In every British town, large or small, you will find shops that sell second-hand goods. Sometimes such shops deal mostly in furniture, sometimes in books, sometimes in ornaments(装饰品) and household goods, sometimes even in clothes.
The furniture may often be" antique", and it may well have changed hands many times. It may also be very valuable, although the most valuable piece will usually go to the London salerooms, where one piece might well be sold for hundreds of thousands of pounds. As you look around these shops and see the polished wood of chests and tables, you cannot help thinking of those long-dead hands which polished that wood, of those now-closed eyes which once looked at these pieces with love.
The books, too, may be antique and very precious; some may be rare first printings. Often when someone dies or has to move house, his books may all be sold, so that sometimes you may find whole libraries in one shop. On the border between England and Wales, there is a town which has become a huge bookshop as well. Even the cinema and castle have been taken over, and now books have replaced sheep as the town's main trade.
There are also much more humble(简陋的)shops, sometimes simply called "junk shops", where you can buy small household pieces cheaply. Sometimes the profits (利润)from these shops go to charity. Even these pieces, though, can make you feel sad; you think of those people who once treasuredthem, but who have moved on to another country or to death.
Although the British do not worship(崇拜) their ancestors, they do treasure the past and the things of the past. This is true of houses as well. These days no one knocks them down: they are rebuilt until they are often better than new. In Britain, people do not buy something just because it is new. Old things are treasured for their proven worth; new things have to prove themselves before they are accepted.
