Intermediate Listening Lesson 30

I live in a house that has a small yard around it.

In my yard there is a lawn and a garden.

There is also a sidewalk that leads to my front door,

and a driveway that leads to my garage.

Throughout the year I work to maintain my yard.

During the summer, I cut the grass

that grows in my yard, using a lawn-mower.

I like the smell of the grass when it has just been cut.

But it’s better not to cut the grass too short.

When the weather is dry,

I also put water on the lawn and garden,

so that the grass and flowers can grow.

During the autumn,

many leaves fall from the trees in my yard.

I use a rake to collect the leaves from the lawn.

Then I can put the leaves into bags.

I can use the leaves to make fertilizer.

When I was a kid, I didn’t like the job of raking leaves,

but now I don’t mind it.

Another job during the autumn is to remove flowers

from the garden before cold weather arrives.

During the winter, there is no work to do in the lawn

or garden, because they are covered in snow.

But I need to keep the snow off my sidewalk and driveway.

Whenever it snows, I use a shovel to clear the snow from the sidewalk and the driveway.

Sometimes it snows a lot.

If I didn’t shovel the snow,

it would soon be impossible to get into my house!

During the spring, the snow melts.

I clean up my yard by sweeping away the dirt

and by removing weeds from the lawn and garden.

I also put flowers back into the garden.

It’s nice to see them again after the long, cold winter.

When spring comes, the grass grows very quickly,

so I need to cut the grass quite often.

Working in the yard can be very satisfying work.

It’s so nice when the lawn and garden are looking green and healthy.