The charges are going up and the lift keeps breaking down. It ought to be replaced, but the money belongs to the owners.
Auntie Wang
张经理，物业费今年又涨了，可是电梯还是常常坏。
Zhāng jīnglǐ, wù yè fèi jīnnián yòu zhǎng le, kěshì diàntī háishi chángcháng huài.
Mr Zhang, the management charges have gone up again this year, and the lift still breaks down all the time.
Manager Zhang
电梯的问题我知道。上个月刚修过一次。
Diàntī de wèntí wǒ zhīdào. Shàng gè yuè gāng xiū guò yī cì.
I know about the lift. It was repaired only last month.
Auntie Wang
修完两个星期又坏了。
Xiū wán liǎng gè xīngqī yòu huài le.
Two weeks after the repair it broke down again.
Manager Zhang
那台电梯用了十八年，修不如换。
Nà tái diàntī yòng le shíbā nián, xiū bùrú huàn.
That lift is eighteen years old, repairing costs more than replacing.
Auntie Wang
换一台要多少钱？
Huàn yī tái yào duōshao qián ?
How much does a new one cost?
Manager Zhang
六十万。这笔钱要从维修基金里出。
Liùshí wàn. Zhè bǐ qián yào cóng wéixiū jī jīn lǐ chū.
Six hundred thousand. That sum has to come out of the maintenance fund.
Auntie Wang
基金是我们业主的钱，怎么用要大家同意。
Jī jīn shì wǒmen yè zhǔ de qián, zěnme yòng yào dàjiā tóngyì.
The fund is the owners' money, using it needs everyone's agreement.
Manager Zhang
对。所以要百分之七十的业主同意才可以。
Duì. Suǒyǐ yào bǎifēnzhī qīshí de yè zhǔ tóngyì cái kěyǐ.
Exactly. It needs seventy per cent of owners to agree.
Auntie Wang
那得一家一家去问。
Nà de yī jiā yī jiā qù wèn.
That means going round them one household at a time.
Manager Zhang
我们下个星期把公告贴在每个单元的门口。
Wǒmen xià gè xīngqī bǎ gōng gào tiē zài měi gè dān yuán de ménkǒu.
Next week we will put a notice up at the entrance to each stairwell.
Auntie Wang
光贴公告没用，很多人根本不看。
Guāng tiē gōng gào méi yòng, hěn duō rén gēnběn bù kàn.
A notice on the wall is no use, plenty of people never read them.
Manager Zhang
那您帮我们在群里说一声，比公告管用。
Nà nín bāng wǒmen zài qún lǐ shuō yī shēng, bǐ gōng gào guǎn yòng.
Then say a word in the group chat for us, it works better than a notice.
Auntie Wang
可以。不过这笔钱怎么花，以后要公开。
Kěyǐ. Bùguò zhè bǐ qián zěnme huā, yǐhòu yào gōngkāi.
I will. But how that money is spent will have to be made public afterwards.
修不如换: better to replace than repair, literally "repairing does not equal replacing". 不如 compares two options and gives the second as the better, which is the reverse of the English order. It also goes before a whole clause: 不如明天再说, we may as well talk about it tomorrow.
在群里说一声: to say a word in the group. 一声 after a verb of speaking reduces its scope to a brief mention, with no discussion: 叫一声, 问一声. It is a light request, and it would be a far heavier one without the 一声, which makes it almost free.
On buying a new flat in China, the purchaser pays into the 维修基金 a sum proportional to the floor area, meant for the common parts. Using it requires the agreement of a qualified majority of owners, often unobtainable in older buildings where many flats are let. Thousands of lifts age this way with the money for their replacement frozen at the bank.
