Text 1. Employment in brirain

The well-known statement written by Hungarian humorist George Mikes ‘The one thing the English will never forgive the Germans for is working too hard’ is, of course, not literally true. However, it does reflect a certain lack of enthusiasm for work in general. At the upper end of the social scale this attitude to work exists because leisure has always been the main outward sign of aristocracy.

And because of Britain’s class system, it has had its effects throughout society. If you have to work, then the less it looks like work the better. Traditionally therefore, a major sign of being middle class (as opposed to working class) has been that you do non-manual work. The fact that skilled manual (or ‘blue collar’) workers have been paid more highly than the lower grades of ‘white-collar’ (i.e. non-manual) worker for several decades has only slightly changed this social perception.

This ‘anti-work’ outlook among the working class has led to a relative lack of ambition or enthusiasm and a belief that high earnings are more important than job satisfaction. These attitudes are slowly changing. For example, at least half of the workforce now does non-manual work, and yet a majority describe themselves as working class.

It would therefore seem that the connection between being middle class and doing non-manual work is growing weaker. Nevertheless, the connection between class distinctions and types of work lives on in a number of ways. One illustration of this is the different way in which earnings are conventionally expressed and paid. Perhaps the traditional lack of enthusiasm for work is the reason why the working day, in comparison with most European countries, starts rather late (usually at eight o’clock for manual workers and around nine for non-manual workers).

However, measured by the number of hours worked in a week, the British reputation for not working hard enough appears to be false. The normal lunch break is an hour or less and most people (unless they work part-time) continue working until five or later. Many people often work several hours overtime a week. In addition, a comparatively large proportion of British people stay in the workforce for a comparatively large part of their lives. The normal retiring age for most people is sixty five (sixty for some, including a greater proportion of women).

Задание 1.1. Ответьте письменно на вопросы:

1. What English attitude to work does George Mikes’ statement reflect?

2. Are attitudes to work in Britain changing?

3. How are the earnings of manual and non-manual workers expressed and paid?

Задание 1.2. Выпишите из текста английские эквиваленты для следующих слов и выражений:

На вершине социальной лестницы, отношение к работе, оплачиваются более высоко, удовлетворение от работы, главный признак принадлежности к среднему классу, работник физического труда, возраст выхода на пенсию, классовые различия, рабочая сила, работать неполный рабочий день, виды работы, работать сверхурочно.

Дата добавления: 2015-07-20