1) Where do you usually go shopping? 

a) markets 

b) department stores 

c) shopping malls

2) How much do you usually spend in a month? 

a) less than 500 hrn 

b) more than 500 hrn

3) What’s important for you when you go to a shop? 

a) shop assistants 

b) cheap prices 

c) quality goods

4) How often do you go to the supermarket? 

a) once a week 

b) once a month 

c) more than once a week 

d) never

5) When you go to the supermarket, which of the following foodstuffs are always in your basket? 

a) chocolate 

b) coke 

c) milk 

d) crisps 

e) meat 

f) oranges

a label / a receipt / a till / a shoplifter / a refund / a queue / change / window display / cash

1) What do you call the place where you try on clothes before you buy them?

2) When a supermarket is busy, what do you have to stand in when you are waiting to pay?

3) When you buy something, what do you call the piece of paper that the shop assistant gives you? It shows the price paid.

4) If you bring something back to a shop, the shop assistant may give you your money back when you are unhappy with something that you bought. What is this called?

5) What do you call someone who steals things from shops?

6) If something costs 4.70USD, you will probably give the shop assistant a 5USD note. What do you call the money he/she gives you back?

7) What do you call the piece of material that is attached to clothes, and tells you the name of the company that made it, where it is from, and how to wash it?

8) What do you call the machine that shop assistants use to put the money in?

9) What do you call a place at the front of the shop where you can see the products?

10)If you don’t pay by credit card, what can you pay by?

1) A _____ came in Mango store and bought several jackets.

2) The street was crowded with _____.

3) _____ have a right to know what they are buying.

4) The firm is one of our oldest _____ – we don’t want to lose them.

1) This desire in the commercial sector to create a solid, established identity reflects the rise of the _____.

2) There’s an Italian _____ here and their homemade ravioli is delicious.

3) We couldn’t find anything we wanted in the big _____, and then we came across this little _____.

4) They had a big Santa exhibition at the _____.

5) Tom and his ideas were discussed in the streets and _____ of Baghdad.

4. Complete each sentence with one-four words to say something was free, cheap or expensive. The first letter is given. Explain their meanings.

1) I thought the hotel prices were quite r _____ considering how nice it was.

2) Wow, two weeks in Barbados, it must have c _____ a f _____.

3) I’m not going to New York until February. The flights are a bit p _____ at this time of year.

4) I got this Beatles CD in the second-hand shop for a pound. It was a r_____ b_____.

5) Was the new car expensive? – It didn’t c_____ me a p_____. My brother gave it to me.

6) New York was fantastic, but the trip cost me an a_____ and l_____. Now I’m b_____.

7) We had to get the tickets at the last minute, so we p_____ t_____ the n_____ for them. It was a real r_____-o_____.

1) The holidays are a tricky time for shopaholics since they are tempted by the low prices.

2) Some experts think people shop to relieve their frustrations.

3) Compulsive shopping becomes a disease when it gets out of control and starts to ruin people’s lives.

4) It is just as difficult to control as other types of obsessive behaviour.

5) Some people are totally reckless when it comes to buying the things they love.

6) Shopping helps them to deal with their lack of confidence.

For an estimated 6% of Americans with compulsive buying tendencies, the holiday season is a tough time of the year as attractive bargains egg people on to spend.

“The whole culture conspires against us in the holiday season,” says April Lane Benson, a Manhattan psychologist. Besides tempting sales and the urge to shop for oneself, she says, “the holidays bring up a lot of unfulfilled longing for some people – and that’s one reason why they shop, as a salve for disappointment.”

While the stereotypical compulsive shopper is traditionally a woman in her 30s, experts say the ease and speed of Internet shopping is appealing more men and more young people. Over Black Friday weekend, men outspent women $484 to $317, on average, according to the National Retail Federation. Men also spent an average of $200 online – twice as much as the average woman.

In a 2005 survey of 195 U.K. teenagers who grew up with the Internet, 44% showed signs of compulsive shopping habits, according to research published in the British Journal of Psychology. “The Internet is dangerous for compulsive buyers,” says psychiatrist Elias Aboujaoude. “Transactions move so quickly that it is hard to pause to reassess the buying desire”, he says.

But when does “retail therapy” cross the line at compulsive shopping? Experts say purchasing turns pathological when people continue to do it even though it causes financial problems, disrupts work, family or social life, or involves deceit, such as hiding bills and packages. Feeling out of control is another tip-off.

Compulsive buying disorder is generally considered an impulse-control problem. Some sufferers describe feeling their hearts race, cheeks flush, and abandoning all sense of caution when they’re stalking favourite items. “Usually, the idea is, “I see it, I like it, I want it, I buy it – and damn the consequences,” says Donald W. Black, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Iowa. But the thrill fades fast and is often followed by regret, and then more shopping to feel better again.

Many compulsive shoppers also suffer from depression, anxiety, or eating disorders. Compulsive shoppers themselves often have a sense of what drives them. Some suffer from low self-esteem and think the perfect dress or accessory will help overcome it.

Arzu Yonak says she shopped out of boredom growing up in rural Ohio. The habit got out of hand when she had an internship in New York – and her father’s credit cards – at the age of 20. “I remember having five shopping bags in one hand and the phone in the other, saying “Mom, I can’t stop!”

7. Match the words in colour from the text with their synonyms below.

warning or sign / to attract / obsessive / to triumph over / to encourage / to interfere with / impossible to control / chase or hurt / calm

1) I _____ I would come to meet you.

a) told him that 

b) said him that 

c) told that 

d) said that

2) She advised me _____ angry.

a) don’t get 

b) didn’t get 

c) would not get 

d) not to get

3) I apologised to them _____ the vase.

a) for broken 

b) for breaking 

c) to break 

d) for had broken

4) One of the students _____ having the lesson in the garden as it was such beautiful weather that day.

a) advised 

b) insisted 

c) suggested 

d) asked

5) “Watch out for the weak bridge” – he said. He _____ the weak bridge.

a) warned us about 

c) recommend us to watch out 

b) asked to watch out 

d) said us about

6) “You should apply for the job” – said Mark to Ann. Mark _____ for the job.

a) asked Ann to apply 

c) insisted on applying 

b) encouraged Ann to apply 

d) told Ann about

7) He asked me again and again if I would go out with him. He begged _____ out with him.

a) him to go 

b) to go 

c) me to go 

d) us to go

8) “Have you finished with your test?” She _____ with your test.

a) asked if I had finished 

c) suspected me of finishing 

b) said if I finished 

d) admitted if I have finished

Shop assistant: Do you need any help there?

Customer: Yes, do you have any jumpers like these _____?

Shop assistant: No, I’m afraid we’ve _____ the red ones.

Customer: Oh, that’s a shame. Do you have these jeans _____?

Shop assistant: Hmm...I’ll just _____ in the stock room... You’re in luck. This is the last pair.

Customer: Great! Where can I _____?

Shop assistant: The _____ are over there.

Customer: They fit fine. I _____ them. Do you have this shirt _____?

Shop assistant: Yes, we do. Would you like to _____?

Customer: Yes...It looks OK, but I think _____.

Shop assistant: Fine. Are you paying cash or by _____?

Customer: Cash.

Shop assistant: That’s 50 pounds, please.

Customer: _____. Shop assistant: Here’s your _____. Goodbye.

10. In pairs, role-play the following situations. Take turns being the shop assistant and the customer.