Unit 15 My Share of the Chores
1.Listen and practice in pairs.
Mrs.Davis is telling Li Meng and xiaohong about the small chores she expects them to do.
Mrs.Davis,is there anything you want us to do around the house?
Nothing much realy.
I'll be doing most of the chores and Mr.Davis will take care of the "hard labour".
There are a few things,though,I'd like you to do if you don't mind.
Of course not.I'd love to share the chores.
Yeah,anything at all I can do to help.
We also do some housework back in China.
That's good.They're just some small chores actually,
like setting the table,putting your dishes in the dishwasher,
cleaning up the table ,that sort of thing.
That's easy.I'd love to do some work in the kitchen.
Is there anything "Heavier" than those?
Yes.There is one more thing--your own washing.
But I suppose with a washing machine it won't be very heavy work.
You only need to do it once or twice a week.
I'll show you two how to do it later.
Oh,mum,there's one thing I forgot to ask you the other day. Yes,dear?
I saw you clean the mirrors and our glass doors with a bottle.
What is it? Oh,that?It's called Windex.
We always use it for glass and mirrors.
I notice you've got different bottles.
Are they all for glass and mirrors?
Good thing you've noticed.
They are Ajax and Exit Mould,for cleaning the kitchen and bathrooms.
5.Listen,read and act.
Mrs.Davis is showing Li Meng and Xiaohong how to do their washing.
Mrs.Davis,I've put my laundry in the washing machine.
What do I do now?
Let me see.Oh,you've put too much inside.
You can't get a good wash that way.
Here,leave these till next time.
Shall I turn on the machine?
Not yet.First turn on the water tap.
Press the buttons to set the time and then put the detergent into the slot.
Lastly turn on the machine.
How much detergent do I need to put in?
One cupful of powder or liquid is enough to clean a full load.
I'll remember that.
Now,where shall I hang my clothes when they are done?
There's a clothes-line in our backyard.
Just hang everything there and they'll get dry quickly on sunny days like this.
9.Listen,read and act.
Xiaohong forgets to wash her red T-shirt separately and as a result,
she finds all the other clothes being washed at the same time have been stained.
Li Meng,come here.I've got a problem.
I don't know what to do new.
See all my clothes? Do they look all right to you?
Obviously not!What strange colours!What happened?
It's all my fault.
I put my red T-shirt in and forgot that the colour runs.
So? So they are all red now.That should I do?
Let's see.I heard Daniel talk about bleach once.
Let's ask him what that is and if it can help get rid of the red colour.
10.Listen and read.
Sharing family chores!
There's always bad news and good news about family chores.
Bad news first:chore wars will always be with us.
No matter how equally your family housework is divided,
not many people enjoy doing family house work.
Children will probably never prefer cleaning the bathroom to playing computer games.
The good news?
There can be great joy working with children to manage and clean a home.
The joys can come from the methods which are used.
For example,those used by Jim and Robert's mother.
"Mum,have you worked out next week's family chores?
Let Jim and I choose them quickly.
I can't wait.It's fun."
As Robert shouted out,
his mother had already laid out the 3-by-5 cards on their big dinning table.
On the colourful cards,words like these were written:
"mop the floor,clean your bedroom,help mum cook,
wash vegetables,make beds,feed the fish,
cut the bushes,clean the bathroom" and many others.
Jim and Robert were allowed to choose two cards for each day from Monday to Friday.
Then they would hang them on the weekday assignment board.
Jim is the world's finest cleaner of bathrooms
(aside from using enough water to fill a backyard swimming pool).
He picked up the card "clean the bathroom".
Robert loves to push the vacuum across the carpet,
so he picked up his favoourite card.
Jim again picked up "walk the dog" and Robert chose "feed the fish".
Soon all the cards were happily taken away by the two boys.
In order to help the children do family chores,
their mother thought hard and came up with this idea.
Of course,the parents did the family chores on the weekends
and left Jim and Robert two days free.