20. No eggs in town

No eggs in town   / noʊ eɡz ɪn taʊn/

One day, Sui-ming’s father asked him

 wʌn  deɪ   suɪmɪngz   ˈfɑːðər   æskt    hɪm 

to go the town

tuː   ɡoʊ   ðə   taʊn

to sell some vegetables at the market.

 tuː   sel    sʌm    ˈvedʒtəblz   æt   ðə   ˈmɑːrkɪt

Sui-ming was pleased to go to town again.

suɪmɪng   wəz    pliːzd    tuː    ɡoʊ   tuː   taʊn    əˈɡeɪn

He climbed happily on to a market-lorry

hiː   klaɪmd   ˈhæpɪli     ɔːn   tuː   ə   ˈmɑːrkɪtˈ   lɔːri

and it started along the road to the market.

ænd  ɪt   stɑːrtɪd    əˈlɔːŋ    ðə    roʊd    tuː   ðə   ˈmɑːrkɪt/

 ----

 There were a lot of people at the market

 ðer  wɜːr   ə   lɑːt   ʌv  ˈpiːpl    æt   ðə   ˈmɑːrkɪt

and Sui-ming soon sold his vetgetables.

   ænd  suɪmɪng   suːn     soʊld   hɪz   ˈvedʒtəblz

His mother had asked him

hɪz   ˈmʌðər   hæd   æskt   hɪm

to buy some sugar and tins of fish

tuː   baɪ   sʌm   ˈʃʊɡər    ænd    tɪnz   ʌv   fɪʃ 

 so Sui-ming went to look for the right shop.

   soʊ  suɪmɪng   went  tuː   lʊk    fɔːr   ðə   raɪt    ʃɑːp 

The shop was full of people too,

ðə   ʃɑːp   wəz   fʊl    ʌv   ˈpiːpl    tuː

 and Sui-ming waited patiently.

  ænd    suɪmɪng   weɪtid   ˈpeɪʃntli

He heard two woman talking near one of the shelves,

hiː    hɪr    tuː   ˈwʊmən   tɔːkɪŋ    nɪr    wʌn    ʌv    ðə    ʃelvz 

’The shop doesn’t have any eggs, one of the woman said.

  ðə    ʃɑːp    ˈdʌznt   hæv   ˈeni eɡz    wʌn    ʌv    ðə  ˈwʊmən    sæd

 ‘I haven’t seen any eggs in the town for weeks’.

aɪ   ˈhævnt   siːn   ˈeni   eɡz    ɪn   ðə    taʊn    fɔːr    wiːks

 ‘It’s silly’, the other woman said.

   ɪts  ˈsɪli     ðə    ˈʌðər    ˈwʊmən    sæd

’Someone could easily start a chicken farm near here.

ˈsʌmwʌn    kʊd    ˈiːzəli    stɑːrt  ə   ˈtʃɪkɪn  fɑːrm   nɪr    hɪr 

Then we should always have plenty of eggs’.

ðen   wiː   ʃʊd   ˈɔːlweɪz   hæv  ˈplenti   ʌv   eɡz    

The two women talked about this for a long time.

ðə  tuː   ˈwʊmən   tɔːkt   əˈbaʊt   ðiːz   fɔːr  ə   lɔːŋ   taɪm 

They were quite angry

ðeɪ    wɜːr    kwaɪt    ˈæŋɡri

because they could not buy any eggs.

bɪˈkʌz    ðeɪ    kʊd     nɑːt    baɪ   ˈeni   eɡz 

Sui-ming was thinking hard

suɪmɪng   wəz   ˈθɪŋkɪŋ     hɑːrd

as he looked for a lorry to take him back to the village.

æz hiː    lʊkt  fɔːr  ə   ˈlɔːri   tuː   teɪk      hɪm  bæk  tuː   ðə   ˈvɪlɪdʒ