每日英語 #168: 美國的房屋擁有與房屋裝修

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Homeownership and Home Improvement in the United States 美國的房屋擁有與房屋裝修

The “American dream” is to own your own house. Because of this, many people choose to live many miles from where they work in order to find a house that they can afford, sometimes living outside of the main city where they work. Houses are often less expensive if they are several miles from the main area of the city.

“美國夢”之一是擁有自己的房子。因此，許多人選擇住在距離工作地很遠的地方，以找到自己負擔得起的房子，有時甚至會住在工作地點所在城市的郊區。通常，離城市中心越遠，房子的價格就越便宜。

There is a tradition of home improvement in the U.S., where people spend a lot of time and money fixing their houses and keeping them in good condition. When there is a “boom” in real estate (that is, when the prices of houses are rising quickly), people often attempt to make improvements on their home to make them more valuable to sell.

美國有一種房屋裝修的傳統，人們花費大量時間和金錢來修繕房屋，保持其良好的狀態。當房地產市場“繁榮”時（即房價迅速上漲），人們常常會對自己的房屋進行改造，以便在出售時更具價值。

Whether you are going to sell your house or plan to stay in it, there are several large stores that will sell you all of the materials or supplies you will need. Two of the most popular stores currently in the United States are called “Home Depot” and “Lowe’s.” These are “warehouse” stores that are very large. They are sometimes called “big box” stores, because they are large, often square or rectangular buildings that look like big boxes or containers.

無論是打算賣掉房子還是計劃繼續居住在其中，在美國有幾家大型商店可供購買所需的各種材料和用品。目前，美國兩家最受歡迎的商店是“家得寶（Home Depot）”和“勞氏（Lowe’s）”。這些都是非常大的“倉儲”商店，有時被稱為“大型商店（big box stores）”，因為它們的建築通常是方形或長方形，看起來像大盒子或容器。

重要單字

• 1. American dream /əˈmɛrɪkən driːm/ 美國夢
• 2. home improvement /hoʊm ɪmˈpruvmənt/ 房屋裝修
• 3. real estate boom /riəl ɪˈsteɪt bum/ 房地產繁榮
• 4. warehouse store /ˈwɛrˌhaʊs stɔr/ 倉儲商店
• 5. big box store /bɪɡ bɑks stɔr/ 大型商店