老楼加电梯An Elevator for the Old Building

New words

• 改造gǎizào — to renovate, transform
• 政府zhèngfǔ — government
• 批准pīzhǔn — to approve
• 区qū — district, area
• 范围fànwéi — range, scope
• 发言fāyán — to speak (at a meeting)

The story

李奶奶：大卫，小雨，好消息！政府要改造我们的老楼了！David, Xiaoyu, good news! The government is going to renovate our old building!

小雨：改造？怎么改造？Renovate it? How?

李奶奶：区里有一个新计划：给老楼加电梯！钱大部分是政府出。The district has a new plan: adding elevators to old buildings! The government pays for most of it.

大卫：太好了！可是这个区的老楼那么多，我们的楼在范围内吗？Brilliant! But there are so many old buildings in this district. Is ours included?

李奶奶：在范围内！可是楼里的每一家都要批准。一家不批准，就不能改造。It is! But every household in the building has to approve. If one doesn't, there's no renovation.

李奶奶：明天晚上开会，每家都要发言。大卫，你也来发言吧！There's a meeting tomorrow evening, and every household gets to speak. David, come and speak too!

大卫：我？我已经不住那儿了。Me? I don't live there any more.

李奶奶：你每天抱着包子爬五楼，爬了两年。你最有资格发言！You carried Baozi up five floors every day for two years. You've got more right to speak than anyone!

Opening the lesson…