Episode 208 B

EPISODE 208
LEVEL B1-B2

 

 

READING COMPREHENSION

 

ONLINE SHOPPING

 

‘Apart from eBay and other auction services, where and what do you buy online?’ Lindsay, Julia’s friend from her office, keeps asking her questions after she discovers Julia does so much of her shopping online.
‘Books from Amazon.com and other online bookstores, lots of them. I love Amazon because they send me e-mail alerts every time they get new stuff by the authors I bought – you know, little e-mail messages saying „You might be interested in…”. I know this is just good business thinking on their part, but I like this kind of personalised marketing. Also, the Internet is great for subscriptions to foreign magazines (=a way of paying in advance for a whole year’s worth of magazines which are then delivered to your mailbox). I subscribed to the New Yorker online – I truly enjoy reading it – and I always renew the subscription online (=buy another year’s subscription). Otherwise it would be very difficult for me to buy American magazines here.’
‘Good and great, but I hardly need them at all – the foreign press I am interested in is French’, says Lindsay, feeling a bit lost.
‘I am sure you can do the same for French stuff’, says Julia. ‘But that’s just a part of it. Mostly what I buy online is groceries (=everyday food) . Each major supermarket chain offers you the option of ordering things online and having them delivered to your doorstep. The one I always use is the best, I think. You can buy bananas, let’s say, and the system allows you to place a comment – I always asks for ripe, yellow ones. And they hand-pick (=select very carefully) the bananas for me so they are exactly as if I had chosen them myself. It’s like, I put them into my electronic shopping cart (=see picture next to the title), but it’s not me who has to drag the heavy bags!’
‘It does sound like a good idea’, Lindsay seems to be warming to the idea of online shopping.

More contexts for the new words:

• A new Italian grocery opened around the corner from where we live.
  (= a shop with groceries)
• Excuse me, where can I find the nearest green-grocer’s here?
  (= a shop with fruit and vegetables)
• How often do you go grocery shopping ?
  (= shopping for food)

 

 

EXERCISE 1

Match the words from both columns to make correct expressions.

 

1. email                     a) your doorstep
2. hand                      b) a subscription
3. online                    c) alert
4. renew                    d) marketing
5. shopping              e) bookstore
6. personalised        f) -pick
7. to                           g) cart

 

 

EXERCISE 2

Put the words in order to make meaningful questions and then answer them.

 

1. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ?

shopping, ever, online, done, you, Have, any

2. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ?

do, personalised, How, feel, about, marketing, you

3. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ?

good, groceries, you, a, Do, is, ordering, think, idea, online

 

ENGLISH IN USE 

 

In the text above, Julia says she truly enjoys reading the New Yorker magazine. ‘Truly’ is an adverb formed from the adjective ‘true’. You will have noticed that it does not follow the rule of attaching an ending –ly to the adjective. In fact, quite a number of other adverbs are formed irregularly. Some examples are listed below.

When the adjective ends in –ll , only –y is added:

I did not use this opportunity to the full. I did not use it fully .

 

When the adjective ends in –y preceded by a consonant, the –y is usually changed to –i before the ending –ly is added:

She is very busy – she is running busily around the house.
It is quite easy – it can be done rather easily .
She is such a happy child – she seems to be laughing happily all the time.

However, in the case of the adjectives „shy” and „sly”, –ly is simply added to the positive form of the adjective:

My younger daughter is horribly shy – she never speaks to strangers, just smiles at them shyly.

When the adjective ends in -y preceded by a vowel, in most cases, –ly is simply added to the positive form of the adjective:

He is so coy – he might seem innocent to you but you’d be surprised how coyly he can act.

 

 

IDIOM CLOSE-UP

 

A/ Have you heard Burnham&Rogers declined the offer we made them?

B/ Jackie, we’re not here to TALK SHOP. Get a drink and just enjoy the party, will you?

 

If you talk shop, talk about business or work matters at a social event (where such talk is out of place).

 

 

PHRASAL VERBS CLOSE-UP

1. If you BUY something UP, you buy large amounts of something or all of it that is available.

He bought up all the land in this area because he knew a motorway was going to be built there.

 

2. If you BUY someone OFF, you bribe them.

Don’t try to buy me off with your expensive presents, I’m not going to fall for that.

 

 

EXERCISE 3

Re-write the sentences keeping the same meaning and using the word in CAPITALS. Use the idiom and the phrasal verb you have learned.

 

1. They spent her entire birthday party discussing work-related things.

SHOP ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

2. I tried to bribe the security guy but he refused so I didn’t manage to get backstage.

BUY …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

3. Let’s purchase all the available shares.

BUY …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

 

 

NEWS

 

HALF OF UK AVOIDS ONLINE SHOPPING

 

A new survey claims that over half of the UK population still does not shop online. The main reason given for sticking to traditional shops is credit card security risks.

Most of the survey’s respondents cited the media as the most common source of information about the safety of online shopping. Obviously, the stories presented on TV, in newspapers or on the internet itself naturally focus on crimes or losses of credit card information, which is only one side of the coin.

The research also found that consumers rely on friends and family for advice. About a third of survey respondents said that they or someone they knew had been a victim of online credit card fraud.

 

GLOSSARY

– to stick to something – to keep doing the same thing as before

– to cite – to mention something as proof for a theory or as a reason why something has happened

– only one side of the coin – only one of many perspectives on the issue

– fraud – the crime of getting money by deceiving people

 

 

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