The water bill
A text in Arabic at level B1. The translation sits next to it for checking, not for support: at this level the text is read whole, and an unknown word is usually guessed from the sentence. At school we measured the water consumption of a house for a whole week. The total number was eleven hundred liters…
Text
- في المدرسة قسنا استعمال الماء في البيت أسبوعا كاملا. العدد الإجمالي كان ألف مئة لتر، أكثر مما توقعت. ثلث الماء يذهب إلى الحمام، ونصف المتبقي إلى المطبخ. عندما أغلقنا الحنفية أثناء تنظيف الأسنان، انخفض الاستعمال بثلث. الدش الجديد يستهلك نصف الكمية القديمة تقريبا. وفي النهاية حسبنا الأرقام مرة أخرى وكتبنا النتيجة في المقياس.фи аль-мадраса кассанна истимааль аль-мааʾ фи аль-бейт усбууʿан камилян. аль-ʿадад аль-иджмаалий кян альф мийа литр, актар мимма такаваʿат. сульт аль-мааʾ язхаб иля аль-хаммаам, ва-нисф аль-мутабаккый иля ааль-матбах. ʿиндама аглякна аль-ханафийя аснаа танзийф аль-аснаан, инхафад аль-истимааль би-сульт. ад-душ аль-джадид ястахлик нисф аль-камия аль-кадима такрибан. ва-фи ан-нихайа хасабна аль-аркаам марратан ухра ва-катабна ан-натийа фи аль-микйас.At school we measured the water consumption of a house for a whole week. The total number was eleven hundred liters, more than I expected. A third of the water goes to the bathroom, and half of the remainder — to the kitchen. When we closed the tap while brushing teeth, the consumption fell by a third. The new shower consumes about half the old amount. At the end we counted the numbers once more and wrote the result on a scale.
Comprehension questions
The questions are asked in Russian on purpose: we test your understanding of the text, not your ability to read the question.
- How much water was used in the week?
- Where does a third of the water go?
- By how much did the consumption fall without the tap?
- What did they do with the numbers at the end?
Frequently asked
What level do you need to read this text in Arabic?
B1. That means: everyday topics are behind you, you know about three thousand words, and an unknown word is more often guessed from the sentence than looked up.
How to read a text in an unfamiliar language usefully?
First all the way through without peeking at the translation — just to catch the familiar words. Then with the translation. Then all the way through again: the second pass brings noticeably more, and that feeling matters more than any rule.