At the Pet ShopA parrot fancier who happened into a London pet shop noticed a particularly colorful bird and asked its price. ``Five thousand pounds,'' the shop owner replied. ``Five thousand pounds?'' the man asked '`Why so much?'' ``Well, this bird speaks fluent Italian, Spanish and French, is brushing up on his German and starting to study English,'' came the reply. ``With the European Community's unification, he'll be a great asset'' ``I don't care about the Common Market,'' the parrot fancier said. ``What about that gray one in that other cage?'' The gray one was 15,000 pounds, he was told, because the bird spoke Arabic, Chinese, and Korean and was learning Japanese - ``the languages of the 21st century'' ``I'm too old to worry about the 21st century,'' the frustrated parrot lover replied. ``What about that mangy brown one up on that perch in the corner?'' The brown one, said the shopkeeper, was 25,000 pounds . ``Twenty-five thousand pounds!'' exclaimed the customer. '`What does he do to be worth that?'' ``We're not sure,'' the pet-shop owner replied '`But the other two call him chairman'' Vocabulary Help
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