American Houses 美國的住房

American Houses 美國的住房


　　American houses usually have private kitchens, a living room and sometimes separate areas for eating and watching television. A house usually has its own mailbox, a yard with plants or perhaps a lawn, and a place to store garbage
out of sight.

　　美國住房通常有私人廚房，一個起居室，有時吃飯和看電視的地方是分開的。一所房子通常有自己的郵箱，一個種有植物，或者也許是草坪的院子，還有存放垃圾的地方。

　　A bungalow is a small house with one or two bedrooms and usually one
bathroom. 　　　
　　平房是小房子，有一個或兩個臥室，通常有一個浴室。

　　A mansion is a real big house with many bedrooms and several bathrooms.
　　宅第是非常大的房子，有許多臥室和幾個浴室。

　　A ranch house usually has three or four bedrooms. The "master bedroom" for
the mother and father usually has its own bathroom.
　　牧場式平房住宅通常有三個或四個臥室，父母住的主臥室通常有自己的浴室。

　　An apartment is usually one living space within a building. Several apartment can be in the same building, with a shared yard, parking spaces, and garbage.

　　公寓套房通常是大樓裏的一個居住空間。幾個套房可以都在同一座樓裏，共有一個庭
院、停車場地和放垃圾的地方。

　　A town house is a two-floor apartment. The kitchen, living room and dining room are usually on the first floor and the bedrooms are on the second floor.
　　城鎮住房是兩層的套房，廚房、起居室、餐室通常在一層，臥室在二層。

　　A studio apartment may have a separate kitchen, but the living room is
also the bedroom!
　　一室公寓房也許有一個分開的廚房，但起居室也兼做臥室。

　　A condominium, or "condo" for short, is an apartment that is owned by the
occupant, not the building owners.
　　個人購置的公寓套間為居住者所有，而不是大樓的主人。

　　Most American are happy to talk about their homes. And if they've done anything special in their home, they'll let you know what it was, and maybe tell you what it cost to put in the Jacuzzi, deck or patio, etc.Most Americans
live in cities, but nearly as many live in suburbs. Suburban American has shopping centers called malls and residents usually need a care to get around. Most of the houses in the suburbs are one or two stories tall, with private
yards and gardens and garage. There are few tall buildings in the suburbs. Cities have neighborhoods, "warehouse" stores, and public transportation (bused, trains and taxis) is usually pretty good. Private houses might only
have a back yard, and if there is a garage it probably is small. Cities have a lot of apartment buildings and some tall buildings may seem to "scrape the sky", so they are called "skyscraper".

　　大部分美國人高興談論他們的住宅。如果他們在家裏做了什麽特殊的事，他們會告訴你是什麽事，也許會告訴你安裝亞可磁、露天平台或露台等花了多少錢。大部分美國人住在城市，但住在郊區的人也不為少。美國郊區有購物中心，稱做mall（步行商業區）， 而居民通常需要有一部車去購物。郊區大部分住房都是一兩層高，有私人庭院、花園和車房。郊區很少見到高建築物。城市有居民小區、倉儲商店，公共交通（公共汽車、火車和出租車）通常也很不錯。私人住宅也許隻有一個後院，要是有車房，車房也不會大。城市有許多公寓樓，一些高層建築就象是"觸摸天空"，因此稱作摩天大樓。