Pedro had a little shop in a small village in the middle of the jungle. Most people went to his shop and bought things which they needed.
They liked Pedro because he always brought fresh goods to their village and he had fair prices. The things in his shop were not cheap, but they were not expensive.
Pedro bought his goods from a big shop in the city. A truck always brought the goods to the same place near the river. It was a long journey and it took many hours. Today, a truck arrived again and it brought many things for his shop.
Two men put all the goods on the ground. There were many bags of rice, coffee, sugar and beans. There were also two big barrels full of petrol. The people in his village needed petrol for their motorboats.
But today, Pedro had a problem. He did not have enough boats. He needed two boats, but he had only one. The other boat did not arrive.
It was a problem because he could get the goods to his village only by the river. They were very heavy and there was no road that went to the middle of the jungle. He needed to move the goods quickly because the weather could change very fast.
Fortunately, another boat just arrived. But the owner of the boat didn’t want to help Pedro. He said that he had no time.
But Pedro gave him some coffee, some rice and he also gave him good money. When the man had the money in his pocket, he agreed to help Pedro. They loaded Pedro’s goods into the two boats and took them to Pedro’s village.
goods /ɡʊdz/ – tovar
truck /trʌk/ – nákladné auto
barrel /ˈbærəl/ – sud
load /ləʊd/ – naložiť
Sparrow's English Reader 