英语博客-北美风情 212、Buying a home according to Harp

 　　If you’ve ever bought a home, you know just how complicated it can be. And if you never have, here’s your chance to learn about the process… in English! Harp¹ recently bought a condo, and in this episode, she tells us all about how she was looking for a place with character and what set the place she eventually bought apart from the others. For vocabulary and expressions related to buying a home, listen to this one!

 

　　Maura:One little thing I wanna point out is that, often, we call a place where someone lives a house. It might be a house, but it might be an apartment or a condo. I don’t know why we do this, but any place, any home that someone has, sometimes we just call it a house. So, if we start calling Harp’s condo a house, it’s not because it turned into a house, but it’s just because it’s the place where Harp lives and it’s just a habit to naturally call it a house.

 

　　Harp:Good point.

 

　　Maura:So, Harp, when you were looking around, what kind of things were you looking for in a home?

 

　　Harp:Well, I had my basics. I wanted two bedrooms. I was really hoping for an open concept. I really, really wanted something that had the Montreal charm, you know, the stained glass windows, the old moldings, nice wood floors. But in end, I didn’t get it.

 

　　Maura:So what kind of things, or how many things, did you have to compromise on when you finally found a place?

 

　　Harp: The character was the big thing that I compromised on. I ended up buying a newer condo rather than an older place that had character.

1 harp   

n.竖琴；天琴座

参考例句：

• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。
• He played an Irish melody on the harp.他用竖琴演奏了一首爱尔兰曲调。