Shopping Centres 購物中心

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.

If you want a good deal, a good discount, a good sale I think you need to go to a big shopping centre really.

A shopper

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.

Shopping centres are usually quite vast and open and full of a massive variety of shops but they're quite standard.

A shopper

Yang Li: 剛纔三個人的觀點不盡相同，不過他們使用的一些短語非常好，比如第一個人說，he loves the choice in a big shopping centre, 喜歡購物中心選擇性多的這個特點，但是他覺得購物中心不會取代商業街的那些各有特色的商店。He doesn't think it replaces localised boutique shops. 另一個短語是, I prefer 更喜歡, she prefers smaller shops. 最後一個人說，她對購物中心既愛又恨，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: 請注意聽哪個英語短語表示包羅萬象，經常用來形容商城的特點。

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. 商城裡面什麼都有，包羅萬象。

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

Yang Li: 不過我還碰到了一位小顧客，我們一起聽聽他喜歡購物中心的原因是什麼呢？ 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 haveany toys.

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

Boy: Yeah!