Windows on their world(3)

Take a tour around the company that made Bill Gates all his millions, and if you have time, you have time, you can even sail past his home

Take a cruise

The best way to see Gates' place is by boat. Local tour-boat company Argosy Cruises' lake Cruises depart daily from LakeUnion year-round; and from Kirkland from April through November. The?Brochures?promise views of "the luxurious waterfront homes of Seattle's rich and famous," but there's no beating around the bush. The motor right over to Gates' house, then slowly motor right over to Gate's house, then slowly motor past, about 100 yards offshore, while every gets a picture of what may be the most expensive home in the nation.

Form the outsides, the place looks like a?modern?camp lodge. Inside is a mix of old and new-salvaged timbers from old industrial buildings and cutting-edge electronics. Electronic sensors carried by family or visitors can be programmed with personal preferences so that flat-panel screens display favorite art images depending on who is nearby. Lights adjust automatically.

?Microsoft doesn't promote the boat tour but Argosy says it has approval from Gates. Less cooperative was Amazon. Com founder Jeff Bezos, who lives nearby but asked the company not to point out his home.

The Seattle cruise also passes the sleepless in Seattle houseboat and other local attractions, but Gates' house is far and away the most popular part of the tour.

"They'll be interested, then they ‘ll really be interested when we go by Bill Gates' house-the boat kind of lists to the left," say tour guide Nikki Bradford.

"very impressive," said Liu Zhaoxu, a 17-year-old from Beijing, after scoping out the Gates place from the tour boats' deck.

Zhaoxu hopes to work at Microsoft someday. So does his mother, finance expert Rose Wang, who brought the family to Seattle when she came for a job interview at the company. They took the tour the day after her interview. "I don't want to go home," she said. "I just want to stay here"

Vocabulary Focus? ?

beat around the bush (idiom) to avoid talking agout what is important

far and away (idiom) undoubtely

list (v) for a ship?or boat to? learn to one side as a result of weighting shifting

scope sth. out (phr v)
to look carefully to see if something is interesting

Specialized Terms

salvaged (adj) 搶救下來的 saved from damage, destruction or loss

cutting -edge (adj) 先進的 very?modern and with all the newest features

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