Ejercicio Texto 2 - Cuestión 5 · Inglés PAU Asturias Ordinaria (2ª lengua extranjera) 2023

Texto 2

Everyday life in times of COVID-19

Working, shopping, paying or getting around – the COVID-19 crisis has fundamentally changed many things. Firstly, as the coronavirus pandemic hit, companies turned to remote working as an experiment, unplanned but generally successful. Even when many employees had, at first, little experience of working from home and digital meetings before COVID-19, now a majority of them want to stay in their home office at least part of their working time. Figures indicate that one in four would prefer to work only from home, and around one in eight would like to return to the pre-pandemic model and work solely in the office. Home office is clearly here to stay.

Secondly, COVID-19 has also changed our behaviour with regard to shopping, including when paying for purchases. Although some people were already online shoppers, many ‘traditional shoppers’ turned, at least momentarily, to online shopping because of COVID-19. People still want to go ‘street-shopping’, but only if it is an easy, pleasant and safe experience; otherwise, consumers prefer to stay at home – and online. In in-store shopping operations, cash is no longer king: the pandemic has seen consumers doing without cash in favour of contactless and digital payments. Major payment providers such as Mastercard and Visa temporarily increased the limit for contactless card transactions without having to enter in PIN details and touching the payment terminal. Shop managers also started to request customers to pay with digital or contactless alternatives and to avoid using cash. Some researchers say that a cashless society is slowly but firmly taking root.

Thirdly, the coronavirus crisis has changed how the general population moves around. The measures governments have taken to contain the spread of COVID-19 have changed and restricted the way people move around in an unprecedented way. The use of individual private transport has increased; the use of public transport, taxis and ride-sharing services has declined. Trains and buses are almost empty despite reducing their timetables. There is fear of infection because on public transport you are in close proximity to a large number of people in a relatively small place. Accordingly, private transport is now favoured.

Fill the gaps with the correct, most appropriate word in each case. (0,25 por acierto = 1 punto)

5. When the pandemic struck, many countries (A)

quick to close (B)

borders. However, some effects of COVID-19 may unite us, giving us a rare opportunity to pause and consider (C)

we live. News of a truly effective vaccine for everybody makes the prospect of a return (D)

normality more hopeful.