II. Shopping for Consumer goods.

1. Read this text and translate it. At Our Department Store *

A visit to any department store or any boutique is a great pleasure practically for any woman and a torture (пытка) for most men. My friend and me visited our shopping centre several days ago. This large department store occupies a four-storied building in the centre of our city. I think, a lot of shop-assistants work there to serve customers. There are a lot of departments there. When we stepped into it near the entrance door there was a florist stall. There we could see a lot of flowers and houseplants, pots and vases, books about flowers and ikebana, chemicals and soil. Just a little further there was a souvenir department with the works of folk-craft, Gzhel faience, laces, woodcarving and so on. We were dazzled. The next department was 'Haberdashery'. People could buy there combs, pins, zigzags, buttons, ribbons and other goods. The department of 'Crystal and China" we usually explore with great attention. I like fine china, especially bone china from Germany or England. And that time we looked at all goods attentively. The last big department on the ground floor is 'Cosmetics and Perfumes'. For men it's impossible to drag out their wives and girl-friends from this department. A lot of bright labelled boxes, jars, bottles, cartons with creams, shampoos, lotions, eau-de-cologne, perfumes, mascara, lipsticks, powders and eye shades. The women's hearts are on Cloud Nine if they can buy if only one item. But that time we wanted to buy a summer dress for my friend and trousers suit for me. We simply looked around the other departments. The first floor was occupied with 'Hi-Fi', 'Musical goods and records', 'Leisurewear', 'Knitted goods', 'Sports Goods' and 'Hosiery' departments. In the 'Leisurewear' we saw very pretty swimsuits and tracksuits but the prices were ski-high. But in the 'Knitted goods' I found a jacket of my dream made of flax. And the store gave a discount of ten per cent. Not much but still. The jacket fitted me perfectly. Of course, I bought it. We don't play any musical instrument but records, cassettes and CDs always attract our attention. We spent the next half an hour there listening to music and songs. On the second floor it was the world of textile and accessories of all kinds. In the department 'Leather Goods' we saw nice and rather expensive leather belts and wallets. But we didn't like leather bags. Summer textile bags were better. The next department 'Millinery' was given to all kinds of hats, caps, scarves and shawls. I remembered I needed a new pair of gloves, so I went into the corner, where they were sold. There was sale that day and we both could buy fine gloves matching our coats at a bargain. Just opposite the counter with gloves we saw 'Lingerie' department. Of course, we couldn't miss it and examined it thoroughly. Then we went to the far end of the hall where there was 'Footwear' department. At last we reached the last third floor where 'Ready-made Clothes' department was. We began to look for a summer dress and a trousers suit. We tried on a lot of dresses and suits. Some of them didn't suit us in colour, the others we didn't like because of fashions. It took us almost an hour to choose the things to our taste. Fully satisfied with our purchases we left our department store and thought that the day had worked well, for sure.