Part 1未出现任何新题，苏州地区考题主要有name, work or study, house or apartment, subject, bicycle,clothes, trees, toy, cooking, gift, hometown, favorite room, email vs handwriting, history。

Part2唯一的新题是family party，但抽到的人极少。其余本月旧题仍然在考。高频题有：Something you can’tlive without, picnic, trip by public transport, school rule, place near water,shopping street, competition, website, favourite season, house等。下面介绍一个最近中频的话题以及一些相关词汇。Describe a house orapartment that you have (recently) visited.

Describe a house or apartment that you have(recently) visited.

Youshould say:

where itwas (or is)

when youvisited it

what itlooked like

andexplain why you visited it.

Ok then, well the place that I’d like to talk to you about was actually a show home that Iwent to visit with my parents, which was in a newly developed apartment complexnot far from where we live. And I suppose it must have been about two orthree weeks ago when we went there.

As for why we went there, well it was simply because we’re thinking of buying a flatas an investment. You know here in China, this is a very common thing to do,because investing in property is seen as being relatively risk-free. And somefriends of ours who had already been there to have a look recommended that wealso check it out .So we thought, why not!

Anyway,with regard to what the flat looked like, well basically, it was reallynicely decorated, as you can probably imagine, what with it being ashow home and all. For example, the floor was mostly marble, and therewas a huge chandelier hanging above the dining table. So yeah, it all lookedpretty impressive. I mean, even the wallpaper was nice, you know, it was,um… I’m not quite sure how to best describe it, but you could just tell it wasreally good quality from the feel and texture of it.

The onlydownside was the price, because I think it was something like twenty fivethousand rmb a square meter, so the whole flat came to about four million,or somewhere thereabouts, which was a bit above our budget unfortunately!

show home= 样板房

apartmentcomplex = 小区

So wethought, why not! = 所以我们想，不妨去看看呗！

it wasreally nicely decorated = 装饰地很漂亮

as youcan probably imagine  = 正如你可能想像到的

what withit being a show home and all = 毕竟是个样板房

marble = 大理石

chandelier= 枝形吊灯

So yeah, it all looked pretty impressive. = 所以嗯，都看上去很不错！

I’m notquite sure how to best describe it = 我不太清楚怎样描述得最好

you could(just) tell it was really good quality from the feel and texture of it. = 从质感能看得出质量很好

downside= 负面

orsomewhere thereabouts = 上下的样子

which wasa bit above our budget = 稍微超出了我们的预算

Other useful phrases:

It was onthe tenth floor = 在十楼

Floor-to-ceilingwindows = 落地窗

Veryspacious = 很宽敞

Very cozy= 很温馨

It wasopen-plan = 开敞式的

Flat-screenTV = 液晶电视

Itoverlooked the city centre = 俯视着市中心

It had agreat view of the city centre