地道美语听力播客:Noisy Neighbors

I live in a quiet neighborhood. At least that's what I thought until last week.

I live in a cul de sac in a residential¹ neighborhood in Los Angeles. There is a nice retired² couple that lives kitty corner from me. They have always been very friendly and we have gotten along very well.

About three months ago, they decided³ to renovate⁴ their garage and turn it into a guesthouse. Since they didn't have a lot of money, they wanted to rent out the unit to help make ends meet.

A new renter moved in three weeks ago and that's when the trouble began. She was a student at the local university and she liked to invite her friends over. The trouble was, they kept very late hours, and they liked to play loud music. My neighbors were at their wits' end. They talked to their tenant⁵ several times about the noise but nothing worked. Finally, they asked her to move out . Fortunately, she was on a month-to- month lease and they didn't have any problems.

Now that my neighbors have learned their lesson, their new tenant is a nice widow with two cats. I'm so glad that everything worked out in the end!

Script by Dr. Lucy Tse

1 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

2 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 renovate   

vt.更新，革新，刷新

参考例句：

• The couple spent thousands renovating the house.这对夫妇花了几千元来翻新房子。
• They are going to renovate the old furniture.他们准备将旧家具整修一番。

5 tenant   

n.承租人；房客；佃户；v.租借，租用

参考例句：

• The tenant was dispossessed for not paying his rent.那名房客因未付房租而被赶走。
• The tenant is responsible for all repairs to the building.租户负责对房屋的所有修理。