Text: “My Family”

Family is central to the life of all people. It is the most precious thing for me, because this is where I find love and understanding, and support.

Our family is quite large by modern standards. It consists of five people – my parents, my elder sister, my younger brother and me.

My father, Victor Ivanovitch, is a tall and well-built man with short dark brown hair just beginning to grey and hazel eyes. He is in his middle forties, he’s 45. He is an engineer by profession. He works at a plant. By nature my father is a quiet man, but there is strength under his quietness. My mother is, on the contrary, energetic and talkative. Her name is Olga Petrovna. She is two years my father’s junior, she’s 43. Our mother is a pleasant-looking woman, with beautiful chestnut hair and soft dark-brown eyes. She doesn’t look her age, she looks much younger than she is. My mother is a teacher of English. Her pupils like her subject very much and read a great many books in English. Most of all I admire my mother’s ability to combine work with work about the house and she manages it very well. My father is a very practical man as far as his job goes, but in everyday life he is unpractical, and he needs mother to look after him. As you can see, she is a perfect example for me, and sometimes I flatter myself thinking that I take after her both in character and appearance.

I have an elder sister, Helen. She is five years my senior. We have strong resemblance to each other and people often mix us up. My sister is a children’s doctor, but now she is a housewife. She doesn’t live with us as she has her own family. She is married. She has a husband and two children, a son and a daughter. They are twins. They are as like as two peas in a pod. My nephew’s name is Danil, my niece’s name is Dasha. They are only two years old. They are very nice and amusing. I like to baby-sit with them when my sister has some other business. These two lovely children are the apple of our whole family’s eye. My brother-in-law, Sergey, is a very busy man. He is a businessman. He loves my sister and his children very much, but unfortunately he has very little time to spend with his family. There is a lot of work to be done at his office, so he is always as busy as a bee.

My brother Alex is only 12, and we are quite different. I’m calm and he’s very energetic. I’m brown-haired and grey-eyed and he has fair hair and blue eyes. I like reading and he likes football. And he listens to heavy metal. I hate heavy metal – it is too loud and aggressive. When he turns on his stereo I think I’ll go deaf. He loves Iron Maiden and laughs at me and my mother when we watch TV pop-music programmes. In fact we quarrel a lot but I think we love each other. After all, he is not a fool and when he sees that he bothers us too much with his music he stops it and goes to his friends.

Our parents don’t always agree with what we say, what clothes we wear, what music we listen to and what friends we bring home. They say it’s not easy to be parents. As you can see we have problems in our family.

On week-ends we often go to the village where our grandmother lives. She is always happy to see us. When I was little she used to tell me fairy-tales and stories of her life. Now she is beginning to show her age. She is in her late sixties. She is in poor health, gets a terribly low old-age pension and asks us to come and see her more often.

I have many other relatives: uncles, aunts, cousins. We don’t see one another very often, but when we are all together we have a great time.

Ex. 1. Read and translate the text.

Ex. 2. Answer the questions.

1. Who were you called after? Do you like your name?

2. Do you have a nickname or a pet name?

3. Who do you look like? Who do you take after?

4. Are you married? Have you a family of your own?

5. Do you live together with your family?

6. Do you have a big family? Who are they?

7. What are your parents’ names? How old are they?

8. What does your mother (father) look like?

9. What is your mother (father) like?

10. What are your parents? Do they like their work?

11. Do you have any brothers or sisters? Are you good friends with them?

12. What is your brother’s (sister’s) name? How old is he (she)?

13. What does your brother (sister) look like?

14. What is your brother (sister) like?

15. What does your brother (sister) do?

16. Do you have grandparents? Where do they live? Do you see them often?

17. Does your family have traditions? What are they?

18. How do you spend free time together?

19. Do you share your problems with other members of your family?

20. Should your parents know all your problems and difficulties? Why?/ Why not?

Ex. 3. Bring your family photo or family album and tell about your family.

Ex. 4. Draw your family tree and tell about your relations and ancestors.