【一起听英语】买房难

房子少，房价涨。人们一房难求，一房难买。连最基本的住都满足不了，何谈幸福？！

Jennifer: Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English from bbclearningenglish.com. My

name is Jennifer and with me in the studio is Neil. Welcome, Neil!

Neil: Hi there Jen. In this programme, we take a look at a topic in the news and

learn some new vocabulary and phrases from it.

Jennifer: In this programme, we’re talking about the growing number of people

living in very tiny places. How big is your house, Neil? I bet you live in a

castle!

Neil: I wish! No, I live in a small, two-bedroom flat, which is not big enough

because there are four of us in it! How about you, Jen?

Jen: Well, my house is very small indeed, but I do feel grateful to have it,

particularly as Britain is experiencing a housing crisis at the moment.

Neil: There’s a shortage of houses in Britain and this has meant that the price

of houses has become very expensive.

Jennifer: The prices have become so expensive that people can’t afford to buy their

own home. A popular way to describe buying your first home in English is

‘to get a foot on the property ladder’.

Neil: Even if you can afford to buy your own home, you might find that your

money doesn’t buy very much. Research out this week has revealed that

the UK has some of the smallest properties in Europe.

Jennifer: I’m glad you mentioned that, Neil, as it reminds me: I haven’t asked you

the quiz question yet!

One European country has new homes which are, on average, almost

80% bigger than the homes in Britain. Is it:

a) Ireland

b) The Netherlands

c) Denmark

Neil: I don’t really know and I’m going to guess that it’s b) the Netherlands.

Jennifer: Well, we will find out if you are right at the end of the programme. So, we

know that there is a housing crisis in Britain, and we also know that many

of the new houses which are on the market, or for sale, are very small. A

typical one-bedroom home in Britain is just 46m².

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Neil: That is tiny! You could say ‘you wouldn’t have room to swing a cat’: now

don’t take that phrase literally¹; it simply means that a room is very small.

Jennifer: The people building the houses are trying to meet the demand for

properties, so they are building houses with two or three bedrooms, but

those rooms are much smaller than anywhere else in Europe.

Neil: And that’s an interesting difference between Britain and the rest Europe.

Here in the UK, houses are sold according to the number of bedrooms

they have. Elsewhere, people pay more attention to the measurement of

the floor space.

Jennifer: You’re right, Neil. The number of bedrooms you have in your house is very

important to many people in Britain. Now, according to research from the

Royal Institute of British Architects, lack of space is the most common

cause of dissatisfaction that people have in relation to their homes and it

can be really frustrating².

Neil: Yes, especially if you have a lot of belongings³ and kids to squeeze into a

small space! So what can you do to make a small space more habitable, or

easy to live in?

Jennifer: Well, the design of your house can make a difference. If you have a

minimalist approach it can make your house feel bigger. Listen to this

clip from BBC correspondent Jennifer Pak. She describes a man in Hong

Kong who has transformed his small living space to make it

multifunctional…

BBC correspondent, Jennifer Pak:

Architect Gary Chang lives alone. He has created a walk-in closet, with the help of

sliding walls. This apartment is only 30m², but, using tracks on the ceiling and wheels,

Mr Chang can transform it into a linen⁴ closet, a bathroom, and even a full-size kitchen

behind the television set. But the renovation⁵ cost as much as the flat itself, so for other

homes in the territory, it’s a constant battle against clutter⁶.

Jennifer: So Mr Chang has modified, or changed, his tiny apartment using sliding

walls. That’s great if you’ve got the skills to do that, but lots of people

won’t be able to.

Neil: As we heard in the report, other people have a real battle against clutter.

If you de-clutter your house, you get rid of lots of things that you don’t

need, like ornaments⁷, books or CDs.

Jennifer: It’s not so bad nowadays – you can store all of your music and books

digitally, which does save a lot of space.

Neil: Many people who live in small places will buy gadgets⁹ which save space

and make their lives easier. Here’s Jennifer Pak again, describing a

multifunctional cooking gadget⁸:

BBC correspondent, Jennifer Pak:

Maple¹⁰ Ma likes to make food. This pot can grill¹¹, bake, fry and steam using a halogen

lamp to cook. It replaces her oven, microwave and stove. The Hong Kong company that

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makes this pot, German Pool, says its best sellers are gadgets that perform multiple

functions.

Neil: An oven, microwave and stove, all in one! That’s really handy for small

spaces.

Jennifer: Now, we’ve heard a lot about small homes in Britain, it’s time to go back

to our quiz question from earlier. I asked you which European country’s

homes are almost 80% bigger than those in the UK.

a) Ireland

b) The Netherlands

c) Denmark

Neil: And I said b) the Netherlands…

Jennifer: And you were wrong! It's homes in Denmark which are, on average, 80%

bigger than those in the UK. Homes in the Netherlands are 53% bigger

and in Ireland they’re 15% bigger.

Neil: So, all in all, living space is pretty small here in the UK.

Jennifer: Yes, if you want more space, you’ll have to move abroad. We’re almost

out of time now, so Neil, could you remind us of some of the words and

phrases we’ve heard today?

Neil: Yes. They were:

housing crisis

to get a foot on the property ladder

on the market

room to swing a cat

to squeeze

minimalist

de-clutter

Jennifer: Do join us again for another edition of 6 Minute English from BBC Learning

English. Bye for now!

Neil: Goodbye!

1 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

2 frustrating   

adj.产生挫折的，使人沮丧的，令人泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的现在分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's frustrating to have to wait so long. 要等这么长时间，真令人懊恼。
• It was a demeaning and ultimately frustrating experience. 那是一次有失颜面并且令人沮丧至极的经历。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 belongings   

n.私人物品，私人财物

参考例句：

• I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
• Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。

4 linen   

n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的

参考例句：

• The worker is starching the linen.这名工人正在给亚麻布上浆。
• Fine linen and cotton fabrics were known as well as wool.精细的亚麻织品和棉织品像羊毛一样闻名遐迩。

5 renovation   

n.革新，整修

参考例句：

• The cinema will reopen next week after the renovation.电影院修缮后，将于下星期开业。
• The building has undergone major renovation.这座大楼已进行大整修。

6 clutter   

n.零乱，杂乱；vt.弄乱，把…弄得杂乱

参考例句：

• The garage is in such a clutter that we can't find anything.车库如此凌乱，我们什么也找不到。
• We'll have to clear up all this clutter.我们得把这一切凌乱的东西整理清楚。

7 ornaments   

n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The shelves were chock-a-block with ornaments. 架子上堆满了装饰品。
• Playing the piano sets up resonance in those glass ornaments. 一弹钢琴那些玻璃饰物就会产生共振。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 gadget   

n.小巧的机械，精巧的装置，小玩意儿

参考例句：

• This gadget isn't much good.这小机械没什么用处。
• She has invented a nifty little gadget for undoing stubborn nuts and bolts.她发明了一种灵巧的小工具用来松开紧固的螺母和螺栓。

9 gadgets   

n.小机械，小器具（ gadget的名词复数 ）

参考例句：

• Certainly. The idea is not to have a house full of gadgets. 当然。设想是房屋不再充满小配件。 来自超越目标英语 第4册
• This meant more gadgets and more experiments. 这意味着要设计出更多的装置，做更多的实验。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史

10 maple   

n.槭树，枫树，槭木

参考例句：

• Maple sugar is made from the sap of maple trees.枫糖是由枫树的树液制成的。
• The maple leaves are tinge with autumn red.枫叶染上了秋天的红色。

11 grill   

n.烤架，铁格子，烤肉；v.烧，烤，严加盘问

参考例句：

• Put it under the grill for a minute to brown the top.放在烤架下烤一分钟把上面烤成金黄色。
• I'll grill you some mutton.我来给你烤一些羊肉吃。