A. Comment on the following:
1 Why did people first start trading?
2 How much do we know about the early traders?
3 Why were luxuries, not necessities, the earliest goods to be traded?
4 What were the Phoenicians the first to do? What did they import?
5 Athens had two 'firsts'. What were they? Why was grain imported by the Greeks?
6 Did Rome manufacture a lot? Why didn't the Romans pay for their imported goods?
7 Why was the bezant important?
8 What did the big companies of northern Europe do?
9 Name the key trade centres in the following periods. Why did they become important?
| 1000 8th century AD 13th century AD 17th centuryAD |
10 What did imports use to bring to people's lives?
11 What is ironic about the international markets today?
B. Explain the meaning of the uderlined phrases. Give the Ukrainian equivalents to these phrases. Use them in sentences of your own.
C. Discuss it in your group.
Do you agree that peoples tastes today are more homogeneous? Why? Which products do you know of that are found in most parts of the world today?
Prices and Goods
| reasonable fair right high/low sky high steep exorbitant fancy half/full price to be reduced in price a rise/a drop in the price to cut the price to sell two items for the price of one to buy cheap at/in the sales/a sale to buy for a song to buy next to nothing to buy at a good price to pay through the nose to buy a real pig in a poke a real rip-off | expensive/inexpensive dear costly valuable/valueless precious priceless pricey/pricy high-/low-priced overpriced superior high/low quality genuine cheap shoddy/pirate/fake/counterfeit inferior (to) sub-standard faulty flawless first-class lines articles of the newest kind to be good value for the money |
Departments and Shops
| department store supermarket boutique self-service stall booth kiosk newsagents chemists (BrE)/pharmacy/drugstore (AmE) bookshop antique shop florists furriers millinery shop/hatters mobile shop music shop furniture shop jewellers shop household goods shop ironmongers lace shop opticians pet shop shoe shop second-hand shop shopping precinct shopping arcade stationers tobacconists toy shop | haberdashery hardware hosiery drapery fancy goods footwear leather goods perfumery textiles electric appliances glassware china crockery/earthenware souvenir ready-made clothes childrens clothes ladies wear mens wear underwear sportswear knitted goods counter for gloves the ribbon counter |
