The Thermostat Three People Share
A free A2-level English story for language learners, readable online in 7 languages, with an option to listen via the free Storyteller app.
Zeynep's family argues about their smart thermostat until they realize they each set a separate schedule.
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Zeynep's house had a smart thermostat. It knew three names: Mom, Bram, and Zeynep. Each person had a favorite temperature.
Every evening, someone changed it. Zeynep liked the house warm. Bram liked it cool. Their mom Edda just wanted it to stay the same all day.
One week, the house felt strange. The temperature changed every hour, warm, then cool, then warm again. Nobody understood why.
"Did you touch the thermostat?" Zeynep asked Bram at dinner.
"No, I didn't touch it today," Bram said. "Maybe it's broken."
"I changed it once this morning," Edda said. "Just a little, for a few minutes."
They all looked at each other. Nobody planned to change it again.
After dinner, Zeynep opened the thermostat app on her phone. She saw three separate schedules. Each one tried to control the temperature.
"We each made our own schedule," Zeynep said. "That's the problem. They don't agree with each other."
Bram laughed. "So the thermostat feels confused too," he said.
The next day, they sat down together and made one shared schedule. Warm in the morning, cool in the afternoon, warm again at night.
The house stayed calm after that. No more surprises, and no more arguing about the temperature.
