【英语趣味课堂】冬天的生活-Life in Winter

Christophe: Hi, Aiste.

Aiste: Hello, Christophe.

 

Christophe: So, how is Lithuania in like in wintertime?

 

Aiste: Oh, LIthuania is very cold in the wintertime. Usually we have snow from the beginning of November till the beginning of April. That means almost five months of snow, but the good thing about snow is that after miserable¹ autumn, where it rains every day, and when the snow starts falling, you have white the atmosphere everywhere, and when people walk in snow, they're not that unhappy and not that desperate anymore, so I actually like snow because snow keeps your mood up. What about Belgium in wintertime?

 

Christophe: Belgium in wintertime is really miserable. It's raining all the time, almost every day rain, rain, rain. It's so miserable that people just look at the pavement when they are walking outside all the time. They look like they're so depressed². There's only one thing in their heads, "Oh, I hope it will be spring time soon." But, I was wondering, if it's snowing in Lithuania, isn't it cold?

 

Aiste: Oh, it is very cold. Just a few years ago we had a temperature that reached minus 26 in wintertime. It was really freezing. You almost can't get out of your house. Once you get out, your eyelashes get frozen³, and when you get inside, you're just naturally crying because the ice is melting and running all through your face.

 

Christophe: How do you heat your houses when it's so cold?

 

Aiste: Well, when it's so cold, it's really a problem to heat your house at the proper temperature, and it definitely⁴ costs a lot of money. So far I don't have my house and I live with my parents, so my father was taking care of that. He was combining three heating⁵ parts with two different kinds of wood and also natural gas from central heating system and by combining this three parts of heating system, he was heating up the house, but still when it was minus 26, once the pipes were frozen, and it was really a huge problem to make the system running back again.

 

Christophe: Wow, that sounds like a really complicated⁶ and expensive heating system. I prefer rain in my country then.

 

 

重点词汇：

Learn Vocabulary from the lesson

miserable

 

The weather is really miserable today.

 

Miserable means very bad.  Notice the following:

 

I felt miserable after eating a whole chocolate cake.

The country was miserable after losing in the Word Cup.

mood

 

The snow keeps your mood up.

 

Our mood is how we feel about someone or something.  An up mood is positive.  Notice the following:

 

A funny movie always brings my mood up.

A low test score always puts me in a bad mood.

There's only one thing in their heads

 

There's only one thing in their heads: I hope it will be spring soon.

 

When there is only one thing in our heads, it means that we are thinking about one very important thing.  Notice the following:

 

During the test there was only one thing in my head: Don't fall asleep.

On my date there was only one thing going on in my head: Don't do anything stupid.

proper

 

Heat your house at the proper temperature.

 

Here, 'proper' means correct or suitable.  Notice the following:

 

You need to wear proper clothes in winter.

A good resume⁷ must follow the proper format⁸.

1 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

2 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

3 frozen   

adj.冻结的，冰冻的

参考例句：

• He was frozen to death on a snowing night.在一个风雪的晚上，他被冻死了。
• The weather is cold and the ground is frozen.天寒地冻。

4 definitely   

adv.一定地，肯定地；明确地，确切地

参考例句：

• The team will definitely lose if he doesn't play.如果他不参加比赛，这个队肯定会输。
• I shall definitely be home before six o'clock.6点以前，我一定回家。

5 heating   

n.加热，供暖，暖气装置；adj.加热的，供暖的

参考例句：

• They will install a heating and lighting system in our house.他们将在我们家装上供热供电系统。
• If the pressure is too low,the heating system will act up.如果压力太低，供暖系统就会出毛病。

6 complicated   

adj.错综复杂的，麻烦的，结构复杂的

参考例句：

• The poem is so complicated that I cannot make out its meaning.这首诗太复杂，我理解不了它的意思。
• This is the most complicated case I have ever handled.这是我所处理过的最为复杂的案子。

7 resume   

v.（中断后）继续，恢复；n.摘要，简历

参考例句：

• We'll stop now and resume at two o 'clock.我们现在停下来，到两点再干。
• My resume shows that I have the right qualifications for the job.我的简历表明我正符合这项工作的条件。

8 format   

n.设计，版式；[计算机]格式，DOS命令:格式化(磁盘)，用于空盘或使用过的磁盘建立新空盘来存储数据；v.使格式化，设计，安排

参考例句：

• Please format this floppy disc.请将这张软盘格式化。
• The format of the figure is very tasteful.该图表的格式很雅致。