at the shipyard is because the job is so hard. He says that from the vantage point of his shop on the launch ramp⁵, he does not know what is happening in the offices, where educated employees can be found. 
 
Sunreef Yachts, located just a few hundred meters from Pradzynski's shop, hired about 400 of the most energetic and adaptable⁶ designers, engineers and technicians who lost their jobs when the main shipyard downsized. Sales representative Maciej Stompor says those workers were generally younger and willing to put in longer hours than most at the shipyard.

"People that used to work in the shipyards before, I mean the very simple workers, they did not feel responsibility for the work they were doing; for the part of the ship they were creating. Nobody taught them," said Stompor.

Teaching young people about competition, marketing⁷ and innovation is the mission of the International Business School in Budapest. The school's founder⁸ and chancellor⁹, Istvan Tamas, says the change from communism was difficult for the older generation.

Tamas says that for those born in the new era or were very young, it was a very natural process; for them, there has been no change.

 
Polish job-seekers line up for a Warsaw job fair where they hope to find work in Ireland (2006 file photo)
Many in post-communist societies say younger people can deal better with the uncertainties¹⁰ of unemployment than older workers who had guaranteed jobs under communism.

That attitude led to the creation of Poland's InteliWISE Company, a high-tech¹¹ firm that creates avatars, or talking online figures for Web sites of international corporations. InteliWISE vice¹² president Marek Trojanowicz recalls his earlier business endeavor failed.
 
"It is the natural way that some things you do in your life, some idea is good for your business and you find a way for your business, and of course, some ideas just collapse and you should just stand on your legs and say, 'OK, it collapsed¹³, let us find some other ideas and start a new business," he said.

InteliWISE is located at the Pomeranian Science and Technology Park, home to about 80 Polish high tech companies in the city of Gdynia near Gdansk. Most of the employees are young. Park representative Magdalena Zacharczuk says she knows of no former shipyard workers working there.

"The key factor is that they have to be innovative¹⁴. So perhaps it is a little bit harder to think of something innovative once you are a little bit further in your years compared to, for example, students who are still inspired by what they learned recently in the university," she said.

Zacharczuk says the Science and Technology Park receives subsidies¹⁵ from the city of Gdynia and the European Union, subsidies that Poland's aging shipyards no longer get. She says this is a clear indication that the future belongs to younger educated workers; a future made possible by the successful struggle of Polish shipyard workers against Communism 20 years ago.

 

1 sickle   

n.镰刀

参考例句：

• The gardener was swishing off the tops of weeds with a sickle.园丁正在用镰刀嗖嗖地割掉杂草的顶端。
• There is a picture of the sickle on the flag. 旗帜上有镰刀的图案。

2 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

3 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

4 solidarity   

n.团结；休戚相关

参考例句：

• They must preserve their solidarity.他们必须维护他们的团结。
• The solidarity among China's various nationalities is as firm as a rock.中国各族人民之间的团结坚如磐石。

5 ramp   

n.暴怒，斜坡，坡道；vi.作恐吓姿势，暴怒，加速；vt.加速

参考例句：

• That driver drove the car up the ramp.那司机将车开上了斜坡。
• The factory don't have that capacity to ramp up.这家工厂没有能力加速生产。

6 adaptable   

adj.能适应的，适应性强的，可改编的

参考例句：

• He is an adaptable man and will soon learn the new work.他是个适应性很强的人，很快就将学会这种工作。
• The soil is adaptable to the growth of peanuts.这土壤适宜于花生的生长。

7 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

8 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

9 chancellor   

n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长

参考例句：

• They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
• He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。

10 uncertainties   

无把握( uncertainty的名词复数 )； 不确定； 变化不定； 无把握、不确定的事物

参考例句：

• One of the uncertainties of military duty is that you never know when you might suddenly get posted away. 任军职不稳定的因素之一是你永远不知道什么时候会突然被派往它处。
• Uncertainties affecting peace and development are on the rise. 影响和平与发展的不确定因素在增加。 来自汉英非文学 - 十六大报告

11 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

12 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

13 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

14 innovative   

adj.革新的，新颖的，富有革新精神的

参考例句：

• Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
• He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。

15 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》