I. –Interviewer
S. –Sheila
B. –Bob
I. Вы считаете, что Нью-Йорк такой же космополитический, как и Лондон?
S. Oh yes, but it is not as mixed. Nationalities stay in their own areas; like there's the Ukrainian section, the Russian section . . .
В. ... the German section. We were in German Town, York Town, which is called German Town. And there was a row of German shops, all German-speaking.
S. Yes.
В. But you didn't find that anywhere else. And the Ukrainians were down on 14th and 2nd, and the Spanish kept to Spanish Harlem.
S. I think the major difference was the height of the place. Everything was up. We lived on the twenty-ninth floor.
В. And I worked on the sixty-third floor.
S. But I like heights. And of course everything is faster. And the people are much ruder.
В. Which means of course that we're much ruder ourselves now we're back in Britain.
I.В чём?
В. Well, pushing in the street.
S. Oh, I don't!
В. Fights about getting on the bus. No good old British queues.
I.Но все ли американцы таковы?
S. Oh yes. Well, all New Yorkers anyway. Not so much in other places. When we went to California it was very different. There weren't the same pressures at all, were there?
В. I think we were aware that New York is quite a dangerous place. We never had any problems at all, but when there was a crime, it was horrendous.
S. Oh yes, the subways are unusable. They're dirty, uncomfortable.
I. Вы завели много друзей?
S. Well, that's what's interesting really. We made more friends there than we have after two years of living here. I think Americans are more open, they, you know, they speak their minds, so if they don't like something, they actually tell you directly. Not like the British, who might think one thing and say another. So I suppose you could say that the English are ruder than the Americans.
В. Or that they're less honest.
S. Yes.
В. Something else. We're actually moving from here back into London to try to find the things we liked in New York, but I don't suppose we'll find them.