Shopping Centres

The script of this programme 本节目台词

Yang Li: Hello I’m Yang Li, welcome to On the Town from BBC Learning English. As you know, London is famous for a variety of things and one of them being its shopping centres or shopping malls, such as Brent Cross in North London, Whitgift Centre in South London, Westfield in West London and I've now come to East London, the Canary Wharf Shopping Complex. Well it’s pretty windy today here, but let’s find out why these shopping centres are so attractive.

Man: I love the choice in a big shopping centre. I don’t think it replaces localised shopping: so a nice boutique in a local high street I think always has a place. But that said if you want a good deal, a good discount, a good sale I think you need to go to a big shopping centre really.

Woman: I have been to shopping centres but I prefer to go to smaller shops. I find shopping centres too crowded, so I find them to be quite busy and also you only tend to get the chain shops. Whereas, if you go to smaller or independent shops you might get different things, say.

Woman 2: It’s a bit of love-hate relationship, whether you enjoy going there, perhaps a bit too predictable and you prefer to get more enjoyment out of shopping in a more individual area, but they are useful.

Yang Li: 刚才三个人的观点不尽相同，不过他们使用的一些短语非常好，比如第一个人说，he loves the choice in a big shopping centre, 喜欢购物中心选择性多的这个特点，但是他觉得购物中心不会取代商业街的那些各有特色的商店。He doesn't think it replaces localised boutique shops. 另一个短语是, I prefer 更喜欢, she prefers smaller shops. 最后一个人说，她对购物中心既爱又恨，a love and hate relationship. Well, you can use these expressions to compare and state preferences. Now let's listen to these clips once more.

Man: I love the choice in a big shopping centre, I don’t think it replaces localised shopping so a nice boutique in a local high street I think always has a place. But that said if you want a good deal, a good discount, a good sale I think you need to go to a big shopping centre really.

Woman: I have been to shopping centres but I prefer to go to smaller shops. I find shopping centres too crowded, so I find them to be quite busy and also you only tend to get the chain shops. Whereas, if you go to smaller or independent shops you might get different things.

Woman 2: It’s a bit of love-hate relationship, whether you enjoy going there, perhaps a bit too predictable and you prefer to get more enjoyment out of shopping in a more individual area, but they are useful.

Yang Li: You are listening to On the Town from BBC Learning English with me Yang Li. In the next two minutes we will find out what UK shopping malls have in common. Here is a listening task for you: 请注意听哪个英语短语表示包罗万象，经常用来形容商城的特点。

Lunch hour around Canary Wharf Shopping Complex

Woman: Shopping centres are usually quite vast and open and full of a massive variety of shops but they're quite standard. So each shopping centre tends to have exactly the same sort of basic shops that you come to expect. You sort of tend to get the same standard restaurants and food outlets as well in shopping centres, so either fast food or slightly more upmarket restaurants. Also, you'll get things like banks and cash points and information desks as well.

Man: Well you can have a day out really, there's all sort of things you can do, you can have food, you can go to the cinema and you can… it's a social experience as well as it is just purely shopping.

Woman: So basically you've got everything you can think of under the one roof, all in the same place.

Yang Li: Did you get it? What is the common feature for shopping malls? Yes everything is under one roof, or you can say, all in the same place. 商城里面什么都有，包罗万象。

Woman: So basically you got everything you can think of under the one roof, all in the same place.

Yang Li: 不过我还碰到了一位小顾客，我们一起听听他喜欢购物中心的原因是什么呢？ What is the attraction for this 4-year-old boy? Well, enjoy and I will see you next time. Bye bye.

Yang Li: Do you love shopping centres?

Boy: Yeah!

Yang Li: Why?

Boy: Because, if there wasn’t any shopping centres you wouldn’t have any toys.

Yang Li: So are you always looking forward to going to shopping centres?

Boy: Yeah!