Level 3 · Reading series
Lesson 42 · The Rain Garden near the Station
Audio track 42
Listen first
Listen once before opening the English passage.
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After a heavy shower, water used to run across the path near our station. This spring, the town made a shallow garden beside it. I thought the plants were only for decoration.
During the next rain, I watched from under the roof. Some water from the path flowed into the garden and stayed there for a while. It did not remove every puddle, and I could not see what happened under the soil.
A sign called it a “rain garden.” It said the low area was designed to collect some rainwater and let it soak into the ground. The flowers made the station nicer to look at, but the shape of the ground was doing another job too.
Sentence practice
Play any sentence in Dicvo’s Jenny English voice. Before playing all, choose how many times each sentence plays. A practice pause about as long as the sentence follows each play, including before the next sentence. The complete reading remains above.
Choose a sentence to begin.
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After a heavy shower, water used to run across the path near our station.
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This spring, the town made a shallow garden beside it.
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I thought the plants were only for decoration.
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During the next rain, I watched from under the roof.
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Some water from the path flowed into the garden and stayed there for a while.
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It did not remove every puddle, and I could not see what happened under the soil.
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A sign called it a “rain garden.” It said the low area was designed to collect some rainwater and let it soak into the ground.
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The flowers made the station nicer to look at, but the shape of the ground was doing another job too.
Check your understanding
After reading, state the main idea in one sentence and find a line that supports it.
Chinese translation
以前下大雨时，雨水常常漫过车站旁的小路。今年春天，镇上在路边建了一个浅浅的花园。我以为种花只是为了好看。
下一场雨来时，我站在屋檐下观察。小路上的一部分水流进花园，暂时停在那里。花园没能消除所有水洼，我也看不到泥土下面发生了什么。
说明牌称它为‘雨水花园’：低洼的区域用来收集部分雨水，让水慢慢渗进土里。花让车站更好看；地面的形状同时还在做另一件事。
Key words and expressions
Key terms have Chinese explanations. Hover over dotted words in the English passage for word help and pronunciation when available.
- heavy shower
- 一场大雨；小路曾因此积水。
- run across
- 漫过、流过；雨水横穿小路。
- shallow
- 浅的；花园地势略低。
- decoration
- 装饰；主人公起初只想到美观。
- flow into
- 流入；部分雨水进了花园。
- for a while
- 一段时间；水暂时留在低处。
- puddle
- 水洼；并没有全部消除。
- collect
- 收集；低洼区域接纳雨水。
- soak into
- 渗入；水慢慢进入土壤。
- shape of the ground
- 地面形状；花园的低洼结构有实际作用。
Background notes (Chinese)
雨水花园通常利用较低的地势接纳部分径流，让雨水逐渐下渗。文中只观察到一部分路面积水流入，不能据此断言所有水洼都消失了。