英语博客：Black and white snow.（在线收听）

　　It's a strange sight. You get so used to seeing the lovely clean snow falling, and getting piled up on the side of the road. But then, all of a sudden, it seems, that beautiful stuff has turned ugly. I was driving to the shops the other day, when I drove past a huge pile of snow that had recently been dumped there by a snow plow. There seemed to be no mix of the colors at all. The black snow was, obviously, the snow that had been right on the road. It had all kinds of grit, gravel, and dirt mixed in. The white snow was from the most recent fall, which had been heavy. This season creates quite a lot of work around the town. There are snow plows busy every day, moving this pile of snow, clearing that neighborhood, or turning three lanes of traffic into two. I can hear them drive into our neighborhood early in the morning. Beep, beep, beep, I hear as they back up. Their lights flash to make it obvious that they are here. Some people actually make good money by mowing lawns during the warmer months, and then snow plowing during the snowy months. I've got a little 'putt-putt-putt' snow blower for clearing our driveway. I've used it enough to realize that it is super easy. Just follow the instructions, turn the different knobs, push a few buttons, and pull a cord very hard, and it's ready to blow. You just have to make sure that you concentrate, otherwise it's easy to blow a load of snow at your own house or garage. That defeats the object! So, we have a couple of more months to deal with this white stuff. I don't mind using the snow blower on it when it is pretty and clean, but I wouldn't like to deal with the dirty stuff, yuck!
　　Grammar notes.
　　Related vocabulary: grit, gravel, knob, the recent......
　　1. You won't slip on the snowy road because the plow spread some grit on it.
　　2. Before we put tarmack on our driveway, it was just gravel.
　　3. The door knob is wooden, but the one in the dining room is glass.
　　4. The recent election was very interesting. The recent snow storm was very inconvenient. I was unaware of their recent football victory.