New York store gives away goods for free

Level 3 Advanced

1 Key words

Fill the gaps in the sentences using these key words from the text.

goods launch proviso utopian replenish

transaction throng browse packed veteran

1. A ___________________ is the action or process of buying or selling something.

2. A ___________________ is a condition attached to an agreement.

3. A ___________________ is someone who was in the armed forces, especially during a war.
4. ___________________ are objects that are produced for sale.

5. If a place is ___________________, it is extremely crowded (informal).

6. A ___________________ is someone who believes that the world can be perfect.

7. If you ___________________ something, you make it full again by replacing what has been used.

8. To ___________________ a business means to start it.

9. If people ___________________ somewhere, a lot of them go there.

10. To ___________________ means to look at things in a shop without being sure whether you want to

buy something.

2 What do you know?

Decide whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F). Then check your answers in the text.

1. The site of the Twin Towers destroyed on 9/11 is known as Ground Hero.
2. Haight-Ashbury is a district of San Francisco.

3. Wall Street is in Brooklyn, New York.

4. The movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s starred Audrey Hepburn.

5. The words ‘Free Store’ usually mean the opposite.

6. ‘Disaster tourists’ are people who cause damage to the environment through their travelling.
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New York store gives away goods for free
Level 3 Advanced
Don’t pay as you go: New York store welcome to take whatever they liked, with the
gives away goods for free only proviso being that they felt they “needed it”.
Each transaction was noted in their records and
Ed Pilkington in New York
the customer given a receipt as they would be in
16 March, 2009
any money-based shop.

5 Richard, a travel agent who works in Wall Street,

1 In recent months downtown Manhattan has
chose a large framed photograph of Audrey
seen a new pastime – you might call it ‘disaster
Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. “It’s a great
tourism’. Every day thousands of people throng
time to be cheering people up with gifts, and
its narrow streets, attracted to Ground Zero
why not?” he said. “We’ve bailed out the car
rising slowly out of the ashes of 9/11. This week,
companies, we’ve bailed out the banks, so it’s
though, visitors expecting to experience terrorist
nice to get something back for once.” Kevin
and economic catastrophe at close range have
walked away with a free copy of a book called
been amazed to stumble on something far more
Great Sex Trips. So why did he feel he needed
positive, even joyful, just around the corner.
a book with a title like that? “Why not? There’s
2 It is a shop front in Nassau Street, a couple of always something to be learned.”
blocks away from Wall Street, that would be
6 Robles and Stein based their idea for the shop on
utterly forgettable were it not for the two words
the free stores that cropped up in San Francisco
stamped across its glass: Free Store. In the
and New York in 1967. They were set up by the
age of postmodern advertising, slogans like
hippy group the Diggers, themselves named after
‘free store’ usually mean the opposite – they are
the 17th century English agrarian utopians of the
probably being used to market hyper-exclusive
same name. In San Francisco, the Diggers set
shops selling nothing under $1,000. But in this
up two shops in the Haight-Ashbury district called
case free store is precisely what it says. Every
Free Frame of Reference and Trip Without A
item on offer inside the small shop is free.
Ticket. There, returning Vietnam veterans would
Anyone off the street can browse through its
exchange their uniforms for tie-dyed clothes
goods, select an item, and if they think they need
and feed themselves on vegetable soup known
it, walk out with it utterly without charge.
as Digger Stew. The Diggers went so far as to
3 Last week it traded a variety of goods, from kids’ set up free hospitals for those who did not have
dresses and art supplies, to DVDs, posters, insurance, not to mention free concerts with bands
postcards and a dauntingly large stained-glass such as the Grateful Dead.
ceiling fitting. The shop is the creation of two
7 Stein and Robles don’t claim to have as
artists, Athena Robles and Anna Stein, who
expansive ambitions as the 1960s Diggers, and
have launched it with the help of a $9,000 grant
their project leans more towards the artistic,
from a local cultural body and the September 11
where the Diggers were political and rebellious.
fund. They began planning it 18 months ago but
But they do plan to keep the store open until the
believe the timing of its opening now is singularly
end of March, replenishing the free items with
appropriate. “It’s a certain time in history in this
donations from people who use the shop. “When
country when people really need to help each
we started I was terrified we would run out of
other out.”
stuff,” Robles said. “But after two days that’s no
4 Within five minutes of the store opening its longer a worry as people are bringing in bagfuls
doors on Friday, it was packed to overflowing of lovely things.”
with ‘shoppers’ browsing through its T-shirts,
woolly scarves, baskets and pair of black riding © Guardian News & Media 2009
boots. Robles and Stein explained that they were First published in The Guardian, 16/03/09
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NEWS LESSONS / New York store gives away goods for free / Advanced
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New York store gives away goods for free
Level 3 Advanced

3 Comprehension check

Choose the best answer according to the text.

1. What is the difference between the project started by Stein and Robles and that of the Diggers in the 1960s?
a. The Diggers were more artistic.
b. Stein and Robles are artistic rather than political and rebellious.
c. The Diggers didn’t stock clothes in their free stores.

2. Why do so many tourists visit the part of Manhattan where the free store is located?
a. To get free clothes and other items.
b. To look at the site of 9/11 and the site of the economic catastrophe.
c. To find something more positive and joyful.

3. What is the main similarity between the free store and a money-based shop?
a. People can only have things if they need them.
b. The free store sells a variety of goods.
c. The free store issues receipts.

4. Where do Stein and Robles get the items they stock in their store?
a. They buy them in cheap stores.
b. People bring in bagfuls of stuff.
c. At the local market.

4 Find the word

Look in the text and find the following words and phrases. The paragraph number will help you.

1. A three-word expression meaning from a very short distance. (para 1)

2. An adverb meaning completely. (para 2)

3. An adverb meaning exactly. (para 2)

4. An adverb meaning in a way that makes you worried because it will be difficult or dangerous to do. (para 3)

5. An adverb meaning in a noticeable way. (para 3)

6. An adjective meaning relating to or involving farming or farmers. (para 6)

7. A two-word adjective meaning with unusual patterns made by tying the cloth before it is dyed. (para 6)

8. An adjective meaning including many things or a large area. (para 7)

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NEWS LESSONS / New York store gives away goods for free / Advanced
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New York store gives away goods for free
Level 3 Advanced

5 Phrasal verbs

Match the verbs from the text with their meanings.

1. bail out a. tend to choose or support something

2. crop up b. find something by accident

3. cheer up c. leave a place

4. lean towards d. make someone feel less sad

5. stumble on e. help an organization that is having financial problems

6. walk away f. appear or happen suddenly or unexpectedly

6 Word building

Complete the sentences using the correct form of the words in brackets.

1. It was an ________________ experience. I will always remember it! [FORGET]

2. People looked at the store window in ________________. [AMAZE]

3. Please can you give me a ________________. [RECEIVE]

4. In the article the Diggers are described as being ________________. [REBEL]

5. Frame of ________________ means the set of principles you base your behaviour or attitudes on. [REFER]

6. The founders of the free store believe the ________________ of its opening is highly appropriate. [TIME]

7 Discussion

Do you think a project like this would work in your town or city? Why? Why not?
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NEWS LESSONS / New York store gives away goods for free / Advanced
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New York store gives away goods for free
Level 3 Advanced

KEY
1 Key words 4 Find the word

1. transaction 1. at close range

2. proviso 2. utterly
3. veteran 3. precisely
4. goods 4. dauntingly
5. packed 5. singularly
6. utopian 6. agrarian
7. replenish 7. tie-dyed
8. launch 8. expansive
9. throng
10. browse
5 Phrasal verbs

2 What do you know? 1. e

2. f
1. F 3. d
2. T 4. a
3. F 5. b
4. T 6. c
5. T
6. F
6 Word building

3 Comprehension check 1. unforgettable

2. amazement
1. b 3. receipt
2. b 4. rebellious
3. c 5. reference
4. b 6. timing D •
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NEWS LESSONS / New York store gives away goods for free / Advanced
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