[originaltext] Nowadays a superficial traveler in rural England might conclu

Nowadays a superficial traveler in rural England might conclude that the only village tradesmen still flourishing were either selling frozen food to the inhabitants or selling antiques to visitors. Nevertheless, this would really be a false impression. Admittedly there has been a contraction of village commerce, but its vigor is still remarkable.
    Our local grocer’s shop, for example, is actually expanding in spite of the competition from supermarkets in the nearest town.
    [26] Women sensibly prefer to go there and exchange the local news while doing their shopping, instead of queuing up at a supermarket. [27] And the shopkeeper knows well that personal service has a substantial cash value.
    His prices may be a bit higher than those in the town, but he will deliver anything at any time. [28] His assistants think nothing of bicycling down the village street in their lunch hour to take a piece of cheese to an old age pensioner(领养老金者)who sent her order by word of mouth with a friend who happened to be passing. The more wealthy customers telephone their shopping lists and the goods are on their doorsteps within an hour. They have only to hint at a fancy for some commodity(商品)outside the usual stock and the grocer, a red-faced figure, instantly obtains it for them.