In big cities, Americans do their grocery shopping at large supermarkets. They usually shop once or twice a week, and when they go through the check-out stand, their shopping carts are full of groceries.
　　A large supermarket is a big business. Although primarily selling food items, supermarkets also handle other lines of merchandise which include housewares,  school supplies, garden supplies, phonograph records, beer, camera film and supplies, toothpaste, aspirin, nylon stockings, toys, clothing, magazines and even books. The supermarket tries to meet the housewife's every need so that when she leaves, she'll shop nowhere else.
　　Mrs. Ruth Jones is typical of millions of housewives in the United States. She walked into the supermarket at 3:00 on Friday afternoon and passed through the check-out stand at 3:30.  During her half hour in the store, while walking from department to department, she passed by nearly 7,000 different items and bought twenty-three of them, from the week's meat supply to lettuce, tomatoes and magazines.
　　In order to attract customers, the supermarkets have tried to make shopping as pleasant as possible. Some of them have flowers and trees in the parking lots. Some have roofs over the walks so that shoppers can walk from their cars to the store without having to worry about snow, rain or the hot sun. Ceiling are sometimes soundproofed, and music is piped in. Most of the stores are air-conditioned.
　　With these and other improvements, super- markets have steadily become more popular. The popularity of supermarkets is not limited to the United States. From Bangkok to Buenos Aires, the old-style grocery store is fast disappearing. In Europe, supermarkets have flourished since 1975. There's no doubt about it —— more and more housewives around the world will soon be standing in the check-out lines.
　　在大城市，美國人在大型超市購買食品雜貨。他們通常每周購物一、兩次，當(dāng)他們走過結(jié)賬臺時，購物車上裝滿了食品雜貨。
　　大型超市是一種大型商店。雖然它最初只賣食品，但也經(jīng)營包括家用物品、學(xué)校用品、園藝用品、電唱機、啤酒、膠卷及其沖洗用品、牙膏、阿司匹林、尼龍襪、玩具、服裝、雜志以及書籍在內(nèi)的其他各種商品。超級市場想方設(shè)法滿足家庭主婦的各種需求，使他們離開后，不會到任何別的地方去購物。
　　魯思·瓊斯太太就是許許多多美國家庭主婦中的典型。她星期五下午3：00到超市，3：30走出結(jié)賬臺，在半小時里，她從一個貨架走到另一個貨架，從大約7，000種不同的商品前走過，購買一周所需的從肉制品到萵苣、番茄和雜志等23種商品。
　　為了吸引顧客，超市還設(shè)法造成一種快樂購物的氛圍，有的超市在停車場布置了鮮花和常青樹，在人行道上搭設(shè)天花板，讓購物者下車后步行到超市，不必?fù)?dān)心下雪、下雨或炎熱的太陽。有的天花板裝有隔音層，從里面不時的傳出音樂聲，大多數(shù)超市都裝有空調(diào)。
　　隨著內(nèi)部及周圍環(huán)境的改善，超級市場越來越普及，而且人氣漸旺。超市的流行不只是在美國，從曼谷到布宜諾斯艾利斯，老式的雜貨店在迅速消失。在歐洲，自1975年以來超級市場長盛不衰。毫無疑問 — 世界上將會有越來越多的家庭主婦站到超市結(jié)賬臺前排隊的人群中去。