A WORKING VACATION

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to get your dream job? It can take years to get the education and develop the skills you need for the perfect job. However, there is a way to experience your dream job without having to get the required training or degree. Since 2004, Brian Kurth's company, Vocation Vacations, has been connecting people with mentors who have the jobs of their dreams.

Kurth had been working for a phone company before starting his own company. He didn't like his job, and he had a long time to think about it on his drive to and from work. He also thought about his dream job while driving. He was interested in becoming a dog trainer, but he didn't want to take any chances and switch to a field he didn't have experience in. He really wanted to know what the job was like and if it was realistic for him to work towards his goal. So, he found a mentor-a dog trainer that could tell him about the job and everything it involved. After that, he helped his friends find mentors to explore jobs they were interested in. They thought it was helpful to talk to people who had their dream jobs before spending lots of time and money getting the training they needed for those jobs.

Kurth saw how much this helped his friends, so he decided to turn it into a business. He started Vocation Vacations in 2004, and by 2005, the company was offering experiences with over 200 dream jobs. Today, about 300 mentors work with the company to share their knowledge about their jobs. Customers pay to experience the job of their dreams and work with these mentors to see what a job is really like. A "job vacation" costs between $350 and $3,000 and can be for one to three days. Many people use Vocation Vacations to see if their dream job is a career path they want to continue. Others do it just to experience the job of their dreams one time.

Vocation Vacations jobs are in the fields of fashion, food, entertainment, sports, and animals. Many people want to try glamorous jobs. For example, they want to try working as actors, music producers, photographers, and fashion designers. According to Kurth, some other popular dream jobs are working as bakers, hotel managers, and wedding planners.

(Adapted from Summit 2 by Pearson Education, 2017)

When you're abroad, trying to find out who to tip is never straightforward and neither is trying to work out the exact amount. To make things even more complicated, the rules for tipping vary greatly from country to country. Even people from the same country can't agree on how much to tip. However, here are some general guidelines which might help the traveller.

You face your first dilemma as soon as you land at the airport - the taxi ride. Taxi drivers generally do expect tips, but rather than there being a precise amount, people round up the fare, or just tell the driver to keep the change.

Your next encounter is with the hotel porter and you know he's expecting a tip, but the problem is trying to figure out how much. It seems that in many European countries €3-€5 would be an appropriate amount.

Then, of course, you have to eat. In some countries such as Ireland, Chile, Poland and Portugal, the customary tip in restaurants is 10-15% unless a service charge is included, so the first rule of thumb is always check the bill. In other countries such as France, Italy, Germany, Australia and Spain, where a 10-15% service charge is either very common or compulsory, you may want to leave an additional tip if you think the service was particularly good, but it certainly isn't obligatory. However, in some countries it may seem strange if you do leave a tip. In Iceland, for example, the waitress might be insulted if you tipped her. In Japan, if you left a tip, the restaurant staff wouldn't be offended, but you would probably be pursued down the street by someone trying to return your money. And in New Zealand, although it's unlikely anyone would chase after you, you'd definitely get some odd looks if you left a tip.

And your problem with tipping isn't over when you leave the restaurant. Next you discover the tour guide, the hairdresser and the toilet attendant are all expecting a tip, but again, how much? Perhaps the best option in these cases is to ask the local people what is acceptable or observe what others do. Of course, you could simply play safe and tip everyone you meet!

(Adapted from Face-to-face Upper-intermediate)

Scientists have identified two ways in which species disappear. The first is through ordinary or "background" extinctions, where species that fail to adapt are slowly replaced by more adaptable life forms. The second is when large numbers of species go to the wall in relatively short periods of biological time. There have been five such extinctions, each provoked by cataclysmic evolutionary events caused by some geological eruption, climate shift, or space junk slamming into the earth. Scientists now believe that another mass extinction of species is currently under way - and this time human fingerprints are on the trigger.

How are we doing it? Simply by demanding more and more space for ourselves. In our assault on the ecosystems around us we have used a number of tools, from spear and gun to bulldozer and chainsaw. Certain especially rich ecosystems have proved the most vulnerable. In Hawaii more than half of the native birds are now gone - some 50 species. Such carnage has taken place all across the island communities of the Pacific and Indian oceans. While many species were hunted to extinction, others simply succumbed to the "introduced predators" that humans brought with them: the cat, the dog, the pig, and the rat.

Today the tempo of extinction is picking up speed. Hunting is no longer the major culprit, although rare birds and animals continue to be butchered for their skin, feathers, tusks, and internal organs, or taken as cage pets. Today the main threat comes from the destruction of the habitat that wild plants, animals, and insects need to survive. The draining and damming of wetland and river courses threatens the aquatic food chain and our own seafood industry. Overfishing and the destruction of fragile coral reefs destroy ocean biodiversity. Deforestation is taking a staggering toll, particularly in the tropics where the most global biodiversity is at risk. The shrinking rainforest cover of the Congo and Amazon river basins and such place as Borneo and Madagascar have a wealth of species per hectare existing nowhere else. As those precious hectares are drowned or turned into arid pasture and cropland, such species disappear forever.

(Adapted from Final Countdown Practice Tests by D.F. Piniaris, Heinle Cengage Learning, 2010)