A: is your city a historical place?
B: not rally¹. 200 years ago, it was just a small insignificant² village.
A; how did it grow into such a large place?
B: large deposits³ of coal were found nearly and so many industries located themselves here. The village quickly grew into a key industrial centre.
A: as the city grew, it must have absorbed many village nearby.
B; yes, it did. The names of those village survive as the names of parts of the city.
A; I see. Are there any building more than 200 years old in your city?
B; oh, yes. Several of the buildings from the villages still survive. Many of them were inns⁴ for travelers and today survive as pubs⁵. There was a castle near one village, so our city has a castle too.
A; really? So your city does have some old history after all.

Intermediate⁶
A: what’s your city like?
B: it’s quite an interesting place to live. The best thing to do in my city is go shopping. There are several indoor and outdoor markets, department stores and shopping malls.
A; is the traffic bad in the city centre?
B; not really. Cars are not permitted in several parts of city centre, especially in the main shopping areas. The public transport system is pretty good.
A; what about restaurants and entertainment?
B: there are restaurants with food from all over the world. We have a small china-town near the city centre. There are many Indian,thai, and Italian restaurants all over the city centre. There are many sports events in my city. We have several sports venues⁷ for football, rugby, and cricket-even ice-skating and ice hockey.
A; is there a lot of nightlife in your city?
B; there are several good clubs near the city centre. Many people in my city prefer something more’cultural”, so we several theatres and venues for classical music concerts and operas.
A; it sounds like a really exciting city to live in.
B: it is. I hope you’ll have time to come for a visit soon. You really should come during the summer, when the weather is better and there’s more happening outdoors.

Words
Noisy pollution traffic jam shopping centre pedestrian zone bus stop inner city suburb apartment block busy street advertisement facilities stress light park ring road airport train/bus station
Entertainment theatre cinema bar and club market