[00:00.00]Unit 15 My share of the chores
[00:05.69]1.Listen and practice in pairs.
[00:11.65]Mrs.Davis is telling Li Meng and xiaohong about the small chores she expects them to do.
[00:19.30]Mrs.Davis,is there anything you want us to do around the house?
[00:25.57]Nothing much realy.
[00:28.81]I'll be doing most of the chores and Mr.Davis will take care of the "hard labour".
[00:35.37]There are a few things,though,I'd like you to do if you don't mind.
[00:40.93]Of course not.I'd love to share the chores.
[00:45.61]Yeah,anything at all I can do to help.
[00:49.87]We also do some housework back in China.
[00:54.02]That's good.They're just some small chores actually,
[00:59.38]like setting the table,putting your dishes in the dishwasher,
[01:05.12]cleaning up the table ,that sort of thing.
[01:09.28]That's easy.I'd love to do some work in the kitchen.
[01:14.45]Is there anything "Heavier" than those?
[01:18.81]Yes.There is one more thing--your own washing.
[01:24.38]But I suppose with a washing machine it won't be very heavy work.
[01:30.15]You only need to do it once or twice a week.
[01:34.59]I'll show you two how to do it later.
[01:38.66]Oh,mum,there's one thing I forgot to ask you the other day. Yes,dear?
[01:45.43]I saw you clean the mirrors and our glass doors with a bottle.
[01:51.18]What is it? Oh,that?It's called Windex.
[01:56.74]We always use it for glass and mirrors.
[02:01.18]I notice you've got different bottles.
[02:05.86]Are they all for glass and mirrors?
[02:09.80]Good thing you've noticed.
[02:13.77]They are Ajax and Exit Mould,for cleaning the kitchen and bathrooms.
[02:19.94]5.Listen,read and act.
[02:26.10]Mrs.Davis is showing Li Meng and Xiaohong how to do their washing.
[02:32.66]Mrs.Davis,I've put my laundry in the washing machine.
[02:38.72]What do I do now?
[02:41.78]Let me see.Oh,you've put too much inside.
[02:47.24]You can't get a good wash that way.
[02:51.31]Here,leave these till next time.
[02:55.67]Shall I turn on the machine?
[02:59.75]Not yet.First turn on the water tap.
[03:04.50]Press the buttons to set the time and then put the detergent into the slot.
[03:10.96]Lastly turn on the machine.
[03:14.72]How much detergent do I need to put in?
[03:19.16]One cupful of powder or liquid is enough to clean a full load.
[03:25.22]I'll remember that.
[03:28.46]Now,where shall I hang my clothes when they are done?
[03:33.79]There's a clothes-line in our backyard.
[03:38.04]Just hang everything there and they'll get dry quickly on sunny days like this.
[03:44.42]9.Listen,read and act.
[03:49.88]Xiaohong forgets to wash her red T-shirt separately and as a result,
[03:57.64]she finds all the other clothes being washed at the same time have been stained.
[04:04.48]Li Meng,come here.I've got a problem.
[04:09.44]I don't know what to do new.
[04:12.97]See all my clothes? Do they look all right to you?
[04:17.83]Obviously not!What strange colours!What happened?
[04:23.89]It's all my fault.
[04:27.76]I put my red T-shirt in and forgot that the colour runs.
[04:33.61]So? So they are all red now.That should I do?
[04:39.17]Let's see.I heard Daniel talk about bleach once.
[04:45.10]Let's ask him what that is and if it can help get rid of the red colour.
[04:51.16]10.Listen and read.
[04:56.20]Sharing family chores!
[05:00.64] There's always bad news and good news about family chores.
[05:07.12]Bad news first:chore wars will always be with us.
[05:13.08]No matter how equally your family housework is divided,
[05:18.43]not many people enjoy doing family house work.
[05:23.79]Children will probably never prefer cleaning the bathroom to playing computer games.
[05:30.74] The good news?
[05:34.21]There can be great joy working with children to manage and clean a home.
[05:41.16]The joys can come from the methods which are used.
[05:45.89]For example,those used by Jim and Robert's mother.
[05:51.48] "Mum,have you worked out next week's family chores?
[05:56.94]Let Jim and I choose them quickly.
[06:00.99]I can't wait.It's fun."
[06:04.85] As Robert shouted out,
[06:09.29]his mother had already laid out the 3-by-5 cards on their big dinning table.
[06:16.06]On the colourful cards,words like these were written:
[06:21.62]"mop the floor,clean your bedroom,help mum cook,
[06:27.66]wash vegetables,make beds,feed the fish,
[06:33.59]cut the bushes,clean the bathroom" and many others.
[06:39.52]Jim and Robert were allowed to choose two cards for each day from Monday to Friday.
[06:46.67]Then they would hang them on the weekday assignment board.
[06:51.85]Jim is the world's finest cleaner of bathrooms
[06:57.31](aside from using enough water to fill a backyard swimming pool).
[07:02.87]He picked up the card "clean the bathroom".
[07:07.73]Robert loves to push the vacuum across the carpet,
[07:12.69]so he picked up his favoourite card.
[07:17.05]Jim again picked up "walk the dog" and Robert chose "feed the fish".
[07:24.29]Soon all the cards were happily taken away by the two boys.
[07:30.22] In order to help the children do family chores,
[07:35.68]their mother thought hard and came up with this idea.
[07:40.83]Of course,the parents did the family chores on the weekends
[07:46.47]and left Jim and Robert two days free.
