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A Roof Over Your Head 当个有壳蜗牛

课文朗读

课文讲解

繁體中文譯本

Affordable shelter is one of the most basic human needs, whether home is a palm-thatched hut, a sturdy structure that protects weather – or anything in between. While the diversity of housing around the world is virtually limitless, the desire for home ownership is universal.

有能力拥有自己的窝是人类的基本需求之一，不管这个窝是个茅草顶的陋室，或是确实能庇护成员免于风吹雨打的坚固建筑物 ── 或者是介于两者之间的任何房舍。全世界的建物种类多得不可胜数，但冀望拥有自己房子则是共通的梦想。

Buying a house is the most secure method of acquiring shelter. Holding title to the property and building that houses your family means you cannot be subject to a landlord’s decision to raise rents, convert the property to more expensive housing, or sell outright and demolish your home. Unfortunately, the costs of home ownership are prohibitive for countless millions of families in the developed world.

最保险的方法取得自己的窝就是买房子。拥有庇护家人的房屋产权，这表示你不再受制于房东片面决定提高房租，把房屋改装得更贵，或突然要卖屋而毁掉你心爱的窝。然而很不幸地，对已开发国家中数不清的数百万家庭而言，要拥有自己房屋的代价实在是太高了。

In Canada, for example, about sixty percent of households own their home; the rest rely mainly on private-sector landlords who set rents according to market demand. Only five percent of Canadian households live in subsidized public housing – housing units owned by the government and rented at below-market rates. As a result, families are the fastest growing group among the homeless in Canada, partly due to government funding cuts to public housing programs in the past decade. For many citizens of even the wealthiest countries, affordable shelter remains an unattainable dream.

以加拿大为例，约有百分之六十家庭拥有自己的房子；其他大多数都仰赖在民间部门依市场需求而设定价格的房东。只有百分之五的加拿大家庭住在有政府补助的国宅里──国宅是政府的房子，以低于市价的租金租给民众。因此，无壳家庭在加拿大是成长最快速的一群，部份因素是过去十年来政府删减国宅计划的补助款。对许多在富裕国家里的公民来说，拥有自己的窝仍是遥不可及的梦想。

Vocabulary

单词发音

palm [pɑm] n. 棕榈叶

thatched [θætʃt] adj. 茅草盖的

hut [hʌt] n.（简陋的）小屋

sturdy [ˋstɝdɪ] adj. 坚固的，经久耐用的

diversity [daɪˋvɝsətɪ] n.〔人或事物的〕多种多样

title [ˋtaɪt!] n. 权利，资格

subject [ˋsʌbdʒɪkt] adj. 受..支配的; 使服从于...[（+to）]

landlord [ˋlænd͵lɔrd] n. 房东；（旅馆，家庭公寓等的）主人

outright [ˋaʊtˋraɪt] adv. 全部地；彻底地; 当场；立即

demolish [dɪˋmɑlɪʃ] v. 毁坏，破坏；拆除

prohibitive [prəˋhɪbɪtɪv] adj.〔价格〕高得负担不起的﹐ 贵得使人望而却步的

private sector【经】（社会经济中心）私营部分

subsidize [ˋsʌbsə͵daɪz] v. 给……津贴，补助，资助

unattainable [͵ʌnəˋtenəb!] adj. 达不到的；做不到的

Sentence of the Day

Home is where the heart is.

家才是心系的所在。(（谚）心之所在即为家)

课文讲解

Jeremy and Anne have just heard from their lawyer that the paperwork has been completed for the purchase of their first home:  杰洛米和安从他们的律师那儿听到消息，他们打算买的第一栋房子的文件都已经准备妥当了：

A: Waiting to find out whether the sellers would accept our purchase offer was nerve-racking.

要等答案揭晓，看卖方是不是愿意接受我们买方出的条件真令人心焦。

J: Tell me about it! Before we got involved in buying a house, I only considered the salient feature I wanted in a house- plenty of room, a garage ….

就是说嘛！没买房子以前，我只想到房子一定要有那些显着的特色──宽敞的空间、车库…

A: It turned out to be a lot more complicated, didn’t it? There were so many steps: checking that the seller had clear title to the property, that the taxes and utility bills were settled, ensuring that creditors had no rights over chattel sold with the house ---

结果买房子这码事复杂得多了，对吧？有这么多步骤：检查卖方是真正拥有产权，税赋和水电费都已经缴清，确定债权人对于房屋动产部份没有请求权──

J: Let alone confirming that the land was surveyed properly and spending hours talking to the mortgage officer at the bank.

更别提还要确定土地经过精确丈量，与银行行员花的几个小时来讨论抵押贷款的问题。

A: Yeah, it was a relief to finally cross the t’s and dot the i’s.

是啊，终于搞定这些细节就像是心里的大石头终于放下了。

J: There was a lot of red tape, for sure. Government regulations may be designed to protect consumers, but they wound up costing us big money.

手续还真繁复呢。政府的规定或许意在保护消费者，但是结果却要我们花大笔的钞票！

A: We’ll be OK. We have good jobs, and in a few years we can look at refinancing our monthly payments. Anyway, we’re of the landowning class now!

我们还算好啦。我们有不错的工作，几年内就可以重新规划房屋贷款的每月应付金额了。不管怎样，我们现在也算是有壳蜗牛了。

J: Now all we need is a butler named Jeeves!

现在我们万事俱备，只欠一个好管家【注】了！

【注】：Jeeves吉夫斯，人名，是P.G. Wodehouse 所著一系列小说中善于施奇计的忠实管家。

－by Mary Lasovich

Vocabulary

单词发音

nerve-racking [ˋnɝv͵rækɪŋ] adj. 极使人不安的；伤脑筋的

salient [ˋselɪənt] adj. 显著的；突出的

creditor [ˋkrɛdɪtɚ] n. 债权人；贷方

chattel [ˋtʃæt!] n.【法律﹐过时】动产;  私人财产

mortgage [ˋmɔrgɪdʒ] n. 抵押借款

relief [rɪˋlif] n.〔因恐惧﹑忧虑或痛苦的解除而感到的〕安慰

cross the t’s and dot the i’s  一丝不苟; 重视细节, 一丝不苟地完成任务To take care of every detail, even minor ones; To be meticulous or thorough.

red tape 繁文缛节, 官样文章, 拖拉费时的繁琐手续等

wind up 最终沦落到；最终落得；(以…)告终

refinance [͵rifɪˋnæns] v.（为……）再提供资金；（为……）再筹款项

landowning [ˋlænd͵onɪŋ] adj. 拥有土地的

butler [ˋbʌtlɚ] n. 男管家；司膳总管

Sentence of the Day

They're on the home stretch to home.

他们即将成为有壳蜗牛。

home stretch（旅程或活动等的）最后部分，最后阶段