Section I

Ex.1. Explain the quotation: “A man’s house is his castle.”

Edward Coke

Ex.2. Read and translate the poem. Learn it by heart.

Home, Sweet Home

’Mid pleasures and palaces though I may roam

Be it ever so humble there’s no place like home.

A charm from the sky seems to hallow us there

Which seek thro’ the world is near met with elsewhere.

Home, home, sweet, sweet home,

There’s no place like home,

There’s no place like home.

To thee I’ll return overburdened with care,

The heart’s dearest face will smile on me there,

No more from that cottage again will I roam,

Be it ever so humble there’s no place like home.

By J. Howard

Ex.3. Read as quickly as you can:

William the Conqueror, Ten-sixty-six –

I know what I’ll build after tea with my bricks!

I’ll build a great castle with drawbridge and keep,

And arches through which I shall see, when I peep,

Saxon and Norman both up to their tricks …

William the Conqueror, Ten-sixty-six.

(Eleanor Farjeon)

Vocabulary and Pre-Reading Work

Ex.4. Translate and learn the following words:

Row, to join to, still, to lead out on to, stairs landing, to contain, rocking chair, birdcage, calendar, gas-ring, tin kettle, gas-lamp, well-to-do people, smooth lawn, gate, path, to lead to, to mount, verandah, to find oneself, cloak-room, lounge, a water-colour, bowl, couch, unfolded, oak, lamp-shade, ceiling.

Ex.5. Read and translate the text.

The House

In many parts of England cottages are built in a long row, each house joined to the next one, and each with a small yard at the back, and a still smaller one at the front. On the ground floor there are generally two rooms, and on the upper one, the first floor, two. In the bigger of the lower rooms food is prepared, meals are eaten and guests are received. Such a room is called a kitchen or simply a living-room.

Here is the description of such a living-room.

It has three doors: the one in the centre leads out on to the street, the one on the right – to the stairs landing to the first floor, and the one on the left – to a bedroom on the ground floor. There is a fireplace on the right. Dark curtains cover the window at the back.

The room contains a table, some chairs and a comfortable rocking chair placed by the fire-place. On the left there is a cupboard with a shelf above it on which there are a few dishes. A birdcage hangs in the window. On the wall near the fire-place hangs a large calendar with a bright coloured picture of some cows drinking at a stream. Over the table hangs a gas-lamp and by the fire-place is a small gas-ring with a little tin kettle on it.

The cottages of the well-to-do people, however, are a little larger, pretty and comfortable. They stand a little way back from the road and some have a rather big garden round it and a smooth lawn in front of the house.

You go through the garden gate and walk along a path leading to the house. Mounting a few steps you get on to a verandah and right in front of you there is the entrance door. Passing through this door you find yourself in the hall where in the corner is a sort of a cloak-room with racks to hang your coat and hat on.

There are some 3-4 doors (depending upon the plan of the house) which lead to the kitchen, study, dining-room and lounge or sitting-room. The sitting-room is a big room some 20-25 feet long and about 15-18 feet wide. In the sitting-room there might be a thick carpet on the floor, one or two good water-colours on the walls, a piano on one side of the room, a radio (television) set on the other side, a book-case standing against the wall, a small table near the window with a beautiful bowl of flowers, and a couch.

The dining-room is also a pleasant-looking room with a carpet, a dark oak dining-table, which, being unfolded might seat 10-12 persons, six chairs and a side-board. A red lamp-shade hanging down from the ceiling gives a warm colour to the room, and a central (or electric) heating system keeps it warm and comfortable.

Upstairs are the bedrooms, a bath-room and a lavatory, though the latter two might be in some cottages on the ground floor as well.

Ex.6. Answer the questions on the text:

1. How are cottages built in England?

2. What is there near a house?

3. What is there on the ground (upper) floor?

4. What is usually done in the bigger of the lower rooms? What is this room called?

5. How many doors can it be in the living-room? Where do they lead out to?

6. What can be used instead of central heating in the living-room?

7. What covers the windows?

8. What pieces of furniture can there be in the living-room?

9. What can hang on the walls?

10. What is a gas-lamp/gas-ring?

11. What are the cottages of well-to-do people like? Where do they stand? What is near them?

12. What should you go through to get into the yard?

13. What is a narrow piece of road leading to the house?

14. Where can you get to mounting a few steps?

15. What door can you get into the house through?

16. What is the first space where you can find yourself going through the entrance door?

17. Where can you hang your overcoats and hats?

18. Where do other doors lead to from the hall?

19. What can be the size of the sitting-room?

20. What might be on the floor in the sitting-room?

21. What things can be there?

22. What is the room where one has meals called?

23. What furniture can be there?

24. What can give a warm colour to the room? What keeps it warm?

25. What is usually upstairs?

Ex.7. Draw the plan of this house.

Ex.8. Is the description of this house peculiar to dwellings in our parts? Why / why not?

Ex.9. Prepare the retelling of the text.