LENGUA EXTRANJERA:

UNIVERSIDADES PÚBLICAS DE ANDALUCÍA INGLÉS

PRUEBA DE ACCESO PARA MAYORES DE 25 AÑOS
CURSO 2022/2023

Instrucciones: a) Duración: 1 hora.

b) Puntuación hasta 10 puntos.
c) Se deberá realizar una traducción sin diccionario del texto propuesto (incluyendo el título), que no
tendrá que ser necesariamente una traducción literal del mismo. El texto en castellano deberá respetar las
normas formales de este idioma.

Great Britain is a poor country pretending to be rich

The British seem to have decided that this country is so fantastically rich that we can afford
any form of luxury we want while working less and less. People in their 50s have taken early
retirement, and those in their 20s are buying more and more designer products but still live with
their parents.

The problem is that Great Britain is becoming a relatively poor country, and fast. In fact, in
terms of wealth per capita, some studies indicate that in less than 15 years salaries in the UK will
be lower than in Poland, the country that used to supply us with an endless army of cheap
workers. There are different explanations for this. Among the people who do have a job, firms
prioritise employees’ “well-being" over productivity or profits with measures like “flexible working”
and four-day weeks. Some people think that this often means less work.

It is all surely part of the same problem: these decisions are based on the belief that Great
Britain is an incredibly rich country, in which people needn’t worry about any privation. It is not
hard to guess how that idea established itself: during the pandemic millions of people were paid
to do nothing, while banks that had made bad commercial decisions were rescued with billions of
pounds.

In truth, for the last twenty years this country has become used to a standard of living we
cannot afford. It’s as if you took out 17 credit cards on the same day. You could check into the
Savoy Hotel and live like a prince for a week. You might look rich, but it is just an illusion.