母题的意思是main idea or theme

breakdown,母...mother,题..topic,subject

所以“母题”是mother of all topics的意思，对吧？

             Thank You.

我猜“油烟机”和“抽油烟机”的意思是一样的，对吧？

http://www.027pai.cn/images/200909/goods_img/463_P_1253326961195.jpg

连体马桶：

And the stove top, I don't see the use of more than two burners. I never use more than two at the same time. Do the Westerners use more than two at the same time?

Hi jjinfrance,

1)I know how important rice cookers seem to be in China. It's even more interesting that even in the US, with 4, 5 and 6 burner stoves, my Asian American friends still use rice cookers. I point out that the main reason that Chinese in China seem to use rice cookers is that their cook top stoves seem to always have only two burners. Or maybe it is the "we've always done it this way" syndrome. Oh, and if there's only one appliance that I could put in my kitchen (aside from the standard refrigerator and 4-burner stove), it's a dishwasher.

2)I would use 3 burners about 30% of the time I would use the stove, and 4 burners about 10% of the time I would use the stove. My statistically significant sample size of about 20-30 American friends, and 20 -100 relatives over the years would be in the same percentages if I had to guess. Especially with events like Thanksgiving/Christmas and visiting relatives. So this might be an American thing more than a western thing, maybe some westerners/Americans will chime in.

3) considering all this remodeling this couple is doing (including knocking down/out walls), why don't they just build a bigger kitchen? with more counter space? then they could add a 4 burner stove, an built-dishwasher, a cabinet-mounted microwave, and have loads of counter space?

Concerning this remodeling thing, I guess it's really about the different basic concepts. People from different cultures have different ideas of what a thing should look like or how something should be processed.

When I lived in the States, I noticed that almost every kitchen had the same equipment: a big stove with a 4 burners ontop, a bult-in dishwasher, a cabinet-mounted microwave/ stove and a big counter in the middle of the kitchen. However, with my old habits of cooking (old habits die hard), I didn't really profit from its designed usage: the stove was used to store the saucers the dishwasher was used to dry the dishes (after I hand-washed them), and the big counter becomes the place where I stacked magazines.

Maybe my experience explains a bit why the couple never thought about remodeling their kitchen the American way.

It's interesting to speculate about where the Chinese are evolving their kitchens/bathrooms and so on. Over the next 20-50 years, as China becomes more wealthy (IF present trends continue....), then what would the average Chinese person think of how Chinese cook, clean and so on.