Passion is an important factor to consider when choosing a job, but it’s not the only factor. Let’s consider the question: Should you make your career your passion, or find a job that【C1】________you to spend time on it outside of work?

First, the latter option can be less【C2】_____. Before making it a full-time job, you can dip your toes in the water【C3】__joining a club or taking a class to【C4】__what pursuing your passion is like. Taking this approach gives you more【C5】__to explore a passion that you might be nervous about committing to as a career,【C6】__you’re free from the pressure to turn it into your【C7】_____.

【C8】_____, drawing a line between what you love and what you do can help you build healthy【C9】__between your work and personal lives, and allow you to build and become a part of communities who【C10】__your interests. You can get to know like-minded people who might give you better insight into what your day-to-day would look like if you【C11】_____do decide to make your passion your job.

There are other benefits to keeping work and passion【C12】_____. Some researches suggest that【C13】__hobbies into work could【C14】__your enjoyment of these activities, as your interest gets gradually destroyed by the pursuit of external rewards like compensation. This may be particularly true for【C15】__passions, such as writing, painting, or music. Your passion(s) might also【C16】_____over time, so you may not want to lock into a career path based solely on your current interest.

Passions can define us as individuals, helping to make our lives【C17】_____and meaningful.【C18】__passion doesn’t necessarily have to define our work. Those who pursue passion outside of work often find that those personal interests【C19】__them to go to work and do their jobs well. Taking a【C20】_____view of passion—as something that can be pursued through work, but also outside of it—can help us live passion-fueled lives in whatever way works best for us.

The German band Kraftwerk understood perfectly the special pleasures of cross-border train travel. The spare lyrics to their 1977 classic Trans-Europe Express (TEE) celebrated the excitement that comes with being stylishly on the move: “Leave Paris in the morning with T-E-E. In Vienna we sit in a late-night cafe. Straight connection T-E-E.”

Cool, sleek and, in its day, immensely modern, the Trans Europe Express stopped running in 1995. Scores of other international rail links have gone the same way, priced out of the market by low-cost air travel. Rock-bottom short-haul air fares have turned continental rail travel into an eccentric and expensive pleasure for romantics with deep pockets.

However, a route back to the glory days may have opened up. The European commission has declared 2021 the European Year of Rail, hoping trains can help the EU achieve carbon neutrality. A revival of the TEE—which in its heyday connected 130 European cities—is being proposed as part of a wider aspiration to raise the number of Europeans travelling by train.

The environmental argument for getting more people into trains is unanswerable. Before the pandemic destroyed demand, many people flew every day between Paris and Berlin. Each flight produces six times the carbon emissions of an equivalent train journey. Such travel habits are unsustainable. Fortunately, this seems to be becoming a mainstream view; almost three-quarters of travellers planned to use trains more for short-haul travel in the future.

But if good intentions are to turn into real outcomes, the EU and national governments must provide meaningful subsidies and incentives to encourage a more joined-up and affordable pan-European rail network. Many more direct routes are required, along with a simplified system that makes buying a train ticket from London to Barcelona as straightforward as travelling by Ryanair. If prohibitive disparities in price can be overcome, the public appetite appears to be there. In Britain, with the right level of ambition and imagination, night trains to European destinations could become a genuine alternative to flying.

The TEE, launched in 1957, was an elite mode of transport, offering a first-class-only service. Its 21st-century equivalents, if they are to help shape a greener future, will need to be more accessible and a little less chic. But the contemplative pleasures of cruising through towns and landscapes never seen before, while sipping a glass of wine, or drinking a beer, should not be the preserve of the well-heeled. Europe’s Year of Rail is a move in the right direction. The task now is to shape the market to get people on board.

Fifty years ago today, when the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) opened its doors, American workplaces were full of dangers. The law that created OSHA was revolutionary: It established, for the first time, the right to a safe workplace, free of serious hazards. Businesses had to comply with federal regulations and permit inspectors to examine their facilities. The agency has improved working conditions for generations of Americans. It has prevented thousands of deaths and millions of injuries. But in recent years, progress has slowed.

OSHA’s limitations predate the pandemic. The agency’s enforcement staff is so small that if OSHA sent inspectors to every workplace, it would take 162 years to visit them all. New regulations often take 10 or more years to be finalized. What’s more, the emergence of the online platform economy has allowed more businesses to abdicate responsibility for the people doing work on their behalf, since gig workers aren’t afforded the protections available to regular employees. In addition, several other groups—independent contractors, people working on small farms, eight million public sector workers in 24 states and the District of Columbia—have no legal right to a safe workplace. Temporary workers, who are at greater risk of injury and death than traditionally employed workers, alsooften fall between the cracks.

While OSHA badly needs more inspectors, it will never have enough to visit all workplaces. To broaden its impact, the agency should augment the consequences for violating safety regulations in order to encourage employers to address threats before OSHA inspects, and before workers get hurt. Publicizing safety violations can serve as an effective deterrent: One study found that OSHA would have to conduct 210 inspections to achieve the same amount of deterrence as a single news release detailing a severe safety violation.

OSHA also needs to adapt to the changing nature of the American labor market. It can take a cue from countries like Australia and New Zealand, which have embraced a new model called “duty of care”, in which companies must ensure that their activities do not endanger the health and safety of any worker, regardless of type.

Thanks to OSHA’s efforts, countless workers have been spared injuries, illnesses, disability and premature death. But too many are still being hurt on the job. The Covid-19 pandemic has taught us the value of the often invisible workers who make our economy function. OSHA should modernize to ensure that all workers are able to do their jobs and at the end of their shifts go home safe and healthy.

Apple has dropped its long-promised bombshell on the data-tracking industry. The latest version (14.5) of iOS—the operating system of the iPhone—included a provision that required app users explicitly to confirm that they wished to be tracked across the internet in their online activities. At the heart of the switch is a code known as “the identifier for advertisers” or IDFA. It turns out that every iPhone comes with one of these identifiers, the object of which is to provide advertisers with aggregate data about the user’s interests. For years, iPhone users have had the option to switch it off by digging into privacy settings of their devices, but very few bothered to do that.

From 14.5 onwards, however, they couldn’t avoid making a decision and you didn’t have to be a Nobel laureate to guess that most iPhone users would opt out. This explains why those who profit from the data-tracking scheme had for months been angry about Apple’s betrayal. Some counteroffensives included attacks on Apple’s monopolistic control over its App store and charges of rank hypocrisy—that changes in version 14.5 were not motivated by Apple’s concerns for users’ privacy but by its own plans to enter the advertising business. And so on.

The computerised, high-speed system in which online ads are traded is currently unregulated. Often the problem with tech regulation is that our legal systems need to be overhauled to deal with digital technology. But the irony in this particular case is that there’s no need for such an overhaul: Europe already has the law in place. It’s the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), which is part of the legal code of every EU country and has provision for imposing punishments for infringers. The problem is that it’s not being effectively enforced.

Why not? The answer is that the EU delegates regulatory power to the relevant institutions—in this case data protection authorities PA)—of its member states. And these local outfits are overwhelmed by the scale of the task and are lamentably under-resourced for it. Half of Europe’s DPAs have only five technical experts or fewer. And the Irish data protection authority, on whose patch most of the tech giants have their European headquarters, has the heaviest enforcement workload in Europe and is clearly swamped.

So here’s where we are: an online system has been running wild for years, generating billions in profits for its participants. We have a powerful law on the statute book that in principle could bring it under control, but which we appear unable to enforce. And the only body that has, to date, been able to exert real control over the aforementioned scheme is a giant private company that itself is subject to serious concerns about its monopolistic behaviour. It really is time to worry.

Attend any business conference or open any management book and an encounter with some variation of the same message is almost guaranteed: the pace of change in business is accelerating, and no one is safe from disruption. Recent breakthroughs in artificial intelligence (AI) have left many corporate giants nervously anticipating the death blow, and fearing the same fate as Kodak and Blockbuster, two giants felled by the digital revolution.

“The Innovator’s Dilemma”, a seminal book from 1997 by Clayton Christensen, a management guru, observed that incumbents hesitate to pursue radical innovations that would make their products or services cheaper or more convenient, for fear of denting the profitability of their existing businesses. In the midst of technological upheaval, that creates an opening for upstarts unencumbered by such considerations. Yet America Inc has experienced surprisingly little competitive disruption during the internet age. Incumbents appear to have become more secure, not less. And there is good reason to believe they will remain on their perches.

Consider the Fortune 500, America’s largest firms by revenue, ranging from Walmart to Wells Fargo and accounting for roughly a fifth of employment, half of sales and two-thirds of profits. We found that only 52 of the 500 were born after 1990, our yardstick for the internet era. Only seven of the 500 were created in 2007, while 280 predate America’s entry into the second world war. In fact, the rate at which new corporate giants arise has been slowing.

One explanation for this is that the digital revolution has not been all that revolutionary in some parts of the economy, notes Julian Birkinshaw of the London Business School. Communications, entertainment and shopping have been turned on their heads. But extracting oil from the ground and sending electricity down wires look much the same. High-profile flops like WeWork, a much-hyped office-sharing firm now at risk of collapse, and Katerra, which tried and failed to redefine the construction business by using prefabricated building components and fewer middlemen, have discouraged others from trying to disrupt their respective industries.

Another reason is that inertia has slowed the pace of competitive upheaval in many industries, buying time for incumbents to adapt to digital technologies. Although 65％ of Americans now bank online, nearly all the banks they use are ancient—the average age of those in the Fortune 500, including JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, is 138. Fewer than 10％ of Americans switched banks last year, according to Kearney, a consultancy. That stickiness has made it difficult for would-be disrupters to build scale before incumbents imitate their innovations. A complicated regulatory system that favours big institutions with well-staffed compliance departments helps.

[A] Strike a balance

[B] Share when others are sharing

[C] Listen to objective advice

[D] Promote through a middle person

[E] Celebrate the right way

[F] Be cautious of your weakness

[G] Share when asked

Five Ways to Realize Self-Promotion

We know that success at work depends on being—and being seen as—both competent and likable. You need people to notice your growth and accomplishments while also enjoying your company. But if you draw attention to the value you’ve created—to ensure that managers and peers recognize it—you risk coming across as a shameless self-promoter. Here are five ways to realize the benefits of self-promotion without resistance.

【R1】________

Humility is admirable. But if someone requests information or an answer that requires you to reveal positives about yourself, you should do it. We found that if you’re given an opportunity to boast—for example, by being asked, “What are your greatest strengths?” or “How did you finish that so quickly?“—ignoring it can raise suspicion. We found that not answering such questions may cause people to think you’re neither trustworthy nor likable.

【R2】________

Have you noticed that when someone shares something personal with you, whether it be a point of pride or a shortcoming, you are often triggered to share yours? Indeed, a series of studies found that when people were told that others had revealed personal information, it prompted them to reciprocate in kind. Research indicates that in situations where others share too, people can successfully convey their accomplishments without coming across as unlikable or inconsiderate.

【R3】________

Athletes, musicians, and actors hire publicists and agents for good reason. A middle person is seen as less self-serving and thus provides an aura of objectivity. The same can be true in business settings. Studies have shown that a candidate who boasted through others was better liked, seen as more competent, and awarded higher pay than the self-promotional one. Other research indicates that secondhand boasting is also less likely to elicit negative emotions such as envy and annoyance.

Of course, no one brings an agent to a performance review, and it’s rare to have a cheerleading recruiter attend your job interviews. But you can find your peers, bosses, mentors, and sponsors, who will be happy to speak up on your behalf—as long as you are respectful. This is easier than you might think.

【R4】________

Even when you see a clear opening to highlight your accomplishments, you should be careful about it. Research indicates that when people present a balanced picture of themselves, rather than discussing only successes, they come across as more credible and reliable. This strategy works because humans are much more adept at making relative judgments than absolute ones: When negative information is sprinkled into a largely positive narrative, we compare the two, which allows accomplishments to stand out and be more readily accepted.

【R5】________

We all want our achievements to be recognized and applauded. It’s a boost to morale and well-being. And there are ways to celebrate without coming across as boastful. One is to find a circle of close friends at work and outside it who will cheer your victories as if they were their own. Research shows that telling friends about your successes can improve those relationships. Solo celebrations work too. Treat yourself to a nice meal, a new dress, or just a relaxing night in with your favorite TV show. It can be beneficial to get more benefits out of achievements by celebrating them.