Take Away English-Bank Holiday DIY 公假日自己动手做

Ready to paint some walls?

Whenever there’s a Bank Holiday weekend in Britain, a certain kind of shop always gets very busy, and it’s not what you might think – clothes shops or music shops. The British flock¹ to DIY stores and garden centres and huge numbers of people spend their days off doing home improvements instead of relaxing!

Doing DIY is very popular in Britain, and there are lots of TV programmes which show people how to improve their homes.

Some people stick to simple decorating – putting up wall-paper and painting walls. But there are all sorts of DIY projects that some people decide to take on, from laying new flooring, to plumbing², such as putting in a new shower, or tiling³ walls.

Unfortunately, some people bite off more than they can chew, and start doing a job which ends in DIY disaster. For example, it’s recommended that anything electrical should be done by a qualified⁴ electrician⁵, but many people ignore this warning and put themselves in danger.

There is also a huge market for flat-pack furniture which you put together yourself with a few basic tools. Often people who are not very savvy⁶ about DIY find the supposedly simple instructions impossible to follow, and it’s easy to build a piece of furniture which is unstable⁷ or just not very attractive!

Gardening is also popular, and a good way to enjoy the weather on a sunny Bank Holiday. But it’s not as simple as planting plants and doing some weeding. More complicated work such as building a new patio⁸ or some decking can cause some stress and back-ache!

So why do people do it? Who knows, maybe we are so used to working that we aren’t very good at relaxing. One thing’s for sure, though a lot of DIY or gardening projects will be started with the best intentions during the Bank Holiday weekend, many of them may not get finished!

GLOSSARY 词汇表
Bank Holiday 公众假日 DIY 自己动手做 stick to 坚持 to take on 做出来 plumbing 管道 bite off more than they can chew 咬了太多而嚼不过来，这里指自不量力 flat-pack furniture 平装家具 supposedly 原以为 weeding 除杂草 decking （花园）甲板	flock 聚集 garden centres 园艺中心 wall-paper 墙纸 flooring 地面, 地板 tiling 贴瓷砖 electrician 电工 savvy 机智，有悟性 unstable 不稳定，不结实 patio 天井, 院子 with the best intentions 本意良好

 

1 flock   

n.羊群，一群，大量；vi.群集，聚集，成群

参考例句：

• A flock of customers were waiting for the store to open.一群顾客在等候着商店开门。
• A few sheep have been lost from the flock.羊群里少了几只羊。

2 plumbing   

n.水管装置；水暖工的工作；管道工程v.用铅锤测量（plumb的现在分词）；探究

参考例句：

• She spent her life plumbing the mysteries of the human psyche. 她毕生探索人类心灵的奥秘。
• They're going to have to put in new plumbing. 他们将需要安装新的水管。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 tiling   

n.盖瓦；贴瓷砖；（总称）瓦；瓦工

参考例句：

• Gets or Sets the initial X offset in the bitmap tiling from. 返回或者设置位图绘制起始点的X坐标。 来自互联网
• Tiling his chair back, he was in deep thought. 椅子往后一靠，他陷入了沉思。 来自互联网

4 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

5 electrician   

n.电工，电气技师

参考例句：

• She said she would find an electrician for us.她说她要给我们找一个电工技师。
• We need an electrician to mend the iron.我们要请电工修理熨斗。

6 savvy   

v.知道，了解；n.理解能力，机智，悟性；adj.有见识的，懂实际知识的，通情达理的

参考例句：

• She was a pretty savvy woman.她是个见过世面的漂亮女人。
• Where's your savvy?你的常识到哪里去了？

7 unstable   

adj.不稳定的，易变的

参考例句：

• This bookcase is too unstable to hold so many books.这书橱很不结实，装不了这么多书。
• The patient's condition was unstable.那患者的病情不稳定。

8 patio   

n.庭院，平台

参考例句：

• Suddenly, the thought of my beautiful patio came to mind. I can be quiet out there,I thought.我又忽然想到家里漂亮的院子，我能够在这里宁静地呆会。
• They had a barbecue on their patio on Sunday.星期天他们在院子里进行烧烤。