Level 3 · Reading series
Lesson 41 · The Store with a Refill Station
Audio track 41
Listen first
Listen once before opening the English passage.
Open the English passage and hover for word help
A small store near the station opened a refill station for soap. Customers could bring a clean bottle and buy only the amount they needed. I liked the idea, but I had forgotten my bottle.
The owner showed me a shelf of bottles that people had returned. “You can use one of these after we wash it,” she said. I also read the label carefully because some soaps are made for different uses.
At home, I wrote “bring the bottle” on our shopping list. The refill station did not make every package disappear. The store still received soap in larger containers. But it gave us another choice and made me notice how often I bought a new bottle without thinking.
Check your understanding
After reading, state the main idea in one sentence and find a line that supports it.
Chinese translation
车站附近的一家小店设了肥皂补充装柜台。顾客可以自带干净瓶子，只买需要的量。我喜欢这个主意，却忘了带瓶子。
店主指给我看一排别人送回来的旧瓶子。‘洗干净后，你可以用这里的。’她说。我还仔细读了标签，因为不同肥皂有不同用途。
回家后，我在购物清单上写下‘带瓶子’。补充装柜台并没有让所有包装消失：店里仍会用较大的容器进货。但它给了我们另一种选择，也让我意识到，自己以前常常想都没想就买一个新瓶子。
Key words and expressions
Key terms have Chinese explanations. Hover over dotted words in the English passage for word help and pronunciation when available.
- refill station
- 补充装柜台；可自带瓶子购买肥皂。
- amount
- 数量；只买需要的量。
- owner
- 店主；介绍旧瓶子的人。
- return
- 归还；别人送回可再利用的瓶子。
- label
- 标签；说明肥皂的用途。
- use
- 用途；不同肥皂可能适用不同情况。
- shopping list
- 购物清单；提醒下次带瓶子。
- package
- 包装；补充装没有消除所有包装。
- container
- 容器；店里仍用大容器进货。
- choice
- 选择；顾客可以减少购买新瓶。
Background notes (Chinese)
补充装能让顾客重复使用容器，但商品运输和进货仍可能需要包装。文章没有把它说成‘零包装’，而是写出了一个更可选择的购物方式。