strange obsession? 不可思議的嗜好？
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 flock 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 plumbing, such as putting in a new shower, or tiling 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 qualified electrician, 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 savvy about DIY find the supposedly simple instructions impossible to follow, and it’s easy to build a piece of furniture which is unstable 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 patio 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!
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GLOSSARY 詞匯表 (收聽發(fā)音, 請(qǐng)單擊英語單詞)
Bank Holiday
公眾假日
DIY
自己動(dòng)手做
stick to
堅(jiān)持
to take on
做出來
plumbing
管道
bite off more than they can chew
咬了太多而嚼不過來，這里指自不量力
flat-pack furniture
平裝家具
supposedly
原以為
weeding
除雜草
decking
（花園）甲板
flock
聚集
garden centres
園藝中心
wall-paper
墻紙
flooring
地面, 地板
tiling
貼瓷磚
electrician
電工
savvy
機(jī)智，有悟性
unstable
不穩(wěn)定，不結(jié)實(shí)
patio
天井, 院子
with the best intentions
本意良好
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 flock 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 plumbing, such as putting in a new shower, or tiling 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 qualified electrician, 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 savvy about DIY find the supposedly simple instructions impossible to follow, and it’s easy to build a piece of furniture which is unstable 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 patio 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 詞匯表 (收聽發(fā)音, 請(qǐng)單擊英語單詞)
Bank Holiday
公眾假日
DIY
自己動(dòng)手做
stick to
堅(jiān)持
to take on
做出來
plumbing
管道
bite off more than they can chew
咬了太多而嚼不過來，這里指自不量力
flat-pack furniture
平裝家具
supposedly
原以為
weeding
除雜草
decking
（花園）甲板
flock
聚集
garden centres
園藝中心
wall-paper
墻紙
flooring
地面, 地板
tiling
貼瓷磚
electrician
電工
savvy
機(jī)智，有悟性
unstable
不穩(wěn)定，不結(jié)實(shí)
patio
天井, 院子
with the best intentions
本意良好