120
Listening for IELTS
Kevin
: Yes, mineral water, but it's not available in all pubs.
Tom
: Kevin, one more question. What is VAT? I saw this on most goods in Britain.
Kevin
: Well, VAT stands for Value Added Tax. The price shown on most goods in Britain includes a tax of
15%. If you use the Retail Export Scheme this tax can be returned to you if you take the goods with you
when you leave Britain. You may have to spend a certain sum of money before you qualify for the
scheme, and you'll have to show your passport. Ask in the shop if they operate the Retail Export
Scheme. If they do, the shop assistant will explain how you can get the tax back and fill in a form with
you. VAT is also charged on hotel and restaurant bills, theatre and cinema tickets and car hire.
Tom
: Are these refundable?
Kevin
: No. it's not refundable in these cases.
Tom
: Thank you very much. I really learned a lot.
Unit 6
: Listening Activity No. 14
In English pubs, the food is usually plain but of good quality; in fact, to taste good, traditional English
food, you would do well to visit a reputable pub. Many businessmen habitually have lunch in a pub near
their office. In the country, the pub is often part of an inn where you can put up for the night.
The Englishman's favorite drink is beer. There are three different methods of serving beer in Britain.
As you'd expect, some beer is served in bottles. Beer that comes from a tap is called draught beer, and
there are two different methods of serving it: Keg beer is served with modern method, which uses a gas
called carbon dioxide and traditional draught has no gas in it and a pump is used to pull the beer up the
pipe and out of the tap. Keg beer is served colder than traditional draught. It's easy to look after, and
some keg beers are sold almost everywhere in Britain. This means that you can always have exactly the
same drink in any pub that sells a particular keg beer.
Traditional British beer is probably quite different from the beer in your country. It has no gas in it and
it's not served very cold, but this is not a mistake. Traditional beer drinkers will tell you that this allows
you to taste the beer better. Traditional draught is not always looked after as well as it should be, but in
a good pub - a traditional draught beer drinker will tell you - there can be no better drink.
There are a lot of different breweries (companies that make beer) in Britain, but they make the same
types of beer and you can see them in the list below: Lager is the kind of beer that is common in many
countries. Normally keg is served cold. Strong lager is often available in bottles. Bitter is the most
popular kind of British beer, It tastes slightly bitter and can be keg or traditional draught. Most pubs
have more than one kind. Guinness is a thick, almost black, bitter tasting Irish beer.
Pale ale is less strong and a bit sweeter than bitter, and often is keg. Mild is a fairly sweet beer, often
dark, not as strong as bitter. It can be keg or traditional. It can not be found everywhere. Bottled beers
are sometimes served cold. There are several kinds available, for example, light ale like pale ale, Brown
ale is a brown, often rather sweet beer. Stout is a very dark beer.
Law regulates the pub's opening times. Local variations are possible but usually a pub is open from
half past eleven to three o'clock and from half past five to half past ten or eleven o'clock. Betting is
forbidden in pubs. Children are not allowed on licensed premises, which may mean that father and
mother cannot have a quiet drink together, if children are with them. In the old days when people drank
too much and pubs were often rowdy, the law against children entering pubs was a wise one. Today,
drunkenness is much less frequent than it was, say fifty years ago. It would be quite wrong to consider
the average English pub as anything other than a respectable, friendly place that provides good drink,
good food and a pleasant social atmosphere. Far too often the foreigner has read accounts of sordid
nineteenth century drinking places, haunted by people whose one desire was to drink as much as they
could afford as quickly as possible.
Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: 
