What are your shopping habits?

I’m not much of a shopper, but my sister is a terrific one. I prefer to do window shopping. Saturday is my shopping day. I’m used to doing the shopping with a shopping list. I’m neither a stingy nor an extravagant customer. I just like to buy the right things at reasonable prices.

I think I am a reasonable customer. With me quality counts above all. If I like the article, I am ready to buy it even at a sky-high price. But I feel good if I manage to buy a good thing for a song. Generally I stick to the rule: I’m not rich enough to buy cheap things.

Although I look for bargains, I can’t say I often find them. Now when prices are exorbitant, I rely much on sales. Price reductions are quite apparent at sales. One can buy high quality goods at reduced prices there. Last time I bought a flared skirt. It was a real bargain.

Various goods are on sale at the shops where I go shopping. The choice of consumer goods is not scanty, I must admit.

Listening

Listen to the recording and fill in the gaps.

I went into one of the big London _________ today and enjoyed myself very much, just ___________ from one __________ to another, looking at the various articles on the ___________. I thought the ___________ were very helpful. There must have been some hundreds of _____________and _____________ and dozens of different ____________, including ___________, ___________, ____________, ____________ and even ___________. I went from one department to another – from _____________ to ________, from _______ goods to ________- up and down, in lifts and on escalators. As I was going through the ______ _________, I was surprised to meet an old friend of mine, whom I hadn’t seen for years. We went up to the ______________ and had lunch together. We didn’t finish lunch until half past two. Then we ______ some __________ together. I helped her to buy some _________ for her children. I can’t tell you how glad we were to see each other again. We used to be very great friends before she went to live ______________.

 Speaking

Congratulations! You have each won $1,000. You can buy whatever you want with it. However , there are three requirements: you must spend the money in the different stores, you must give a detailed description of which stores you will shop in, and you must give a detailed description of what you will buy.

Listening

Listen to the man talking about shopping. What kind of shoppers does he think women are? How does he prove his point? Can you either support or contradict his opinion?

Exercise 2

Decide which answer A, B, C or D best fits each space.

Street Markets

Most people enjoy looking for (1) …. in street markets. It can be very enjoyable walking around the (2) …., among the crowds of (3) …., and trying to spend as (4) …. as possible. Of course it depends (5) …. the market. In fruit and (6) …. markets, there is usually a wide variety of (7) …. produce, but it may not be cheap. There may be goods at (8) … prices at the end of the day, however. Clothes markets can be a problem, as it is difficult to (9) …. on new clothes in the open (10) …! My favourite are antique markets, where although there is not much (11) …. of finding valuable objects which are also cheap, you can enjoy yourself looking at all the things for (12) …. . Whatever kind of market you look (13) …., and whether you buy things or not, you usually (14) …. up feeling completely worn (15) ….. . Still, it is an interesting way of shopping.

	A) cheap	B) sale	C) inexpensive	D) bargains
	A) tables	B) stalls	C) boxes	D) stores
	A) shoppers	B) public	C) buys	D) goods
	A) little	B) soon	C) late	D) is
	A) from	B) with	C) on	D) to
	A) salads	B) green	C) farm	D) vegetable
	A) new	B) fresh	C) young	D) early
	A) half	B) bottom	C) reduced	D) down
	A) look	B) try	C) have	D) take
	A) time	B) shop	C) light	D) air
	A) likelihood	B) instead	C) in spite	D) luck
	A) that	B) all	C) sale	D) other
	A) round	B) for	C) up	D) out
	A) shut	B) bring	C) get	D) end
	A) clothes	B) however	C) out	D) through