تعلّم عبارات إنجليزية مفيدة لوصف مشكلات السباكة في المنزل، وتمرّن على استخدام جمل يومية لشرح الأعطال، والاستفسار عن التكلفة، وترتيب أعمال الإصلاح.
للاستماع إلى أحدث التقارير الصوتية والبودكاست، اضغطوا على الرابط التالي.
SBS Learn English تساعدكم على التحدث والفهم والتواصل مع الآخرين في أستراليا بحلقاتها العديدة التي يمكن متابعتها عبر هذا الرابط.
هذا الدرس مفيد للمتعلمين من المستوى المتوسط. بعد الاستماع للحلقة اختبروا معلوماتكم من خلال هذا الاختبار.
ملاحظات التعلّم
الهدف اللغوي
- تعلّم كيف تصف مشكلات السباكة في المنزل وتستفسر عن تكلفة الإصلاح.
العبارات والأمثلة
My tap won’t stop dripping.
الصنبور لا يتوقف عن التقطير.
The tap keeps leaking.
الصنبور يستمر في التسرّب.
There’s a constant drip.
هناك تقطير مستمر.
The shower pressure is really low.
ضغط الماء في الدش منخفض جدًا.
The toilet keeps running.
مياه المرحاض تستمر في الجريان.
The sink is blocked.
المغسلة مسدودة.
The drain smells bad.
المصرف تنبعث منه رائحة كريهة.
That sounds like wear and tear.
يبدو أن ذلك ناتج عن الاستهلاك مع مرور الوقت.
It could just be a worn-out washer.
قد يكون السبب مجرد حلقة مطاطية تالفة.
العبارات والأمثلة الخاصة بالتكلفة
What am I looking at to fix it, roughly?
كم قد تكلّف عملية الإصلاح تقريبًا؟
Can you give me an estimate?
هل يمكنك إعطائي تقديرًا للتكلفة؟
What’s the ballpark figure for this repair?
ما التكلفة التقريبية لهذا الإصلاح؟
التعبيرات العامية
إذا كان شيء ما keeps happening فهذا يعني أنه يتكرر مرارًا ولا يتوقف بسهولة.
إذا كان شيء ما driving you crazy فهذا يعني أنه مزعج جدًا ويصعب تجاهله.
wear and tear تعني التلف أو التآكل الناتج عن الاستخدام مع مرور الوقت.
ballpark figure تعني تقديرًا تقريبيًا وليس رقمًا دقيقًا.
swing by تعني المرور أو الزيارة لفترة قصيرة.
المفردات
leak
يتسرّب؛ أي يسمح للماء أو أي سائل آخر بالخروج إلى مكان غير مطلوب.
drip
يقطر؛ أي يسقط على شكل قطرات صغيرة واحدة تلو الأخرى.
washer
حلقة مطاطية صغيرة داخل الصنبور تساعد على منع تسرّب المياه.
seal
يُحكم الإغلاق أو يمنع مرور الماء أو الهواء.
flush
يدفع الماء بسرعة عبر مكان ما لتنظيفه.
drain
المصرف أو الأنبوب الذي تتدفق عبره المياه المستعملة.
blocked
مسدود؛ أي لا يسمح بمرور الماء أو أي شيء آخر بشكل طبيعي.
low pressure
ضغط منخفض؛ أي أن تدفق الماء يكون ضعيفًا وليس قويًا.
estimate
تقدير تقريبي للتكلفة وليس رقمًا نهائيًا أو دقيقًا.
Transcript:
(Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript)
SBS acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country and their connections and continuous care for the skies, lands, and waterways throughout Australia.
Your tap won’t stop dripping. The water in your shower gets weaker after a few minutes. Or maybe your kitchen sink is full of water which won’t go down. These are common problems at home that can quickly turn into big headaches.
I’m Kate and in this episode, we’re practising everyday English you can use when talking about plumbing problems.
Plumbing is the pipes and systems at home that bring in fresh water and take dirty water away. A person who fixes pipes, toilets, and water problems is a plumber. . In Australia, we sometimes call them a tradie - short for tradesperson.
You know who is having a plumbing problem today? Claire. She is standing in her bathroom, staring at the tap as it drips...drip..drip...into the sink. She sighs, grabs her phone and calls her plumber, Allan.
Claire:
My tap in the bathroom won’t stop dripping. It’s driving me crazy.
Allan:
Yeah, it doesn’t sound to serious. It could just be wear and tear, a worn-out washer maybe.
Claire:
I see...What am I looking at to fix it, roughly?
Allan:
I can’t say now. I can give you a ballpark figure once I see it. Do you want me to swing by this afternoon?
Like Claire, we all have small problems at home. Things break, or stop working, and we need someone to fix them. To get the best help, it’s important to explain the problem clearly. So, let’s look at some useful phrases we can use when talking to a plumber.
First, Claire said,
My tap in the bathroom won’t stop dripping.
If water is dripping, it means small drops of water are falling slowly, one by one.
Or another way of saying this is,
- The tap keeps leaking.
If something ‘keeps’ happening, it means it happens again and again, and doesn’t stop easily.
And if water is leaking from somewhere, it is slowly coming out from somewhere to a place where it shouldn’t go so that even when you turn it off, the water still comes out in small drops.
You could also say.
- There’s a constant drip.
This means the same thing. The water keeps coming out slowly, or we can say, it keeps dripping.
Claire also said,
It’s driving me crazy.
If something is driving you crazy, it’s very annoying and hard to ignore. You can use this phrase whenever something keeps bothering you or makes you feel frustrated. For example, I love spending time on my balcony, but the traffic noise drives me crazy. Do your kids drive you crazy in school holidays?
So far we have talked about water that is dripping or leaking. That’s just one example of a plumbing problem you can have at home. There are so many others, and it’s useful to know how to describe them clearly. For example, you might have this problem:
- The shower pressure is really low.
If your shower pressure is really low, the water is only coming out very weakly, not strongly.
Or this one,
- The toilet keeps running.
If your toilet keeps running, the water keeps flowing into the basin even after you have finished flushing. To flush the toilet is to press the button or pull the lever that sends water quickly through the toilet to clean it.
Let’s look at a few more examples of problems you might have,
- The sink is blocked.
If your sink is blocked, then the water doesn’t go down the drain properly because something is stopping it. The drain is the opening at the bottom of the sink where the dirty water goes away.
Or,
- The drain smells bad.
This means there is an unpleasant smell coming from the pipes.
These are all common problems and phrases we can use to help the plumber understand what’s wrong. Let’s go back to our dialogue. Allan said,
It could just be wear and tear.
Wear and tear is the damage that happens slowly over time to something that is used a lot. It’s not sudden damage; it’s the kind of damage that can be expected after something has been used a lot. The other day, my washing machine stopped working. It is very old, so I expect that the damages just wear and tear and I’ll probably have to get a new one.
Allan also said,
It could just be a worn-out washer.
Washer is a small rubber circle inside the tap that seals the flow of water. To seal is to prevent water or air from getting through. A worn-out washer is a common cause of dripping taps.
Then Claire asked,
What am I looking at to fix it, roughly?
Here, Claire is asking for an approximate price. You could also say,
- Can you give me an estimate?
An estimate is an approximate idea of how much something will cost, not an exact number. You could ask,
- What’s the ballpark figure for this repair?
A ballpark figure is, like an estimate, is a rough number that is close enough, but not exact.
At the end of the dialogue Allan said,
I can’t say now. I can give you a ballpark figure once I see it. Do you want me to swing by this afternoon?
To swing by means to visit someone or some place for a short time. It’s informal and friendly.
You can use it when you want to visit someone quickly because you’re already nearby or when the visit is short and informal and doesn’t need much planning.
So, in this context. Allan is offering to come to Claire’s place later that day for a quick visit to check the problem.
للاستماع إلى أحدث التقارير الصوتية والبودكاست، اضغطوا على الرابط التالي.
أكملوا الحوار على حساباتنا على فيسبوك وانستغرام.
اشتركوا في قناة SBS Arabic على YouTube لتشاهدوا أحدث القصص والأخبار الأسترالية.
