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BBC Learning English

Video Words in the News

6 August 2014

Corner shop or art gallery?

Transcript:

An old-fashioned corner shop in London… Look closely at the stock, though, and

you'll realise things are not quite what they seem.

Everything is made of felt – even this packet of frozen chips.

But the owner, Lucy Sparrow, isn't trying to stitch you up. She's an artist.

It took her seven months to create the 4,000 items on display.

Everything's for sale but one thing the shopkeeper's not cutting is the prices.

Vocabulary:

stock

all the things for sale in a shop

felt

type of soft fabric, usually made from wool

frozen

stored at a temperature below zero degrees Celsius

to stitch you up

to deceive or trick you

shopkeeper

owner of a shop

Exercise:

Use one of the words or phrases below to complete each of these sentences from news reports.

Note that you may have to change the form of a word to complete the sentence correctly.

stock / felt / frozen / to stitch you up / shopkeeper

1. "Frustrated, furious and helpless": this is how Ghulam Sakhi, a __________ in the western province of Herat, sums up his feelings.

"The market is empty," he says, standing amid bales of multi-coloured fabric in his shop.

2. A toy shop staffed by the same family for six generations is to close for the last time after more than 100 years. Simpsons Toy Shop in Stowmarket, Suffolk, was due to shut on Christmas Eve but has continued to trade to clear its remaining __________.

3. "I've worked in a very aggressive environment where people will __________ to further their own careers," he said.

4. "It's true scientifically that you do start to lose [some] nutrients as soon as the product is picked, but I don't think it's such a massive loss that you're not still getting those nutrients. It's still an incredibly healthy product to eat regardless of whether it's fresh or __________," says Barker.

5. Textile artist Martine Farrant was approached by trail co-ordinator Rosie Sandler to create the installation. The inspiration came from Top Gear presenter James May's plasticine garden at the Chelsea Flower Show.

"The idea was that the entire garden would be made out of textiles, so fabric, __________, knitting, crochet, whatever," said Martine.

Answers:

1. "Frustrated, furious and helpless": this is how Ghulam Sakhi, a shopkeeper in the western province of Herat, sums up his feelings.

"The market is empty," he says, standing amid bales of multi-coloured fabric in his shop.

2. A toy shop staffed by the same family for six generations is to close for the last time after more than 100 years. Simpsons Toy Shop in Stowmarket, Suffolk, was due to shut on Christmas Eve but has continued to trade to clear its remaining stock.

3. "I've worked in a very aggressive environment where people will stitch you up to further their own careers," he said.

4. "It's true scientifically that you do start to lose [some] nutrients as soon as the product is picked, but I don't think it's such a massive loss that you're not still getting those nutrients. It's still an incredibly healthy product to eat regardless of whether it's fresh or frozen," says Barker.

5. Textile artist Martine Farrant was approached by trail co-ordinator Rosie Sandler to create the installation. The inspiration came from Top Gear presenter James May's plasticine garden at the Chelsea Flower Show.

"The idea was that the entire garden would be made out of textiles, so fabric, felt, knitting, crochet, whatever," said Martine.