英语博客：Black and white snow.

　　It's a strange sight. You get so used to seeing the lovely clean snow falling, and getting piled up on the side of the road. But then, all of a sudden, it seems, that beautiful stuff has turned ugly. I was driving to the shops the other day, when I drove past a huge pile of snow that had recently been dumped there by a snow plow¹. There seemed to be no mix of the colors at all. The black snow was, obviously, the snow that had been right on the road. It had all kinds of grit², gravel³, and dirt mixed in. The white snow was from the most recent fall, which had been heavy. This season creates quite a lot of work around the town. There are snow plows⁴ busy every day, moving this pile of snow, clearing that neighborhood, or turning three lanes of traffic into two. I can hear them drive into our neighborhood early in the morning. Beep, beep, beep, I hear as they back up. Their lights flash to make it obvious that they are here. Some people actually make good money by mowing⁵ lawns during the warmer months, and then snow plowing⁶ during the snowy months. I've got a little 'putt-putt-putt' snow blower for clearing our driveway. I've used it enough to realize that it is super easy. Just follow the instructions, turn the different knobs, push a few buttons, and pull a cord very hard, and it's ready to blow. You just have to make sure that you concentrate, otherwise it's easy to blow a load of snow at your own house or garage. That defeats the object! So, we have a couple of more months to deal with this white stuff. I don't mind using the snow blower on it when it is pretty and clean, but I wouldn't like to deal with the dirty stuff, yuck!
Grammar notes.
Related vocabulary: grit, gravel, knob, the recent......
1. You won't slip on the snowy road because the plow spread some grit on it.
2. Before we put tarmack on our driveway, it was just gravel.
3. The door knob is wooden, but the one in the dining room is glass.
4. The recent election was very interesting. The recent snow storm was very inconvenient⁷. I was unaware⁸ of their recent football victory.

1 plow   

n.犁，耕地，犁过的地；v.犁，费力地前进[英]plough

参考例句：

• At this time of the year farmers plow their fields.每年这个时候农民们都在耕地。
• We will plow the field soon after the last frost.最后一场霜过后，我们将马上耕田。

2 grit   

n.沙粒，决心，勇气；v.下定决心，咬紧牙关

参考例句：

• The soldiers showed that they had plenty of grit. 士兵们表现得很有勇气。
• I've got some grit in my shoe.我的鞋子里弄进了一些砂子。

3 gravel   

n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石

参考例句：

• We bought six bags of gravel for the garden path.我们购买了六袋碎石用来铺花园的小路。
• More gravel is needed to fill the hollow in the drive.需要更多的砾石来填平车道上的坑洼。

4 plows   

n.犁( plow的名词复数 )；犁型铲雪机v.耕( plow的第三人称单数 )；犁耕；费力穿过

参考例句：

• Alex and Tony were turning awkward hands to plows and hoe handles. 亚历克斯和托尼在犁耙等农活方面都几乎变成新手了。
• Plows are still pulled by oxen in some countries. 在一些国家犁头仍由牛拖拉。

5 mowing   

n.割草，一次收割量，牧草地v.刈，割( mow的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The lawn needs mowing. 这草坪的草该割了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• "Do you use it for mowing?" “你是用它割草么？” 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

6 plowing   

v.耕( plow的现在分词 )；犁耕；费力穿过

参考例句：

• "There are things more important now than plowing, Sugar. "如今有比耕种更重要的事情要做呀，宝贝儿。 来自飘（部分）
• Since his wife's death, he has been plowing a lonely furrow. 从他妻子死后，他一直过着孤独的生活。 来自辞典例句

7 inconvenient   

adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的

参考例句：

• You have come at a very inconvenient time.你来得最不适时。
• Will it be inconvenient for him to attend that meeting?他参加那次会议会不方便吗？

8 unaware   

a.不知道的，未意识到的

参考例句：

• They were unaware that war was near. 他们不知道战争即将爆发。
• I was unaware of the man's presence. 我没有察觉到那人在场。