Meeting the landlord

Beth: Hello, Mr. Gao. We appreciate your letting us have the apartment.

LL: My pleasure. You're a sweet couple. Do you have any questions?

Beth: The ad said rent was thirty thousand. That includes utilities and phone, I assume.

LL: No, it doesn't. And there's a maintenance fee for each month. It's forty NT per ping.

Beth: That's another one thousand six hundred?

LL: Yes, but that doesn't include cable. It's for cleaning and trash removal. You just leave your trash outside your door.

rent (v.,n.)

房租;出租

A: We also want to move because it's too expensive.

我们也想搬家，因为太贵了。

B: Yes, the rent must be really high here.

是啊，这里房租一定很贵。

utility (n.)

瓦斯、电力、自来水等设施

A: Does your rent include utilities?

你的房租包括水电瓦斯费吗?

B: It includes water, but you have to pay for gas and electricity.

包括水费，不过要付瓦斯跟电费。

assume (v.)

假定，假设

I assumed you had a boyfriend.

我猜妳有男朋友了。

maintenance fee

维修保养费。这里是指大楼管理费

Maintenance fees are just another way for landlords to rip us off.

管理费只是房东剥削我们的另一种方法。

removal (n.)

搬运，移动

A: What is the government doing about that toxic waste?

政府如何处理那些有毒废物?

B: The new laws call for its removal by 2010.

新立法要求在二○一○年之前移除。

和房东见面

贝丝：哈啰，高先生。我们很感激你让我们承租这间公寓。

房东：荣幸之至。你们这对夫妇人很好。有任何问题吗?

贝丝：广告上说房租是三万元。我猜那包括水电瓦斯跟电话费吧。

房东：不，没有包括。而且每个月还有管理费。一坪四十元。

贝丝：那就是还要外加一千六百元?

房东：对，不过那不包括有线电视。那是清洁跟收垃圾的费用。你只要把垃圾放在门外就好了。