Lifestyle in Britain. Дворжец О.С. - 82 стр.

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2 Read the profiles about shopping in Britain and answer the following questions.
Are the British conservative shoppers?
What do the British appreciate in the things they buy?
What seems to be most surprising in Britain for foreign shoppers?
Where have the supermarkets been moving recently?
Why do high streets still manage to survive in Britain?
The British are not very adventurous shoppers. They like reliability and buy
brand-name goods wherever possible, preferably with the price clearly marked
(they are not very keen on haggling over prices). It is therefore not surprising that a
very high proportion of the country’s shops are branches of chain stores.
Visitors are sometimes struck by the variety of types of shop. Most shops are
chain stores, but among those that are not, there is much individuality. Independent
shopowners feel no need to follow conventional ideas about what a particular shop
does and doesn’t sell.
In the last quarter of the twentieth century supermarkets have been moving
out of town, where there is lots of free parking space. As they do so, they are be-
coming bigger and turning into ‘hypermarkets’ stocking a wider variety of items.
For example, most of them now sell alcoholic drinks, which are conventionally
bought at shops called ‘off-licences’. They also sell petrol and some items tradi-
tionally found in chemists and newsagents.
However, this trend has not gone as far as it has in some other European coun-
tries. For example, few supermarkets sell clothes, shoes, kitchen utensils or electri-
cal goods. They still concentrate mainly on everyday needs.
The area in town where the local shops are concentrated is known as the high
street (the American equivalent is ‘Main Street’). British high streets have suffered
from the move towards out-of-town shopping. In the worst-affected towns, as 
                                  READING
2   Read the profiles about shopping in Britain and answer the following questions.

     ƒ Are the British conservative shoppers?
     ƒ What do the British appreciate in the things they buy?
     ƒ What seems to be most surprising in Britain for foreign shoppers?
     ƒ Where have the supermarkets been moving recently?
     ƒ Why do high streets still manage to survive in Britain?


     The British are not very adventurous shoppers. They like reliability and buy
brand-name goods wherever possible, preferably with the price clearly marked
(they are not very keen on haggling over prices). It is therefore not surprising that a
very high proportion of the country’s shops are branches of chain stores.

     Visitors are sometimes struck by the variety of types of shop. Most shops are
chain stores, but among those that are not, there is much individuality. Independent
shopowners feel no need to follow conventional ideas about what a particular shop
does and doesn’t sell.
     In the last quarter of the twentieth century supermarkets have been moving
out of town, where there is lots of free parking space. As they do so, they are be-
coming bigger and turning into ‘hypermarkets’ stocking a wider variety of items.
For example, most of them now sell alcoholic drinks, which are conventionally
bought at shops called ‘off-licences’. They also sell petrol and some items tradi-
tionally found in chemists and newsagents.
     However, this trend has not gone as far as it has in some other European coun-
tries. For example, few supermarkets sell clothes, shoes, kitchen utensils or electri-
cal goods. They still concentrate mainly on everyday needs.
     The area in town where the local shops are concentrated is known as the high
street (the American equivalent is ‘Main Street’). British high streets have suffered
from the move towards out-of-town shopping. In the worst-affected towns, as


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