GRAMMAR REFERENCE

Receptionist: Hello, th e Keavil House Hotel. M ark is speaking.

Mr. Collins: I’d like to make a reservation for my family, please. Receptionist: Certainly. W hen is it for?

Mr. Collins: I t’s for three nights, the tw enty-seventh, tw enty-eighth and tw enty-ninth of this month. Receptionist: And w hat room do you w ant?

Mr. Collins: A suite, please. Receptionist: I have a room for you. And your name is?

Mr. Collins: Richard Collins. Can you tell me how much it is? Receptionist: T h at’s £120 per night. And could I have your phone number?

Mr. Collins: Sure. 01524 32865 Receptionist: T h at’s fine. We look forward to seeing you on the tw enty- seventh.

Mr. Collins: Thanks a lot. Goodbye.

Lesson 4

Mrs. Collins: Oh, dear! I hope everything will be all right but... I’m nervous. We have so many things to do. You know, packing takes a lot of time. I’m not sure th a t we are ready enough for our trip. Mr. Collins'. D on’t worry, darling! J u st keep calm. Everything will be OK. Anyway, let us see how everything is going. Jimmy, Jenny, can you come here, please!

Jim m y. W h a t’s up, daddy? Jen n y: W h at’s the m atter? Mr. Collins: How are you doing w ith the packing?

Jimmy: Well... You know, I’m ready. I have done everything. Jen n y: Really? I’m quite ready. I haven’t com pleted all my things but I have w ritten my To Do List already. I hope, I w on’t forget about anything.

Jimm y: And I w rote my To Do List three days ago!

Mr. Collins: Fantastic! This rem inds me of our last trip to Cyprus. Remember? T hat tim e you told us th a t you were ready. And w hen we came to the airport...

Jimm y: And w hat? N othing special. J en n y: Really, nothing special. You left the bag w ith our passports and tickets at home!

Jimm y: I didn’t mean it. It was your fault! You ... Mrs. Collins: Please calm down, both of you! Let’s talk about our trip.

Mrs. Collins: Good morning. Could you tell me th e the times of trains from Lancaster to Edinburgh, please? Ticket clerk: W hen would you like to leave? Mrs. Collins: About ten o’clock in the morning. Ticket clerk: Right. Let’s have a look. There’s a train th a t leaves at 10.23, then there isn’t another one until 10.57. Mrs. Collins: Can I have four tickets, please? Ticket clerk: Single or return? Mrs. Collins: Return, please. Ticket clerk: How would you like to pay? Mrs. Collins: Cash, please. Ticket clerk: T h at’s one hundred and sixty-eight, please. Mrs. Collins: H ere’s tw o hundred. Ticket clerk: H ere’s your change and are your tickets. Mrs. Collins: OK. Thank you very much. Goodbye.

Stop a n d c h eck

Mr. Gray travelled a lot on business. He sold machines of various kinds to farmers. It was not really a very exciting job, b u t Mr. Gray had always been interested in farming, and he was quite satisfied w ith his life.

He had a big car, and usually enjoyed driving it long distances, b u t he was quite satisfied to go by train sometimes too, especially when th e w eather was bad. He was a little frightened of driving in rain or snow, and it was less tiring to sit comfortably in a train and look out of the window w ithout being worried about how one was going to get to the next place.

One of Mr. G ray’s problems was often where to stay when he reached a small place in the country. He did not expect great comfort and wonderful food, but he found it annoying when he was given a cold room, and there was no hot w ater or good food after a long and tiring day.

Once Mr. Gray arrived at a small railway station. He was cold and tired and hungry. He was looking forward to a simple b u t satisfying meal by a brightly burning fire, and then a hot bath and comfortable bed .

He said to a local man, “As this is my first visit to this part of the country and I was too much of a hurry to find out about hotels before I left home, I would very much like to know how many you have here.”

The local man answered, “We have tw o.”

“And which of the two would you advise me to go to ? ” Mr. Gray asked then.

The local man scratched his head for a few moments and then answered, “Well, it’s like this: whichever one you go to, you’ll be sorry you didn’t go to the other.”

U N I T 5 Lesson 5 WHY DO THE BRITISH LIKE GOING TO THE PUB?

One of the main attractions of the pub for all regular pubgoers is th a t it offers good company in friendly surroundings. W here else can you appear as a complete stranger and at once be able to join in a conversation with a diverse group of people?

Often the style of the pub and its locality will dictate the kind of customers you can expect to find there. Village pubs with th eir country furnishings and real ales attract not only local folk but city dwellers out for drive, hikers fresh from a long day’s walk and pensioners enjoying pub lunch. C ity pubs tend to have a more mixed customers — businessmen discussing the latest deal, theatregoers or groups of friends enjoying their meal before going out.

Good conversation and good beer are two essential items provided by the pub. M any pubs also serve food, from snacks to full meals.

O ther attractions offered by city and country pubs include a game of darts and snooker, a game similar to billiards.

The idea of the pub can lie in the variety of pub names. Each pub has its own name, depicted on a painted inn sign hung outside the premises.

A pub name can refer to historical events, landmarks, beasts or its meaning can be a complete puzzle. Some include references to animals, many w ith their origins in heraldy — The W hite H art, The Nag’s Head, The Black Bull, and the Bear to name b u t a few!

Stop a n d check

Can you guess w hat the most popular food in Britain is? You may have several ideas about typical British food, all of which are probably right, but the most popular dish in Britain at the moment is ... curry!

The British diet has been enriched by the variety of ethnic foods available in our shops and restaurants, from Indian and Italian to Chinese and Thai. Indeed curry is now B ritain’s most popular meal.

A curry is a spicy dish, made with meat, fish or vegetables, cooked with crushed spices. It has many variations and degrees of “heat”, depending on how much chilli pepper you use. One of the finest dishes, and one th at is frequently ordered in Indian restaurants in the UK, is chicken tandoori. The chicken is marinated for several days in yoghurt and spices and then cooked in a sealed tandoor oven.

Fish and chips may have been the meal which came to mind when you thought of “fast food”. They are the most popular British food in Britain. Fish and chip shops first appeared at the end of the 19th century and since then the dish has been a firm favourite, especially in seaside towns where fresh fish is readily available. Л piece of white fish usually cod, haddock or plaice is first dipped in

a batter made from flour, eggs and w ater and then deep fried in hot fat. Chips are made from thick batons of potato and deep fried. Salt and vinegar are then added according to taste. Fish and chips are served over the counter wrapped in paper — at one time newspaper was always used — and the experts say they prefer to eat them straight out of the paper because they taste better th a t way!

The best-known British dish eaten at home is roast beef, traditionally eaten on Sunday. Roast beef is served with roast potatoes, vegetables and gravy — a sauce made from meat juices and stock, thickened with flour. Yorkshire pudding — batter baked in hot fat in the oven — is a favourite accompaniment to roast beef.

U N I T 6 Lesson 4

Portobello M arket in West London is one of the most famous street markets in the world. It is a popular destination for Londoners and tourists alike.

Many of the pubs, antique arcades and streets around and about the area have exotic sounding names — few people realise th a t they are mostly historic. The area of Portobello was originally a farm, which was named after the tow n of Puerto Bello in the Caribbean in memory of Admiral Vernon who captured th a t tow n in 1739.

Since then the area has become built up with houses, shop fronts and the street market, however pub names such as the Portobello Gold and the Portobello Star (navigation) are references to those heady seafaring days off the Spanish Main. One of the Antiques Arcades is known as the Admiral Vernon.

Portobello Road is a paradise for shoppers w ith its fashion designer boutiques, art galleries, lifestyle and interiors. Portobello Road goes straight through the heart of N otting Hill, th e tren dy area of London made famous by the film“N otting Hill” with Hugh G rant and Julia Roberts. At the N otting Hill end there are over 2,000 stalls selling antiques, jewellery, paintings, coins, medals, silverware and collectibles. All the stallholders here are experts so don't expect too many bargains. This area also has pubs, cafes, bars, restaurants and delicatessens. F urther down the hill there are fruit and vegetable stalls. Under t he Westway there is a large flea market offering second-hand clothes, jewellery, records and books, and beyond this at Golborne Road the market becomes rundown but it's still w orth searching for bargains, as well as the Portuguese cafes.

Saturday is the best day to go to Portobello M arket, although some stalls are open all week.

Stop a n d check

London has over 40,000 shops and 26 major street m arkets to choose from. O xford Street:, London’s busiest shopping street, is in the heart of the city’s West Knd, It is the place for buying souvenirs, clothes, and so on. Covent

Garden is a place with street markets, curbside entertainm ent, trendy cafes, English pubs, and small boutiques. Charing Cross Road is a place where book worms spend a lot of time. M ainstream bookshops, such as Foyles, Borders and Blackwells line the street but perhaps the most unique feature about this road are its rare, second-hand and specialist shops. Foyles is famous for its five floors containing thousands of books on ju st about every topic under the sun. Tottenham Court R oad is the best place for electronics shops and furniture stores. Selfridges is th e store w ith an extensive designer section for both men, women and children, constantly updated by the arrival of international labels. H a m ley’s is every child's dream come true. It offers seven floors of toys for all ages - from traditional soldiers, dolls and trains to high-tech com puter games and robots. Camden M arket has become one of London’s top attractions. You can find hippie cloths, craft stalls, 70’s nostalgia and vegetarian food there.

U N I T 7

Lesson 4 THE MOST BEAUTIFUL CORNER OF ENGLAND

The Lake D istrict (Lakeland and th e English Lakes) is the central m ountainous area of Cumbria in th e N orthw est. Since th e Lake D istrict is a National Park, there is special control over it. It makes sure th a t the beauty of th e countryside is not spoiled.

Nearly one quarter of th e Lake D istrict N ational Park is owned by the National Trust. The National T rust is a charity founded nearly 100 years ago by three people. They were anxious th a t the natural beauty of the British countryside was not to be spoiled by the increasing industrialisation of the country. Today the Trust owns around 2,400 sq km of land, it is the third largest landowner in the country. Its property includes famous gardens, villages, wind- and watermills, lakes and mountains, abbeys and ancient ruins.

The largest lake is W indermere, which is often used for sailing, w ater skiing and other sports. The deepest and the oldest lake is W ostwater.

One fairly new “lake” is Haweswater, a man-made lake which was created by flooding a valley There are many stories of village life continuing under the lake. On stormy nights, the story goes it is still possible to hear the church bell ringing beneath the surface.

The English lakes is a popular area for outdoor activities such as hiking, camping, climbing and w ater sports. It is more popular for families to visit in the summer and the only real industry in the region is tourism. One can spend hours in the towns of W indermere, Ambleside, P enrith or Keswick ju st looking at the clothes made from lakeland wool, sweets from lakeland farms or drink the special lakeland beer, brewed by Marstons.