Briefing
Mrs Wen, a Mandarin-speaking woman, is planning to sell a property she owns in Melbourne. Today she is in the office of Mr Wickham, an English-speaking real estate agent.
Listen to Dialogue
Mandarin-English Dialogue #21 – Selling a House
Transcript
Wickham: Hi there Mrs Wen. So lovely to see you again. Please take a seat. (您好，温女士，很高兴再次见到您。请坐。)
Wen: 嗨，威科姆先生。我也很高兴见到您。你看起来很精神啊。[Hi Mr Wickham. It’s nice to see you too. You are looking fine today.]
Wickham: Thank you. So I take it your husband couldn’t make it today? (谢谢。我猜您丈夫今天来不了了？)
Wen: 实际上，威科姆先生，我们正准备离婚啊。但是这不是我今天见您的主要原因。我决定卖掉我在边远郊区的一处房子。来，您看看照片。[Actually Mr Wickham we are currently going through a divorce. But that’s not the reason I’m seeing you today. I’ve decided to sell one of my properties in the outer suburbs. Here, check out the photos.]
Wickham: I’m sorry to hear that. Divorces are tough. I should know – I’ve been through one myself. I know both of you have a number of properties in Victoria. I like the look of this particular property. I love the attic, it’s massive. Is the house in your name? (我为您感到难过。离婚是令人痛苦的。我早该知道，我也离过婚。你们二位在维多利亚州都有一些房产。我喜欢这一栋的外观，也喜欢阁楼，看上去很大。这房子是在您的名下吗？)
Wen: 房契上是我的名字，对。我想对其进行估价，越快越好。这别墅有四间卧室和一个大的后院，一块菜地，在前面还有个喷泉呢。别墅离火车站和商店很近。我们上个月还加装了隔热层。[The title deed is in my name, yes. I would like to get it evaluated as soon as possible. It’s a four bedroom house with a big backyard, a vegie patch and a small fountain at the front. It’s very close to the train station and shops. We also had extra insulation installed last month.]
Wickham: This is in Lilydale right? That’s actually not a bad place in Melbourne to be selling. I’ve seen a spike in house prices in that area over the past 6 months. (房子是在 Lilydale 对吗？要卖房子的话那儿是个不错的地方。在过去的六个月中，那儿的房价飙升。)
Wen: 这么说，你觉着这别墅卖出去要多久呢？一离完婚，我就准备回国了。所以越快处理完房产越好。[With that in mind, how long do you think it will take to sell this property? Once the divorce is over, I am planning to move back to China. The sooner we can sell all our properties here, the better.]
Wickham: Your property is in a decent location and, judging by the photos, it looks like it has some unique features. You’re also in quite a bit of a hurry, so what we could do is put it up for auction. This would be much quicker than opting for a private sale. (您的房子所在地段很好，根据照片来看，也有其独到之处。既然您比较急，我们可以拿它去公开拍卖。这比私下的买卖要快得多。)
Wen: 我也考虑过这个方案。我知道这个过程不容易，但是目前为止我已经拍卖出去了三处房产，而且没太大问题。其中有一处房产卖出的价格超乎了我的想象。[I had also considered this option. I know it can be a stressful process, but so far I’ve sold three properties under auction and had no major issues. In one case my property sold for much more than I expected.]
Wickham: OK. Well I can organise a time for the evaluation now if you like. What time this week would work for you? (好的。我可以在这周安排个时间为您的房子估价。这周什么时候您比较方便？)
Wen: 这周不太好办啊。我有很多活儿要干呢。我需要换客厅的石膏和浴室的瓷砖。还想拆掉一面隔离墙，这样客厅看起来更大些。[This week is no good. I still have a lot of work to do. The plaster in the living room and the tiles in the bathroom need to be replaced. I also want to knock down one of the partition walls to make the living room bigger.]
Wickham: Sounds like you have a lot of work ahead of you. If you need the number of a local tradie, let me know, I know a good one. (听起来您确实有很多事要做。如果您需要本地的技工的号码，请告诉我，我认识一个很好的技工。)
Wen: 你说的我会考虑的，因为我丈夫他懒得自己动手。我记得在前面门廊那有根烂了的柱子，这个需要修理。希望这不会影响价格太多。[I may take you up on that offer since my husband is too lazy to lift a finger. I just remembered there is some dry rot on one of the poles holding up the front porch that needs to be taken care of. I hope that won’t affect the price too much.]
Wickham: That all depends on how serious it is. You should know an outbreak of dry rot within a building can be very difficult to eradicate. In some cases the decay can even cause the structure to collapse. So I would definitely recommend you get it checked out by a professional before the evaluation. (这取决于腐烂得有多严重。您要知道，如果建筑物内腐烂的地方很多的话，是很难清理的。有时，甚至可能让整个建筑物倒塌。因此我强烈建议您在给房子估价前，让专业人士来检查一下。)
Wen: 我肯定会这样做的，谢谢您的建议，威科姆先生。[I will be sure to do that. Thank you for your advice Mr Wickham.]
Leave a Reply