Dwell upon the following:

1. The second and the third houses are alike.

2. The author fell in love with the first house because it was well-kept.

3. There was a flower bed and a patch at the back of the house.

4. The front door looked forbidding.

5. The little green side door looked forbidding as well.

6. Flowers were in bloom and looked great.

B. Having read this text, describe the outside of your own place of living.

Role-play

1. You prefer to have a nice flat in the centre of the city, your friend prefers a house in the country. Give reasons for and against each.

2. You are going to move to a different residential area. You have several offers. You are discussing flats with various people phoning you. Each side is interested in every detail of the other side.

It is interesting to know

 Reading

Tires are hub of new walls

It’s an environmentalist’s dream: a home that uses lots of waste materials.

The environmentalist’s dream is Janet Degan’s and Craig Siegel’s reality: a large home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, built from used tires, aluminium cans and dirt.

“ I love it,” said Degan recently during a break from the construction work.” I’m a landscape architect and I think this is the best kind of house you can have.”

The homes – these are 80 of them in New Mexico and Colorado – are called earth-ships. They are the creation of architect Michael Reynolds, who started designing houses out of recycled tires and cans in the 1970s.

Degan and Siegel estimate that 800 tires will be used to make the walls. Each tire is packed with dirt. The thick walls will absorb heat during the day and release it at night. The combination of elements will keep the interior temperature at about 60F (15C).

The materials for the Degan-Siegal house are much less expensive than for normal houses. Old tires are often given away by tire stores. And Degan picks up cans while she jogs. “One time I got six bags,” she said. The total cost will be about $50 per square foot, or $75,000.

Building the house also has health benefits. “ It’s like a free gym,” she said.

“It’s a great upper body workout. It’s the funniest thing I’ve ever done.”

environmentalist – a person who wants to protect nature

waste – things that are thrown away, garbage

landscape – the area around buildings, or open spaces

recycled – used again

square foot – 1x1, or 144 square inches

benefits – help, advantages

upper body workout – exercise for the arms and chest

Fill in the chart box.

Type of house:
Owners:
Architect:
Location(state):
Materials:
Cost:

Would you like to live in the Degan-Siegal home? Tell a partner why and why not.

Part III furniture

 Reading

Read through this rather strange application form, noting how the couple describes the house. As you read answer the questions below.

When my wife and I moved into our present house, it was a little better than slums, completely unfurnished apart from a few bits and pieces which the former occupant had either forgotten or – more likely – decided not to take with her. (These included an enormous sideboard that weighed a ton, a chest of drawers with its only one remaining door hanging off, an ugly bookcase with all its panes of glass cracked, and a broken 19-th century piano stool.)

The floors then were just bare boards with one or two mats and strips of lino. We now have fitted carpets in every room except the bathroom (where we have special long-lasting tiles) and the kitchen (polished parquet floor), plus several sheepskin rugs in the reception rooms. On arrival we found most of the interior decorated with faded, flowery-patterned wallpaper, peeling at the picture rail. We have painted throughout in beige (window and sills white) except in the lounge, where we have had pink. A few tasteful reproductions and a number of old German prints (all expensively framed) are on the walls, along with some carefully selected posters in the children’s rooms.

Numerous structural alterations have been carried out, notably the conversion of the old garden shed into a second bathroom, complete with bath, basin, bidet and W.C. (lambswool-covered lavatory seat and press-button flush) and the extension of the conservatory to make a sun lounge – with window seats all around it – leading on to the newly-laid patio. The roof, meanwhile, has been completely renovated, slates giving way to tiles, double glazing has been fitted on all windows, and the old fireplaces have been blocked up, except in the lounge which has retained its grate and mantelpiece for the old-world image it creates. In terms of heating, we have installed a gas cooker, an electric cooker, gas-fired central heating, and double radiators each with its own thermostatic control.

We have also made dramatic improvements in the kitchen: a new sink unit with mixer tap and double drainer, a line of smart cupboards all along one wall and two rows of shelves along the other. Upstairs the old iron double bed we inherited has been replaced by elegant twin beds with interior-sprung mattresses and quilts (duvets), of course. Our children Alexandra and Charles have recently moved out of bunk beds and into single beds in separate rooms; these have been specially equipped with a desk, blackboard and easel, and toy chest. All bedrooms have built-in wardrobes now and my wife has her own personal dressing table and dressing stool.

Our more expensive purchases, apart from the above, include: a leather upholstered lounge suite comprising a four-seater sofa – or should we say settee? – and two armchairs (we remember with horror the year we had to live with a studio couch plus a few pouffes and cushions), a solid wood table and set of matching dining room chairs, plus a microwave oven, a new shower unit, plumbed in of course, so that no unsightly pipes are visible, new stereo equipment, colour TV, a video recorder, home computer and cocktail cabinet.

It may interest you to know, finally, that we have made a formal complaint about the ghastly tallboy and divan that our neighbours have had standing in their back garden for nearly six months. Our garden, incidentally, has been recently landscaped and completely transformed: gone is the vegetable patch; in its place a neat lawn and flower-beds. All our new friends say we have done a wonderful job on our property.

If the couple decided to sell the house next month, which of these features could they say that it had?

two bathrooms polished parquet floor a slate roof attractive wallpaper throughout double glazed windows

three bedrooms a spacious garden shed ancient period fireplaces a mature vegetable garden a modern kitchen

Find the equivalents to the phrases below. Be ready to use them in the sentences of your own.

1. There was no furniture in the room.____________________________________

2. A sideboard was big and weighed a ton.________________________________

3. A piece of furniture where we put clean linen.___________________________

4. A kind of carpet that covers all the floor in the room._____________________

5. A very smooth floor made of wood.___________________________________

6. Small carpets that cover the floor only in some places.____________________

7. People either paint the walls or decorate them with_______________________

8. A picture that is not an original one.___________________________________

9. Having frames, which cost much._____________________________________

10. Serious changes made.______________________________________________

11. A sitting room.____________________________________________________

12. Windows with two panes of glass._____________________________________

13. A shelf on the top of a fireplace.______________________________________

14. Two radiators combined.____________________________________________

15. Things considerably changed for the better ones.________________________

16. A kind of a basin in the kitchen.______________________________________

17. Taps with hot and cold water mixed.___________________________________

18. Separate beds for one person to sleep.__________________________________

19. A large bed for two people.__________________________________________

20. A unit consisting of two beds but not a double bed._______________________

21. Covered or decorated with leather item of furniture for sitting._______________

22. A place where people take a shower (not a bathroom).______________________

23. An item of furniture where one can keep clothes._________________________

24. A very soft and comfortable stool which is an item of a lounge suite.__________

25. A place where one keeps bottles of spirits.______________________________

26. A synonym to a sofa._________________________________________________

27. A place where one usually grows vegetables.____________________________

28. A place where flowers grow._________________________________________

29. All things that we own are our________________________________________

Exercise 1

Translate these sentences into English:

1. У моєї тітки в її новому будинку дуже багато різноманітних картин, гравюр та репродукцій на стінах.

2. В нашій вітальні – лакована паркетна підлога, що вкрита килимовим покриттям.

3. Ми замурували старий камін і замість нього поставили там велике м’яке крісло.

4. З холу можна потрапити у простору затишну вітальню, де зліва знаходиться велика шафа, а навпроти – м’який шкіряний куток з декоративними подушками та посередині – журнальний столик.

5. Ми замінимо старі двері на нові величезні та поставимо подвійне скло на всі вікна.

Speaking

How quickly can you memorize the following things?

In what way would you furnish your hall if you had a chance to choose?