跟读练习: Talking About Apartment vs House in English | Easy English Podcast - 通过YouTube学习英语口语
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Hello everyone, and welcome back to Everyday English Academy, where we make English simple and enjoyable.
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Hello everyone, and welcome back to Everyday English Academy, where we make English simple and enjoyable.
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I'm Sarah.
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And I'm Mike.
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Hello to all of our wonderful listeners, wherever you are in the world right now.
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Mike, I saw something online yesterday, and I need to show you.
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Okay, what is it?
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A beautiful house with a big garden.
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Three bedrooms, a garage, and it's in the countryside.
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Okay, and?
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Isn't it perfect?
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Sarah, that house is in the middle of nowhere.
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The nearest shop is probably 30 minutes away.
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So, at least you have space to breathe, and you wake up to fresh air instead of traffic noise.
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You also have nothing else.
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Give me a city apartment any day.
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Everything is close.
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Restaurants, shops, the gym.
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A tiny apartment with thin walls and no garden?
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A convenient apartment with everything I need within walking distance.
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Okay, I think we need to talk about this properly.
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because I know our listeners probably have strong opinions too.
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Oh, definitely.
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And this is actually a really fun topic, because everyone lives somewhere, right?
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And everyone has something they love and something they complain about.
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Exactly.
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So today we're going to talk about apartments versus houses, the good, the bad, and everything in between.
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And while we talk, you'll learn some really useful words and phrases for describing where you live or where you want to live.
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And we want to hear from you.
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Do you live in an apartment or a house?
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Tell us in the comments.
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Even one sentence is great English practice.
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Yes, like, I live in a small apartment in the city.
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Or I live in a house with my family.
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Simple and real.
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Okay, Mike, since you love apartments so much, let's start there.
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Tell me the good things.
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All right.
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First, the best thing about an apartment is the location.
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Most apartments are in the city or close to the center, so everything is nearby.
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Like what?
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Like shops, restaurants, public transit, hospitals.
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I can walk to the supermarket in five minutes.
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Five minutes, Sarah.
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Okay, I'll give you that.
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That is convenient.
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And apartments are usually more affordable than houses.
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Affordable means not too expensive.
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It fits your budget.
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So for younger people or people just starting their life, an apartment makes more sense.
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That's true.
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Houses can be very expensive, especially in big cities.
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Some house prices make me want to cry.
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Same.
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And here's another thing.
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In an apartment, you don't have to worry about big repairs.
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If something breaks, the roof, the heating, the pipes, that's usually the landlord's problem.
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Ah, yes, the landlord.
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That's the person who owns the apartment or the building.
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You pay rent to the landlord every month.
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Exactly.
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And if my shower stops working, I call the landlord and say, please fix this.
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Not my problem.
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Ha!
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Must be nice.
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When my shower broke, I had to fix it myself and pay for it and clean up the water on the floor by myself.
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See?
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Apartment life.
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Someone else worries about the big stuff.
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Okay, but let's be honest, Mike.
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Apartments are not perfect.
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Tell me the bad parts.
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Do I have to?
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Yes.
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You can't just say good things and pretend the bad things don't exist.
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Fine.
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The biggest problem is space.
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Or actually the lack of space.
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My apartment is, let's just say, not spacious.
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Spacious means big with a lot of room, right?
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Yes.
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And my apartment is the opposite of spacious.
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It's cramped.
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Cramped means too small, not enough space for your things or your life.
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Like, my kitchen and my living room are basically the same room.
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Oh no. And my bedroom?
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If I open my arms wide, I can almost touch both walls.
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Mike, that's not a bedroom.
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That's a closet.
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Don't say that.
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It has a window.
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A closet with a view.
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Okay, okay.
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And then there's the noise.
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Ugh, the noise.
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My upstairs neighbor walks like a dinosaur.
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I hear everything.
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A dinosaur?
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I'm serious.
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Every evening.
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And the walls are so thin.
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I can hear my other neighbor's TV, their phone calls, their arguments.
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Their arguments?
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Yes, I know more about their relationship than they do.
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And I didn't ask for this information.
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Free entertainment, Mike.
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Entertainment I don't want.
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And you know what?
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Sometimes I put on headphones just to hear nothing.
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Sweet, beautiful nothing.
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That's sad, Mike.
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Okay, but I want to come back to something later about why a house is not always the dream people think it is.
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But first, tell me about your landlord.
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You said you call the landlord when things break.
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Is your landlord actually good?
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I was hoping you wouldn't ask that.
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I knew it.
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My landlord is slow.
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Very slow.
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A few weeks ago, my hot water stopped working completely.
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No hot water at all.
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In your whole apartment?
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In my whole apartment.
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So I called my landlord, and he said, I'll send someone on Monday.
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Okay, Monday's not too bad.
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Monday came.
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Nobody came.
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Oh, no. So I called again.
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He said, okay, tomorrow for sure.
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Tomorrow became Friday.
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Five days with no hot water.
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So what did you do?
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Cold showers for five days?
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The first day, yes.
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After that, I started boiling water in a pot on the stove, like I was living a hundred years ago.
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Boiling water in a pot?
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Mike, that's terrible.
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It really was.
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And that's the thing about apartment life.
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When you're a tenant, A tenant is the person who rents and lives in a place.
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You depend on the landlord.
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If the landlord is great, life is easy.
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If the landlord is slow, you're just standing in your kitchen boiling water like it's 1920.
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Okay, I think it's my turn now.
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Let me tell you about house life.
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The real house life, not just the dream.
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Go ahead.
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Okay, first of all, the best thing about a house is space.
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My house is spacious.
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I have a living room, a separate kitchen, two bedrooms, and a garden.
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A garden?
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I don't even have a balcony.
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I have a window.
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That's my outdoor space.
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A window is not outdoor space.
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And my garden is amazing in summer.
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I drink my coffee outside, I read, I sit in the sun.
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It's my favorite place in the world.
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Okay, that does sound nice.
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I'll give you that.
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And in a house, you feel free.
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You can make changes, paint the walls any color, put pictures everywhere.
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Make it your space.
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In an apartment, you have to ask the landlord for everything.
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That is true.
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I wanted to paint one wall blue once, just one wall.
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My landlord said no. He said, But keep it white.
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Boring.
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Very boring.
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My whole apartment is white.
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I feel like I live inside a refrigerator.
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Okay, a refrigerator with a closet bedroom.
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But yes, in my house, I can paint every wall a different color if I want.
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And nobody can stop me.
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Okay, but come on, Sarah.
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You're only telling me the good stuff.
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What's the bad part?
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The maintenance.
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Aha, there it is.
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Maintenance is all the work you need to do to keep a house in good condition.
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Repairs, fixing things, cleaning the garden, checking the roof, the pipes.
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Sounds like a second job.
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It is a second job sometimes.
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Last month, there was a problem with my bathroom pipes.
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Guess who paid for it?
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Me.
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Guess who organized the repair?
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Me.
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Guess who cleaned the water off the floor at 11 p.m.?
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Also me.
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And you can't call a landlord because you are the landlord, and you're responsible for everything.
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Exactly.
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When you own a house, everything is your responsibility.
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and that costs time and money.
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How much do you spend on maintenance every year?
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I don't want to talk about it.
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That bad?
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Let's just say my house is beautiful, but my bank account is very, very nervous.
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And what about the location?
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Your house is outside the city, right?
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Yes, it's in the suburbs.
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The suburbs are the quieter areas around a city, not the center, not the countryside, somewhere in between.
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So how far are you from the city center?
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About 30 minutes by car or 45 minutes by bus.
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See, that would be a problem for me.
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I like being close to everything.
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If I want pizza at 9 p.m., there are five places I can walk to.
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If I want pizza at 9 p.m., I make it myself.
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That's not the same, Sarah.
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It's actually better because my pizza is amazing.
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But, okay, yes, the location is not as convenient.
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The suburbs are quieter, greener, and usually more affordable.
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And honestly, after a long day, coming home to a quiet street with trees and birds, I love that.
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Hmm, okay.
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But what about winter, when it's dark at 4 p.m.
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and cold and you're far from everything?
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Okay, winter is not my favorite time in the suburbs.
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I'll be honest.
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Sometimes in winter, I feel a bit isolated, like the world is very far away.
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Isolated means you feel alone and separated from everything, right?
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Yes.
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But then spring comes and my garden is beautiful again and I forget all about winter.
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Convenient memory.
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I'm still not convinced, but I respect your choice.
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Thank you very much.
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But you know what's interesting?
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A lot of families start in apartments and then move to houses when they have children because children need space to play, run around.
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That's true.
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An apartment with two kids?
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That would be cramped.
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Very cramped.
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And loud.
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For you and for the neighbors.
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Oh, no. I would be the noisy neighbor.
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The dinosaur.
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Exactly.
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Okay, let me ask you something.
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Have you ever thought about buying a place?
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Like, actually buying?
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Honestly, yes.
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But houses are so expensive.
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Most people need a mortgage.
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A mortgage is when you borrow money from a bank to buy a house or apartment.
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And then you pay it back every month for a long time, sometimes 20 or 30 years.
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30 years?
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That's a very long time.
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It is.
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But you know what's also a long time?
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Paying rent forever and owning nothing at the end.
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That's exactly my point.
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A mortgage is expensive, yes, but after 30 years, the house is yours.
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When you rent, that money just disappears, every single month gone.
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Like throwing money out the window of my very small apartment window.
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But here's the scary part about buying.
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Some houses look nice on the outside, but they need a lot of work.
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Like what?
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Like renovating.
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Renovate means to fix up and improve a home.
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New floors, new kitchen, new bathroom, maybe new walls.
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Some people buy a house and then discover they need to spend thousands more to renovate it.
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That sounds stressful.
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You buy a house, you're happy for one day, and then you see the kitchen and cry.
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It happens.
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But when the renovation is done, the house is exactly how you want it.
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Every detail is your choice.
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Okay, okay.
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I can see the appeal.
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But I still think for me, right now, an apartment is the better choice.
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I like the city life.
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And that's perfectly fine, because honestly, the real question is not which is better.
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It's which is better for you.
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It depends on your life, your job, your budget, your personality.
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If you love the city, everything close and easy, an apartment is great.
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And if you want space, quiet, a garden, and you don't mind the extra work, a house is wonderful.
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And some people choose something in between.
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They live on the outskirts of the city.
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The outskirts are the very edge of the city, where the city meets the countryside.
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Yes, not the center, not far away, just at the border.
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You get some space, but you're still connected to the city.
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That's actually smart.
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Maybe I should look there.
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Mike moving to the outskirts?
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I need to hear this.
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Don't get excited.
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I said maybe.
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Okay, I want to ask our listeners something before we finish.
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What is more important to you, location or space?
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Tell us in the comments, and tell us why.
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We want to know.
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Now, let's go through some useful phrases you can use to describe your home.
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If someone asks, where do you live?
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You can say, I live in an apartment in the city center, or I live in a house in the suburbs.
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And to describe your place, my apartment is small but cozy, or my house is spacious but it needs a lot of maintenance.
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You can say what you like.
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I love my apartment because it's close to everything, or I love my house because it's quiet and I have a garden.
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And if you want to complain, my apartment is too cramped, or my landlord never fixes anything.
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Or, for houses, the maintenance costs too much.
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Or, I wish I lived closer to the city.
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These are all very natural sentences.
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Just change the details and they become your sentences.
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Okay, Sarah, final question.
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If you could live anywhere, what would you choose?
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Mmm, a spacious house in the suburbs with a big garden.
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Close enough to the city for restaurants, but far enough for peace and quiet.
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You?
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A modern, spacious apartment with thick walls on a high floor so I can see the whole city and zero dinosaur neighbors.
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Thick walls.
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That's your number one requirement.
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Number one, always.
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All right, everyone.
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We had so much fun today.
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We really did.
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And we want to hear from you.
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Write in the comments what's one thing you love and one thing you don't like about where you live right now.
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For example, I love my apartment because it's affordable, but I don't like the noise.
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Or I love my house because it's spacious, but the maintenance is hard.
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We read every single comment.
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It's always so interesting to hear about your lives around the world.
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And if you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to Everyday English Academy and give us a like.
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Share this with a friend who is learning English.
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Maybe someone who just moved to a new place.
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Thank you so much for spending time with us today.
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Keep practicing.
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Keep speaking.
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And remember, your English gets better every time you listen.
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Stay cozy, whether you're in a tiny apartment or a big house.
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And we'll see you in the next episode.
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Bye, everyone.
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Goodbye.
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为什么通过这个视频练习口语？
在这个视频中，主持人Sarah和Mike讨论了公寓与房子的优缺点。这是一个非常相关的主题，因为每个人都住在不同的地方，并对自己的居住环境有各种看法。通过这个视频，你不仅可以了解这对日常生活的影响，还能在轻松愉快的氛围中练习英语口语。观众被鼓励在评论中分享他们的居住经验，这本身就是一次极好的英语口语练习机会。例如，你可以说：“我住在城市的一间小公寓”或“我和家人住在一栋房子里”。这样的互动能帮助你积累更多的词汇和表达能力，特别是在与日常生活相关的主题上。
上下文中的语法与表达
在对话中，Sarah和Mike使用了一些重要的句型和表达，适合用作英语学习的参考：
- “What is it?” - 用于询问某事物的详细信息，是引导对话的常用句型。
- “First, the best thing about...” - 表达观点的结构，用于列出事物的优点。
- “That is convenient.” - 赞同对方的看法时可用的简洁表达，适合日常交流。
- “So for younger people or people just starting their life...” - 用于提供建议或说明特定群体的情况。
通过练习这些句型，你可以更自信地在类似话题中表达自己的观点和感受，从而获得更深入的交流体验。
常见的发音陷阱
在这个视频中，某些词汇可能会让英语学习者感到困难。注意以下几点：
- 单词“apartment”的重音在第二个音节，很多人可能会误读。
- “Affordable”中的“for”部分发音时，重音在第二个音节，有时不容易发清楚。
- 在谈论位置时，表达“in the city”时需注意说得流利自然。
通过模仿视频中的发音和节奏，你可以更好地掌握这些常见的发音陷阱。这也是一种常见的shadow speak技巧，有助于提高你的口语流利度和自信心。记得定期练习，利用任何可用的shadowspeak资源，构建更扎实的基础。
什么是跟读法？
跟读法 (Shadowing) 是一种有科学依据的语言学习技巧，最初开发用于专业口译员的培训，并由多语言者Alexander Arguelles博士普及。这个方法简单而强大：您在听英语母语原声的同时立即大声重复——就像是一个延迟1-2秒紧跟说话者的影子。与被动听力或语法练习不同，跟读法强迫您的大脑和口腔肌肉同时处理并模仿真实的讲话模式。研究表明它能显着提高发音准确性，语调，节奏，连读，听力理解和口语流利度——使其成为雅思口语备考和真实英语交流最有效的方法之一。