Text 1. In the Supermarket
When we need some food-stuffs or some consumer goods we go out to do the shopping.
There are different kinds of shops which deal in different goods. Thus, for example, the bookseller’s is a shop where books are sold, souvenir shops have a wide assortment of souvenirs, at the jeweller’s one can buy jewellery, etc. There are plenty of other specialized shops: the baker’s, the butcher’s, the grocer’s, the fishmonger’s, the milk shop, the confectioner’s, the greengrocer’s, etc. But there are also big shops which consist of many counters. They are called supermarkets.
Let’s drop in at a modern supermarket. These are usually self-service stores. Customers must take a wire basket or a cart and go along the aisles where the units are displayed. If you need some groceries you go to the grocery counter, which trades with cereals (buckwheat, millet, oatmeal, rice, semolina, pearl-barley), macaroni, noodles, flour, sugar, salt, coffee (instant and in grains), cocoa, various spices, vegetable oil, packets of dry soup, etc. Everything is sold ready-packed.
Bakery goods are sold at the bakery counter. Here one can buy brown/rye bread, white/wheat bread, buns, rolls, rings, rusks, etc.
The dairy counter deals in loose and bottled fresh milk, sour milk, yoghurt, cream, sour cream, butter, margarine, cheese, cottage cheese/ curds and other dairy produce.
If you are in want of some fish you must go to the fish counter. It usually keeps a wide assortment of herring, fresh, salted, frozen, smoked and tinned fish.
At the confectionery counter there is a wide choice of caramel, sweet, cakes, fancy cakes, pastries, biscuits, waffles and chocolate.
The wine counter trades with strong drinks: wine (table, dry, sweet/ dessert), brandy, cognac, liqueur, champagne, etc.
At the sausages counter one is offered a variety of sausages, ham, bacon, chain-sausages, frankfurters, meat rolled, etc.
Various vegetables (potatoes, tomatoes, onions, garlic, cucumbers, cabbage, carrots, beetroot, melon, water melon, pumpkin, black radish, garden radish, parsley, fennel, lettuce, celery, spinach, cauliflower) and fruit (apples, pears, plums, cherries, sweet cherries, grapes, apricots, peaches, pineapples, bananas, pomegranates, oranges, tangerines, grapefruit, lemons) and berries (strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, bilberries, gooseberries, red currants, black currants) are sold at the greengrocer’s and fruiterer’s.
As a rule there is also a special hall where they sell butcher’s meat (pork, beef, veal, mutton) fowl, minced meat, lard, etc.
When customers choose everything they need, they join one of the queues past the cash-desks. The cash register totals the bill. The customers pay the bill and leave the supermarket.
IX. Read and dramatize the following dialogues: