八、十大真题范文之七：2012 年12 月真题：图表作文

Directions:

For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay entitled Education Pays based on the statistics provided in the chart below (Weekly earnings of 2010).Please give a brief description of the chart first and then make comments on it. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.The column chart above clearly illustrates the statistics of the weekly earnings of people with different educational backgrounds in the United States in 2010. According to the data from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there was a steady increase from $444 for people with less than a high school diploma to $1550 for those with a doctoral degree.

The reasons for this trend are as follows. In the first place, it has long been an accepted fact that a higher degree is a pre-requisite for a promising career, or finding a good job. In the second place, in our highly competitive society, whether one is in China or the U.S., it can be said that it is impossible for a person to find a good job with a promising future without at least a college degree.

From the analysis given above, we may predict that in order to remain competitive in the workplace aswell as in salary, people in mounting numbers will return back to school to continue their higher education, even though they already have their college or university degrees.

参考译文

上述柱状图清晰的揭示了 2010 年不同教育背景人群的周薪数据。根据美国劳工统计局的数据，周薪从低于高中文凭人群的 444 美元稳步上升到博士学位拥有者的 1550 美元。形成上述趋势的原因如下。首先，大家一致认为，拥有更高的学位是拥有远大职业前景或者是找到一份好工作的前提。其次，在当今竞争极其激烈的社会背景下，无论是在中国还是美国，可以说一个人很难找到前景远大的好工作，如果连大学文凭都没有。从上述分析，我们可以预计：为了在职场和薪水方面保持竞争力，越来越多的人也将回到学校继续深造，就算他们已经拥有了大学本科学历。