B1 #23 · 一般的なことと具体的なことを言う

Books are expensive, so I hardly ever buy them. Instead, I go to the library near my office twice a week. It's an old building, it was built in 1910, and it has two reading rooms. One is for children, and the other is on the first floor. It's the quietest place I know. The library has a good collection of history books. History was my favourite subject at school, and I still read about the past more than anything else. At the moment I'm reading a book about the Romans in Britain. The book is huge, and I can only keep it for three weeks, so I'm reading it on the train every morning. Next week I'll ask for another three weeks. The staff are very friendly. There's a librarian called Mr Hughes who always recommends something new. Last month he gave me a novel by a Welsh writer I had never heard of. The novel was strange but beautiful, and I finished it in a weekend. People say that libraries are dying. I'm not sure that's true. On a Saturday morning the library is full: students, children with their parents, old men reading the newspapers. Some people come to study; others just want a warm, quiet place to sit. Libraries are still the best free places in town.