Text: “Homelessness”

The number of homeless people in Britain has doubled since 1979. Reasons for this rise include the decline in the availability of rented accommodation (nearly 1 million fewer homes than in 1980), lack of council housing due to government cuts in grants to local authorities, who are responsible for public housing, and the increases in house prices during the 1980s. Unemployment, changes in the social security benefit regulations and the numbers of young people leaving home also contribute to the problem. Many local authorities have been forced to put homeless people in hotels and bed-and-breakfast accommodation because of a lack of suitable flats and houses. While real earnings have risen faster than inflation and helped to push up house prices, debt has also increased, helping to leave some of those at the bottom of the scale without a home. One in five families in London are said to live in unsatisfactory conditions and there are an estimated 10,000 people in the capital who have to sleep rough because they have no accommodation at all.

Discussion

Ex. 2. Answer the questions.

1. What changes have occurred in London's docklands and why?

2. Explain the following: developments, planners, Green Belt, sleep rough.

3. Find three factors which contribute to the problem of people without homes.

4. Where do some families without homes live?

Ex. 3. Read and translate the following dialogue.

Dialogue: “a visit to an American house”

Mr. Garrett: Let me show you your room, Sasha. You’ll sleep in the guestroom on the ground floor. Here is your room and your bathroom with a shower. Next to your room is a sitting-room with a television. And here is my study where I work on my computer.

Sasha: Do you have any computer games?

Mr. Garrett: Yes, I do. We also have educational computer programs. This next room is our workout room. Next to it is our recreation room, where you can play ping-pong or table hockey. I hope you’ll be comfortable here.

Sasha: Thank you.

Mr. Garrett: Let’s go upstairs and I’ll show you the rest of the house. This is Alison’s room. Alison is almost 11 years old.

Sasha: What grade is she in?

Mr. Garrett: She’s in the fifth grade. We have another daughter, Natalie. She’s 17 years old and attends Roswell High School. This is her room and this is the girls’ bathroom.

Sasha: Is Natalie at home?

Mr. Garrett: No. She’s at work. She works at the shopping mall. She’s saving money for college. She will attend college next year.

Sasha: What is a shopping mall?

Mr. Garrett: A shopping mall is a big building with a lot of different stores and restaurants.

Sasha: All in one building?

Mr. Garrett: That’s right.

Sasha: Does Natalie take the bus to her work?

Mr. Garrett: No, she’s just got her driver’s license and drives herself to work. And here is our bedroom and bathroom. Let’s walk down the hall to the kitchen.

Sasha: You have so many appliances in your kitchen.

Mr. Garrett: Yes, they make life a lot easier. For example, this is our microwave oven. It’s similar to a regular oven, but it’s much smaller and it heats up food much quicker. And this is our dishwasher.

Sasha: And what is this little machine?

Mr. Garrett: This is an electric can opener. It opens cans of soup and tuna fish automatically. And if you look in the sink, you’ll see our disposal.

Sasha: What is a disposal?

Mr. Garrett: We put our vegetable peels in the sink, push a button and the disposal automatically minces them and they disappear!

S.: How convenient!

Mr. Garrett: Yes. And next to the kitchen is the laundry room. This is where we wash and dry our clothes.

Sasha: Where do you hang the clothes?

Mr. Garrett: We don’t. The washing machine washes the clothes and the dryer dries them. The next room is our living-room and here is our dining-room.

Sasha: You have a wonderful house.

Mr. Garrett: Thank you, Sasha. There is no place like home.

Ex. 4. Answer the questions.

1. How many rooms are there in the Garretts’ house? 2. What rooms are there on the ground floor? 3. What room will Sasha be sleeping in? 4. What do they use their recreation room for? 5. Do different appliances at home make our life easier and more convenient? 6. Why do the Garretts like to use a microwave oven? 7. What do they use a dishwasher for? 8. How does an electric can opener work? 9. Why is it convenient to use a disposal? 10. It’s easy for the Garretts to wash their clothes, isn’t it? 11. Does Sasha like the Garretts’ house? 12. Where do you live? 13. How many floors are there in your house? 14. How many people are there in your family? 15. Do you have any of the appliances that the Garretts have? 16. Do you think that some appliances save people their time?