购物About Shopping

      在德国，商品的质量和价格绝对是成正比的。在这里买东西绝对是一分价钱一分货。一般城市里的商店都是连锁的，就是那几家。只要在德国待上一段日子，你就会分得很清楚它们的档次区别了。
      逛超市也是很有学问的。超市会不定期把临近过期的食品打上特价标签，直接减价或标上折扣，有的甚至同时有效，折上折。就拿我最爱逛的LIDL超市来说，每次去那里我都要睁大了眼睛，绝不错过打折品。超市会在特定的位置摆放促销产品。那是我每次必定要仔细留意的地方。
       高价店虽然来光顾的客人不少，但是大多数人都会等到夏季或冬季打折的时候才购买。有时候可以遇到2折，甚至1折的超值价。每逢打折的时候，蜂拥的人潮不亚于国内。有时我甚至怀疑那么多人都是从哪里冒出来的。
      德国人做事很讲究计划。一般都会提前规划好，这段时间要添置什么，明年要买些什么。他们可不是光做计划，在定下目标后，他们就会为此每月存钱，并且关注各种广告的打折信息。就拿我自己的经历来说吧，每次我看到哪个店要打折了，就会一早跑去，否则可真是应了老话"晚下手遭殃"。德国人不会放过任何机会。
      其实德国人很喜欢买二手货，也喜欢卖二手货。所以ebay生意很红火，即使连房子也可以在上面出售。一般报纸上都少不了"二手市场"这个专栏，有的报纸还免费刊登二手信息。用网络也可以搜索到每个城市的二手商店，衣服、首饰、家俱......应有尽有。夏季每周还有跳蚤市场，顾客络绎不绝，很多人都愿意去那里淘东西，这也是我的休闲活动之一。

In Germany, the quality of goods is definitely proportionate to their price. The higher is the price; the better is the quality. The supermarkets are not many here but most of them have chain stores in each city. If you stay in Germany for some time, you will be very clear about their differences.

It is a science to be a good shopper. The supermarket will irregularly give discounts on the food which is near its expiration date, or even give discount on the already discounted price. Take the LIDL supermarket I frequent as an example. Every time I was there, I would open my eyes widely for any sale promotion. The supermarket will put the discounted merchandises in a specific area where is also the place I would never miss when I was there.

Though there are some customers in the luxury boutiques, most of them will not make any purchase until summer or winter when they have a sale there. Sometimes you can buy things at 80% or even 90% discount. Whenever they make such promotions, the shops are no less crowded than those in China. So I wondered sometimes where on earth these people sprang from.

The Germans make plans before doing anything. They will also plan to buy things either for the time being or for this year or next year. They do not just write these items down, but also save money monthly and follow the sale advertisements about the goods they want closely. My own experience is that once I got the information that a certain shop was going to make any promotion, I would be there as early as possible in fear that other earlier buyers would leave me nothing. As a matter of fact, the Germans will never let any opportunities slip away.

People in Germany also like buying and selling second-hand goods. That's the reason why so many people make business on ebay and even sell houses there. The "flea market" is an indispensablecolumn in many newspapers and some of them will even give space for ads of second hand for free. By searching the internet, you can find the second-hand stores, clothes, jewelries, furniture and so on in every city. In a word, they have everything second-hand that you expect to find. Every week in summer, there will be flea markets held in the neighborhood where customers come in flocks. It is also one of my hobbies to dig up things there.

装修房子About Decorating Houses

       在中国人看来装修房子真的是很麻烦、很累人的一件事，可是好多德国人都是自己装修房子。一方面自己装修跟请人的费用差很多，没办法，德国的人工真的很贵；另一方面，德国人假期多，休息时间也多。我去过一家德国人家里，那幢二层楼房的所有装修都是老人自己弄的。看到墙上用各色瓷砖拼出来的画，我不得不说声"佩服"，连院子里的小喷泉都是他们自己安装的！

In China, decorating houses is an exhausting work. However, in Germany, many people decorate their own houses. On one hand, it costs less than having the professionals do it for you since it is quite expensive to hire someone in Germany, and, on the other hand, the Germans have a lot of holidays and free time. I have been to a German family whose two-floor house was completely decorated by themselves. Looking at the pictures pieced together with all kinds of colored tiles, I could not help admiring their patience. Even the little fountain in the courtyard was installed by themselves.

出门和旅游About Going out and Traveling

      德国人的假期很多，通常他们都会出去渡假。
      很多人都会选择坐火车出行，这是因为德国的铁路系统很完善，很方便；同时，坐火车有时比开车省钱。德国铁路推出了许多优惠政策。比如各个州有自己的州票，允许一天内最多5个人一起随意乘坐本州内的普通车，而周末票则可以在整个德国境内通行。还有，如果提前几个月预定火车票更能够享受特价优惠。
      另外，拼车也是个好办法。有专门的网站为大家提供拼车信息，约好时间地点，然后大家分摊汽油费。可能是因为德国治安比较好，人与人之间的信任度很高。

The Germans have many holidays and generally they will go traveling on their free time.

Some of them will choose traveling by train because the railway system in Germany is completed and convenient and it saves money to take trains than to drive. The authority also introduces a lot of favorable policies. For example, every state can have their own tickets; 5 persons at most are granted with the privilege to taking ordinary local trains together for free in one day and the train tickets for the weekend can be used in any places within the country. Besides, if you book your tickets several months in advance, you can have more discounts.

In addition, carpooling is also a good idea. There are special websites providing information of carpooling. The passengers can make an appointment about the time and place and share the expenses together. Maybe it is because of the good public order in Germany, people trust each other a lot.

本文转载自Carol的个人空间，要阅读更多作者文章，请移步作者个人空间http://i.myechinese.com/index.php?s=/space/1252 。

• definitely [´definitli]   ad.明确地；绝对   (初中英语单词)
• frequent [´fri:kwənt]   a.常见的，频繁的   (初中英语单词)
• luxury [´lʌkʃəri]   n.奢侈(品)；享受   (初中英语单词)
• whenever [wen´evə]   conj.&ad.无论何时   (初中英语单词)
• sprang [spræŋ]   spring 的过去式   (初中英语单词)
• second-hand [,sekənd´hænd]   a.用过的；间接的   (初中英语单词)
• column [´kɔləm]   n.柱；柱状物；纵队   (初中英语单词)
• neighborhood [´neibəhud]   n.邻居；邻近；附近   (初中英语单词)
• decorate [´dekəreit]   vt.装饰；装修(房屋等)   (初中英语单词)
• expensive [ik´spensiv]   a.费钱的，昂贵的   (初中英语单词)
• patience [´peiʃəns]   n.忍耐(力)；耐心；坚韧   (初中英语单词)
• fountain [´fauntin]   n.泉水；源泉；根源   (初中英语单词)
• system [´sistəm]   n.系统，体系，制度   (初中英语单词)
• convenient [kən´vi:niənt]   a.方便的   (初中英语单词)
• favorable [´feivərəbəl]   a.赞成的；顺利的   (初中英语单词)
• privilege [´privilidʒ]   n.特权 vt.给....特权   (初中英语单词)
• addition [ə´diʃən]   n.加；加法；附加物   (初中英语单词)
• promotion [prə´məuʃən]   n.促进；提升；倡仪   (高中英语单词)
• crowded [´kraudid]   a.充(拥)满了的   (高中英语单词)
• monthly [´mʌnθli]   a.每月(的) n.月刊   (高中英语单词)
• indispensable [,indi´spensəbəl]   a.绝对必要的   (高中英语单词)
• courtyard [´kɔ:tjɑ:d]   n.院子，庭院   (高中英语单词)
• discount [´diskaunt]   n.&vt.(打)折扣   (英语四级单词)
• weekend [´wi:kend, ,wi:k´end]   n.周末休假   (英语四级单词)
• taking [´teikiŋ]   a.迷人的 n.捕获物   (英语六级单词)