Transcript. Unit 1

It seemed to take an age to get there, but eventually, the bus stopped. We’d got to the terminus* and everyone got out. We were somewhere in the commercial district* but I wasn’t sure where. I couldn’t recognize anything. The others hurried off. I hesitated, wondering which way to start. I ought to have asked someone, but it was too late. They’d gone. The street was empty. Even the bus driver had gone. I hurried across and turned into an alleyway and started to walk. It was dark and drizzling a little. I went through an archway and into another street, where there were street lights. It was one of those pedestrian precincts* – no cars admitted – with concrete* benches to sit on and concrete tubs for plants. But the benches were wet – it was winter – and there wasn’t a plant to be seen.

I passed some shops: bright lights and bargains and fashionable dresses on plastic figures, videos, and fridges, and hundreds of shoes at giveaway prices. Leftover* gift wrapping and holly* and snowmen.

I walked along, looking in the windows. The last of the shop assistants was just closing the doors. Could she tell me, please, where Market Street was? She’d no idea. She was a student, doing a holiday job, and she didn’t know the district yet. She thought there was a pub in the first street on the left. Perhaps they’d know there.

It was all very odd. There was just nobody about. I walked on and took the left turning where she’d said, and found the pub, but of course they didn’t open till seven, and it was just half past five. I went round to a side door, and rang a bell …

* Terminus (termini) On a bus route, the terminus is the last stop, where the bus turns round or starts a journey in the opposite direction.

* A district is a particular area of a town

* A pedestrian precinct is a street or part of a town where cars are not allowed.

* concrete is a substance used for building which is made by mixing together cement, sand, small stones and water - бетон

* leftover – an amount of something that remains after the rest of it has been used or eaten. Leftover chicken makes a wonderful salad.

* holly is an evergreen tree which has hard, shiny leaves with sharp points, and red berries in winter - падуб