Part Ⅰ B
H—House agent W—Woman M—Man
H: …right, if you’d just come this way. W: Thank you. M: Yes.
H: Er…on the right here we have the…er…the bathroom, which as you can see is fully…fully fitted. If we just move forward now, we…er…come into the er…main … main bed-sitting room here. And…er…on the left here are dining room table and chairs. W: Oh yes. M: Yes.
H: And er…straight ahead of us…um…foldaway double bed and mattress, which I think you’ll agree is quite a novel idea. M: Oh yes.
H: And then…um…to… W: Behind the armchair.
H: Yes, behind the armchair. To our right, um…in the corner there, a fitted wardrobe. And another one on my left here.
W: On either side of the bed?
H: Yes, that’s right. That’s right, so you can put all you…er…night attire or what … whatever jyou like in here.
M: Yes, that’s good.
H: (facing the door) Then, there…the…we have the sofa here…er…in front of the…um…the window. M: Oh, yes.
H: Er…so there’s plenty of light coming through into the room and as you can see there’s a nice view through the windows there. W: No curtains, though.
H: No curtains, but we’ve got roller blinds. W: Oh.
H: Yes, they’re nice and straight forward. No problems about that—don’t have to wash them of course. And…um…on the left of the…er…sofa there, you can see nice coffee tables.
H: If…if we move straight a … straight ahead, actually, into the …er… the kitchen you can see that um… on my left here we’ve got a washing machine, tumble dryer and …um…electric cooker… W: Oh yes. M: Mmm.
H: All as you can see to the most modern designs. And there um…on the other side of the kitchen…um…refrigerator there in the…in the corner. M: Oh yeah, yes.
W: Oh, what a nice little cubbyhole! Yes, very neat.
H: Yes. Well…um… I don’t know whether you’ve got any questions. That’s it of course. W: Well, could…could we perhaps see the bathroom, because we…we didn’t see that?
H: OK, yes, yes, Let’s…um…let’s go on out of here and…um…end up in the bathroom… C
D—Dave R—Randall
D: Hi Randall. (Hi.) Come on in.
R: Uh, yeah, I stopped by to see if you were still looking for a roommate to share your house.
D: Yep. I sure am. Ever since I cut back on my working hours to go to school, I’ve been really strapped for cash. R: Oh.
D: Hey, let me show you the place. Uh, here’s the living room. R: Oh. It looks like you could use a new carpet…and those stains?
D: Well, I’ve had a few problems with some former roommates. I know it needs to be cleaned, but I just don’t have the money to do it right now. R: Oh. And what about the kitchen?
D: Right this way. Look. It’s completely furnished with all the latest appliances, except… R: What?
D: Well, the refrigerator door is broken…a little bit…and it won’t shut all the way. It needs fixing, but don’t worry. I’ve just impoversihed by pushing a box against it to keep it shut. R: Hmm. Great.
D: Ah. It isn’t that bad.
R: Well how about the bathroom? D: Well…
R: No, no. Don’t tell me. The toilet is clogged or the sink has a few leaks.
D: No, those work fine, but, uh, the tile in the shower needs to be replaces, and the window needs fixing.
R: Let me see. The tile…what? The window? Where’s the window pane?
D: Well, that’s another slight problem. I’ve put up a piece of cardboard to keep out the (Hmmm) rain and snow, and if it gets a little cold, you can always turn up the heat. Well, you used to until the central heating went out. (Oh, boy.)
R: Hey, I think I’ve seen enough. I can’t believe you’ve survived under these conditions.
D: So what do you think? You really can’t beat a place like this for $450 a month. So it has its problems, but we can fix those.
R: Uh, no thank you. I think I’ve seen enough. Part Ⅱ
1. My dream house would be a canal boat. I’d like to wake up every morning and see the water. Erm, I’d paint it bright red, and it would have a little roof-garden for all my pot-plants.
2. My ideal house would be modern, ermm, it would be made of bricks, and it would have white pillars outside the front door, and it would be detached…on yes, it would have a garage.
3. My ideal home would be to live in a cottage in a small village by the sea. Er, somewhere like Cornwall, so it’s unspoilt and there are cliffs and trees around.
4. I think if I could have any sort of house, I’d like one of those white-walled villas in Spain. (It’d) Be marvelous to be able to just fall out of bed and into the sea first thing in the morning. (It’d) Be absolutely great. All that heat. Marvelous.
5. I’ve always wanted to live in a really big house in the country, a big family house with, er…at least two hundred years old, I think, with a big garden, and best of all I’d like to have a dry-stone
wall around the garden. I’ve always lived dry-stone walls.
6. D’you know, I may sound daft but what I’ve always wanted to do is live somewhere totally isolated, preferably somewhere enormous like a castle or something, you know, right out in…by the sea or even sort of in a little island, on an island, you know, out at sea, where you have to get there by a boat or something, where it’s cut off at high tide. I think it’d be really great. Questions
1. According to the first speaker, in what color would her dream house be painted? 2. Where would she put all her pot-plants?
3. In the second speaker’s opinion, what would there be outside the front door of his ideal house? 4. What would there be around the third speaker’s ideal home?
5. When the fourth speaker got up in the morning, what would he do first? 6. What is Spain famous for?
7. According to the fifth speaker, what would she like to have around the garden of her dream house?
8. How should one get to the last speaker’s ideal house?
Part Ⅲ
W—Wendy Stott H—House owner
W: Oh hello. (Hello.) My name’s Wendy Scott. Did the estate agent ring you and tell you I was coming?
H: Oh yes, yes I was expecting you. Do come in. (Thank you.) Have you had the particulars and everything? Did the estate agent give you, you know, all the details?
W: Oh yes. Yes I have, and I was rather interested; that was why I came round this afternoon. You seem to have decorated quite recently…
H: Yes, oh, yes, it was decorated last year. Now this is the … this is the kitchen.
W: Yes…er… What kitchen equipment are you leaving behind or are you going to take it all?
H: Well, you know it rather depends on what I end up buying. I’ve got something in mind at the moment but as you know these things can take ages (Yes.) but the place I’m going to has no gas so I’ll probably be leaving this stove, this oven here. W: Is it…is it quite new? Have you had it long?
H: Oh, no, not long. It’s about five or six years old. (I see.) I’ve found it very reliable but I shall be taking that fridge but you can see everything else. It’s a fully fitted kitchen. W: Yes, what about the dishwasher…um…is that a dishwasher under the sink?
H: No, no, that’s a washing machine, I shall be taking that, yes, I will but there is plumbing for a washing machine. (Right.)
W: Is the gas cooker the only gas appliance you’ve got?
H: No, no, there is a gas fire but I don’t use it very much; it’s in the main room, the lounge. W: Oh. Right. That seems fine.
H: Well, then across here if you’d like to come in with me, this is the sitting room. (Oh. Yes.) Well you can see for yourself it is really.
W: Oh I like the windows, right down to the floor, that’s really nice…
H: Yes, yes, they are nice. It’s got a very pleasant view and there’s a balcony you can sit out on in the summer. (Yes, it’s a nice view.) Yes, it is nice. Now then across here this is the smallest bedroom; (Yes.) there are three rooms, this is the smallest and it’s no more really than a box room but of course you can get a bed in.
W: You could make it into a study. It would be more useful I think.
H: Yes, well I think somebody else has got this room as a study. Then this…this is the second bedroom. (Yes.) As you can see it’s got a fitted cupboard and those shelves there they are also fitted.
W: Have you got an airing cupboard anywhere?
H: Oh. Yes, there’s one in the bathroom. I’ll show you that in a moment. (Oh right.) Now this is the third bedroom, this is the largest bedroom. (Oh.) Of course it’s got the wash basin, double fitted cupboard, plenty of space really, there, (Very nice.) and of course this room does take the double bed. Now…um…this is the bathroom. There’s the airing cupboard. (Is that the airing cupboard?) Yes, that’s right. It’s nice and warm in there; it’s rather small but I mean it is adequate, you know, and of course there is…there is the shower.
W: Is that, did you put that in yourself or was it in with the flat? H: Oh, no. No that was in when the flat was built.
W: Is it quite reliable? (Oh yes.) because I’ve had problems with a shower recently? (Yes, no I’ve never had problems with that. No. It’s really good.) Is it gas heated at the water point? H: No, that is electric. (Ah.) Statements:
1. Wendy Stott knows nothing about the flat before she comes to have a look at it. 2. The flat was decorated five or six years ago.
3. The house owner has used the oven and the stove for about five or six years. 4. The windows in the largest bedroom are right down to the floor. 5. There is a balcony in the sitting-room. Part Ⅵ
Interviewer: how important are property prices in the economy?
Roy: In the UK, most people invest most of their money in their house. So property prices are extremely important.
Interviewer: Mmm. What’s you view on the UK property market? Do you think prices are too high?
Roy: Well, in recent years, prices have gone up…ten to twenty percent a year, um…in some years even more. But inflation has been just two or three percent a year. So I think it’s clear that, um…the bloom has to end.
Interviewer: Mmm. The last property market crash, in the UK, was in the late 1980s, and it put the UK economy into a recession. Do you think the same thing will happen again.
Roy: I don’t think prices will crash. The…the economic situation was different in the late 80s…interest rates rose quite fast just before property prices fell. Today the Bank of England is much more careful with… with changes in interest rates. The other important difference, I think, is that then unemployment was quite high. Today, it’s very low — about five percent. So I don’t think prices will crash, but it is possible they’ll fall a little. Or stay at the same level for a few years.
Interviewer: Banks have lent people a lot of money in recent years. People have got big mortgages. Do you think there’ll be a problem? Will people have less money to spend in the future?
Roy: Oh, certainly. Because the loan haven’t just been mortgages — people have also borrowed money to spend in the shops. So far, that’s helped the economy, because spending has been high. But at the end of the day, people will have to pay the money back. So I think we’ll see lower
consumer spending over the next few years. PartⅤ
Apartment manager: well, hi, Mr. Brown. How’s your apartment working out for you?
Tenant: Well Mr. Nelson. That’s what I would like to talk to you about. (What?) Well, I want to talk to you about that noise! (Oh) You see. Would you mind talking to the tenant in 4B and ask him to keep his music down, especially after 10:00 o’clock at night? Apartment Manager: Ohhh. Who me?
Tenant: Why yes. The music is blaring almost every night, and it should be your job as manager to take care of these things.
Apartment Manager: Hey, I just collect the rent. Besides, the man living there is the owner’s son, and he’s a walking refrigerator. (Well . . .) Hey, I’ll see what I can do. Anything else?
Tenant: Well, yes. Could you talk to the owners of the property next door about the pungent odor drifting this way.
Apartment Manager: Well, the area is zoned for agricultural and livestock use, so there’s nothing much I can do about that.
Tenant: Well, what about the . . . . That, that noise.
Apartment Manager: What noise? I don’t hear anything. Tenant: There, there it is again. Apartment Manager: What noise? Tenant: That noise.
Apartment Manager: Oh, that noise. I guess the military has resumed its exercises on the artillery range.
Tenant: You have to be kidding. Can’t anything be done about it?
Apartment Manager: Why certainly. I’ve protested this activity, and these weekly (Weekly!) activities should cease . . . within the next three to five years.
Tenant: Hey, you never told me about these problems before I signed the rental agreement.
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