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Home Heating
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Home Heating
家庭取暖

Learn English with this appliance English lesson

Date: Mar 18 2013

Themes: Weather

Grammar: Adjectives

Intro

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If you live somewhere that’s warm all year, all you have to worry about is getting too tan or letting too many bugs in your house. For the rest of us, when wintertime comes, it means paying lots of money to stay warm.

Buildings can be heated with electric heaters, solar power, or furnaces that burn gas or oil. Of course, there are lots of tricks to keeping your heating bill low, like insulating your house and plugging leaks. Blankets and sweaters don’t hurt, either.

Listen to Mason and Lily talk about how they are staying warm in this winter English lesson.

如果你居住在全年温暖的地方,你所担忧的一切无非就是怕晒的太黑或房间里虫子太多。而对于我们其他人而言,冬天来临时,意味着要花大把的钱取暖。

楼宇可以使用电热器、太阳能、燃气或燃油炉取暖。当然,还有很多让你不需花费太多的取暖办法,如对房子进行隔热处理和封堵漏风的位置。毯子和毛衣也是经济的取暖方式。

在本节以冬天为主题的英语课上,听听梅森和莉莉谈论如何取暖。

Dialog

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Mason

Mason

Lily

Lily

Mason:  I just got my heating bill for January and it was a pretty brutal month here.

Lily:  Oh, yeah, that stinks.

Mason:  What else am I going to do about it, right?

Lily:  You can be like me and huddle under blankets with a space heater.

Mason:  Well, space heaters can be pretty expensive too.

Lily:  That’s true.

Mason:  I mean, you’re renting and you do an electric heater, but doesn’t your apartment have heating of some sort?

Lily:  Yeah, I have one of those fake fireplaces that runs on gas and is hooked up to a vent, but it doesn’t really heat anything except for a two-foot radius around it. So, you’re burning a whole lot of gas for not a whole lot of effect, except for the comforting, fire-looking thing.

Mason:  I had electric heat in almost all of the apartments I used to own and that was just terrible. One, it’s ugly, terribly ugly, and two I feel like it’s basically just that little glass fireplace taken to the extreme. You have a very warm perimeter about one foot away from your walls that only goes up about two feet high, which is useless to me.

 

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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Discussion

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Mason recently got his heating bill. It was pretty brutal.

Lily thinks that stinks. She wonders what kind of heat Mason has. She has a fake fireplace. It uses a lot of fuel, but doesn’t keep her very warm. Both Mason and Lily have lived lots of places with electric heat.

What kind of heat do you have in your home? Is it expensive? What do you do to keep warm during the cold months?

 

Comments

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ola33

ola33

Japan

Knutchu, and what a good work out!;) I got insprired by the oven pellets you warm your house. Looks like it has many advantages too vs gas ones. Pretty fireplace, low cost are one of them.

05:02 PM Mar 27 2013 |

knuschu

knuschu

Germany

by the way, Ola you are right – to move your body is the best way to keep warm yourself. Today I vacuumed the house and I felt warmed ….. and saved some kg pellets :)))

03:54 PM Mar 27 2013 |

1 person likes this

knuschu

knuschu

Germany

The heat system in our house works with wood pellets. It is affordably – still :) ... and clean  ... and it smells better than oil fuel :))


If the spring is not comming soon, we will have a problem because of a running out of stock. ;-)

02:56 AM Mar 27 2013 |

1 person likes this

nemesiscjw1962

Bangladesh

We don’t have heating in winter. So we have to wear a lot of clothes even we are in the house. Sometimes we drink alchole which above 40% just for keeping warm. But since I have lived in Canada, I can even have beers in winter…WOW!!!!

11:14 PM Mar 19 2013 |

1 person likes this

1404hamid

1404hamid

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

i like heater because i am cold

10:15 PM Mar 18 2013 |

malima

malima

Brazil

Having a heater is not necessary where i live. In the countryside of the São Paulo the climate in the winter can range from 12ºC to 20º C, So all i need to do is to huddle under blankets and wear a jacket especially in the rain.

10:03 PM Mar 18 2013 |

 julito

julito

Argentina

I don´t have the problem that comes with the high cost of water,  power and gas. The   billings  that every month users  find in   the mail box  make their   hair stand on end  .In my country water, power and gas are largely subsidized by the  Government.  I know that in  Europe and the US  these services are quite expensive  and many people can not afford properly  to heat and air conditioning  the house  during extreme temperature.  

04:21 PM Mar 18 2013 |

Golnoosh

Golnoosh

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

we have space heatter!

03:46 PM Mar 18 2013 |

Francescobisca

Italy

In my home I have radiators made by aluminium and heated up by methan. Fortunately, I live in a condominium at the second floor, so my apartment is located between others and warm is well kept. In my home country methan is very expensive because we use to import it from Russia. My uncle has bought a fireplace running with wood pellet and I  I know that’s the best way to keep you from brutal bills. In my opinion If people wanna stay warm They would have to learn wearing heavier. I mean, putting on sweaters and huddle under blankets.

03:37 PM Mar 18 2013 |

Crizsearch

Crizsearch

Indonesia

I’ve heard that most country which have 4 seasons, now the weather is quite constant and moderate, it’s interesting to know that they only get a few degrees warmer in the summer and a few degrees cooler in the winter.

02:50 PM Mar 18 2013 |

zhong yulu

zhong yulu

China

The place i am staying is quite warm all year round. so i don’t have to worry about keeping warmth. While in my hometown, winter can be pretty freezing. Llivinging in the countryside, we don’t have heating system like in the north. Our best and easiest way is to burn charcoal. The disadvantage is burning charcoal can’t heat up the whole house, just keep a portable oven with burning carcoal to your self and covered it with a blanket. Can’t be more comfortable than that~ Just be care of burning your socks or the blanket!

12:28 PM Mar 18 2013 |

1 person likes this

Englishty

Englishty

Egypt

In the wintertime i take my yellow blanket with me whenever i go in the house, while watching TV, reading and anywhere else and of course my socks are so important for me, they keep my feet warm cause my feet get the coldest part of me and when it’s time for bed i cover myself so good with two blankets and i don’t forget the hot drinks as hot chocolate and the hot soups and my favorite one is  Lentil soup and that’s it without costing myself too much, my advice Keep it simple.

10:13 AM Mar 18 2013 |

mojtaba

mojtaba

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

I live in cold area and we for warming home use from gas and it is not exoensive here beacause goverment give subsidise for fual in cold area

09:52 AM Mar 18 2013 |

1 person likes this

masoudhsn

masoudhsn

Canada

Heating in my home is running by furnace which water goes through some pipes and makes our place warm. As a matter of fact, the heating bills always are brutal and stinks. In order to reduce those amount, people use other kind of heating system such as fireplace, space heater or insulating of home even though expenses remain almost the same. As a result, huddling is the best choice for decreasing your harsh bill every month!!!

08:35 AM Mar 18 2013 |

jedla4

jedla4

Czech Republic

I have a wood fireplace at home. And it’s true, that wood heats you 3 times – once in the wood when you are felling trees, once  when you cut wood at home and then finaly  – in the fireplace…

06:25 AM Mar 18 2013 |

laptop786

laptop786

India

In India we have not that kind of  flaws about  keep warm during the cold months…..

05:40 AM Mar 18 2013 |

Ngubo Sixtus

South Africa

it’s look like winter is giving people a hard time. everybody have to sacrifice something to keep them warm, during winter.

05:05 AM Mar 18 2013 |

ola33

ola33

Japan

The same is here, Panictx. In winter the gas bills are the highest, but in summer, electricity bills takes its place. Air conditioners are running a cool air through the same pipes. We’ll never catch a break ;)

04:27 AM Mar 18 2013 |

panictx

panictx

South Korea

As seungmanlee68 mentioned, Most of Korean house has a under-floor heating system which is ‘Ondol’ in Korean. The system needs any fuel like oil or gas. In case of me, the consumption of LNG gas for heating my house is pretty lots of. And the gas rate is too expensive. So I had to pay the charge much more than I had guessed.

04:19 AM Mar 18 2013 |

ola33

ola33

Japan

We have central heating, operating through furnace, fanning a hot air through ducts. A heated room is very much needed in a place where I live. The central heating is ok, though it doesn’t bring much warmth to the further rooms from the furnace. In this case, the portable space electric heater is of help. Though I noticed, every time it’s in use, the room’s air is so dry, but warm. Got to sacrifice with something. I don’t like when it’s too hot or too cold. Maybe closer to cold. I prefer doing something, move around and it’s when, you don’t need much heat. But if you have a sedentary lifestyle, you’ll feel miserable in a cold room.


I agree the fireplaces are mostly for decoration but as heat mediums, they’re useless. Give up the heat only in the 1-2 metres around.


I think who needs the most of the heating system are Kyrgyz Nomads who managed to survive in the high-altitude, harsh climate, so called Roof of the World of remote Afghanistan. They use open fire or iron stove, yak dung instead of fossil fuels, carry 12 tea pots and drink 120 cups of tea per person. They try to stay warm in that forgotten, harsh terrain, glacier valley land.


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