Englich for Talking. Учебно-методическое пособие

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Text 1.

Every country has its housing. Cross from England into Scotland or from France into Germany or Spain, and you know instantly that you are in another country. It's partly a matter of architecture, partly a matter of the way people choose to domesticate their immediate surroundings. Some people may protest that they have no choice about the kind of housing they live in - but they do have choice about what they do inside their homes and around their homes, just like French, German and British flatdwellers. The effects vary from nation to nation.

The English are distinctive in their aversion to flats and their devotion to rows of small brick houses. Travel from Western France across Europe to the Urals and you will see cities surrounded by modern blocks of high-rise flats. The details of architecture will vary, but all countries have found that the obvious solution to cheap new housing to accommodate families moving in from the countryside or demanding improved conditions within the towns is to build blocks of flats. They stand in rows and clusters, not beautiful, not spacious, but convenient

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and efficient. The problems are similar: noise, cramped public areas, unpredictable water supplies, broken lifts... but they are homes for millions of people who prefer them to the more primitive conditions they have left. In England, however, this is not so.

Of course some English people enjoy flat-life, but for the vast majority of us, the basic idea of home is a brick house with rooms upstairs and downstairs. (And already we have a confusion of terms in translating to and from Russian. The English use the word house for a dwelling intended for one family. We would never say of a block of flats that it is a house, and hence 'DOM' has no exact equivalent in English. We always distinguish flat from house, not because a house is grander (it may be a tiny section of a row of dwellings) but because the flat is still unusual, except in city centres where it is unusual to live anyway. The word home is much more personal, much warmer: your home is the place where you live which you have created - its furnishings but also its atmosphere, your sense of other people who live in it, your feelings about its past as well as its present. Something of the Russian feeling about the privacy of kitchens is found in the English word home).

Text 2.

The brick house is a legacy of the industrial revolution. Employers had to build accommodation for the millions of workers pouring into the cities and at that time the cheapest solution was to build rows (terraces) of small houses, each with two small rooms downstairs and two small rooms upstairs. Lavatories were common to several houses and out in the back yard. The rooms were small because they were heated by open fires, not by stoves, and families tended to huddle in one room (the kitchen). Bedrooms were unheated, and to this day many English people find it impossible to sleep except in a cold room with the windows wide open.

Most of our housing schemes thereafter are logical improvements to this pattern. Houses became larger; millions still exist with two rooms, a kitchen and sometimes a scullery downstairs, and two rooms-plus-a-tiny-one upstairs. After the First World War someone invented the 'semi-detached house' which was still cheap to build but which allowed each family to reach the back of their house down a narrow side passage, wonderful for storing things. Since the sixties, such houses have regularly been built with garages. As equipment improved, houses became more compact. Today houses are being built all over southern England which are brilliantly

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designed but tiny - four rooms, kitchen, bathroom and lavatory covering less area than many Russian three-roomed flats. That is the small type, and of course many houses are much bigger, with larger rooms and more of them. But essentially such houses are of the same pattern.

In the nineteen sixties, architects pulled down many rows of old Victorian houses with no bathrooms and minimal facilities and put up new shining blocks of flats. Within a few years many of these blocks had become slums, hated by the people who had been moved from the terraces. Many of them have since been demolished and few blocks have been built since. Architects have gone back to semi-detached and terrace houses, grouped in interesting patterns, each one neat, tidy and private.

Russian friends have a habit of describing anything built before about 1955 as 'old'. In England a house does not qualify as old unless it was built at least a hundred years ago. We still have hundreds of thousands of really old houses, built between the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries scattered throughout the country. They are considered very 'desirable' and are therefore very expensive even if they are small. Many of them are strikingly beautiful. At the other end of the scale are “bungalows”, small brick houses of only one storey, built especially for the elderly. Many older people move from a house into a bungalow.

Text 3.

If you consider our homes and daily lives within them, it seems to me that there are far more interesting contrasts between Russian flat life and British house life. Most of the advantages are to the British, but not all. If you have hot water at all, you have endless supplies of it.

Older Soviet flats and many modern ones have well-made parquet floors. These are a luxury in Britain where for a long time we have lacked supplies of suitable wood. And you seem to have discovered the art of making extremely comfortable simple beds.

British homes have beds (double beds for married couples), tables, chairs, armchairs, cupboards, shelves (we are less fond than we used to be of glass fronted shelves), lamps, radio, television, stereo record players, and, increasingly, compact-disc players. But we have far more variety in our choice of basic furniture. We can choose our styles and materials; we can select our favourite patterns and shapes of lamps, crockery, cutlery, towels, linen, chairs and their furnishings, curtains and material.

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Our floors are generally carpeted with modern synthetic carpets. Kitchen floors are covered with vinyl or tiles. Our kitchens and bathrooms are full of useful consumer goods and useless gadgets.

Our cookers use either electricity or gas. Many people also have a microwave oven which can reheat food very quickly. Fridges are smaller, but families with freezers can keep prepared frozen food or freeze their own home-grown food. (Hence there is far less jam-making and homepreserving). We can buy excellent kitchen knives and other tools, expensive but good-quality pans and saucepans, and all sorts of plastic contrivances. Washing machines are almost universal for family homes (individuals can take their dirty clothes to a launderette. In Britain we still traditionally hang our laundry outside. Tumble driers which dry the clothes but leave them unfresh are common in America but not here.

For cleaning our homes we have vacuum cleaners, as well as brooms, brushes, dusters and all kinds of polishes and creams for dirty windows, damp, filthy baths and so on. We may not run out of detergent or toilet paper, and we may have all sorts of electrical gadgets (which sometimes don’t work) but daily life has many similarities: sinks do get blocked, damp walls grow mould, children spill sticky food onto carpets and telephones mysteriously refuse to make connections. We too lead lives of domestic complication.

Exercises:

Ex. 1. Read Text 1 and answer the questions.

1.What makes countries look different?

2.Do people have choice about the kind of housing they live in?

3.In what way are the English distinctive?

4.How have European countries solved the housing problem within the towns?

5.What are the main problems of flat life?

6.What is the basic idea of home for the English?

7.What is home/house?

8.Do the English live in flats or do they only enjoy house life?

Ex. 2. Paraphrase or explain.

1.Every country has its distinctive housing.

2.It’s… a matter of the way people choose to domesticate their immediate surroundings.

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3.The problems are similar: noise, cramped public areas, unpredictable water supplies.

4.The details of architecture will vary.

5.All countries have found… the solution… to accommodate families moving in from the countryside or demanding improved conditions within the towns.

Ex. 3. Find the English for the following words and phrases. Use them in retelling and discussing Text 1.

Частично (это) из-за архитектуры; обустраивать жилье; вы мгновенно осознаете…; жильцы (обитатели) квартир; меняться от … к; антипатия; привязанность к чему-либо; современные многоэтажки; решение чего-либо; устраивать (размещать) семьи; улучшенные условия; просторный; удобный; водоснабжение; схожие проблемы; однако; непредсказуемый; подавляющее большинство; основная идея; смешение терминов (значений); крошечный; жилище (дом); во всяком случае; обстановка; группа (скопление).

Ex. 4. Read Text 2 and say:

–what solution was chosen to accommodate millions of workers pouring into the cities;

–what terraced houses looked like;

–why families tended to huddle in one room (in the kitchen);

–if bedrooms were heated;

–in what way houses were improved;

–when the semi-detached houses were invented; what their distinctive features were;

–why old Victorian houses were pulled down in the 1960’s; what houses were built instead;

–why architects had to go back to semi-detached and terraced houses;

–what kind of houses qualify as old in England and in Russia;

–what kind of houses (and why)are being built for the elderly.

Ex. 5. Paraphrase or explain.

1.The brick house is a legacy of the industrial revolution.

2.Families tended to huddle in one room.

3.Within a few years many of these blocks had become slums, hated by the people who had been moved from the terraces.

4.Many of them are strikingly beautiful.

5.At the other end of the scale are bungalows.

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Ex. 6. Find the English for the following words and phrases. Use them in retelling and discussing Text 2.

Строить жилье, отапливаться печкой, собираться на кухне, крошечная комната, кто-то изобрел, узкий проход для хранения вещей, оборудование, трехкомнатная квартира, в основном, того же образца, сносить дома, строить новые многоэтажные дома, минимум удобств, в течение нескольких лет, считать (квалифицировать), разбросанные по всей стране, необыкновенно красивы, один этаж, строить специально для пожилых людей, переезжать из … в.

Ex. 7. Read Text 3 and answer the questions.

1.Is there any contrast between Russian flat life and British house life?

2.Are all the advantages to the British?

3.Which advantages are to the British and which are not?

4.Why parquet floors are a luxury in Britain?

5.What are their floors covered with?

6.What cookers do they use?

7.Are jam-making and home-preserving popular with the British?

8.What kind of contrivances do they use? Can you guess why?

9.Do they use tumble driers in Britain? Why?

10.What do they use for cleaning their homes?

11.Do their sinks get blocked? Do their telephones refuse to make connections? What other domestic complications do they have? Are they typical only of the British?

Ex. 8. Paraphrase or explain.

1.Most of the advantages are to the British, but not all.

2.Our kitchens and bathrooms are full of useful consumer goods and useless gadgets.

3.… families with freezers can … freeze their own home-grown food.

4.There is far less jam-making and home-preserving.

5.Daily life has many similarities.

6.Individuals can take their dirty clothes to a launderette.

7.We too lead lives of domestic complication.

Ex. 9. Find the English for the following words and phrases. Use them in retelling and discussing Text 3.

Повседневная жизнь, контраст между …, преимущества, неограниченное водоснаб-жение, роскошь, паркетные полы, нам не хватает запасов подходящей древесины, шкафы, застекленные полки, полотенце, постельное белье, глиняная (фаянсовая) посуда,

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покрытые коврами полы, потребительские товары, ненужные безделушки, плита, микроволновая печь, разогревать пищу, морозильная камера, домашнее консервирование, сковорода, кастрюля хорошего качества, приспособления из пластмассы, сушить белье на улице, сушилка, пылесос, метла, щетка, моющее средство, раковина, легкая пища, плесень, сырые стены, засоряться, не соединяться (о телефоне), расплескать, загадочным образом, заканчиваться/иссякать (о запасах), электрические приспособления.

Ex. 10. Read the definitions and express in one word. See the wordlist and texts 1, 2, 3 if necessary.

1.A room in a large or older house used for washing and keeping dishes, pots… .

2.A house not connected with any other building.

3.A row of houses joined to each other.

4.One of a pair of joined houses.

5.A house with only one storey (no upstairs).

6.A holiday flat or a house where you have the right to live one or two weeks a year.

7.A building (a block of flats) with many storeys.

8.Small blocks of wood fitted together to make a pattern on the floor of a room.

9.A small useful apparatus (for opening tins, for example).

10.A chemical product used for cleaning and washing.

11.An appliance and quite a sophisticated one, used for a special purpose.

12.A place where the public wash their clothes in machines and pay money for it.

13.A basin in the kitchen for washing dishes, vegetables… .

14.A set of shelves enclosed by doors used for storing food, plates, clothes.

15.Knives, forks, spoons and other instruments used for eating.

16.A paved area between a house and garden for sitting, eating.

17.A room in the roof space of a house (could be lived in).

18.A room under the roof of a building usually used only for storage.

19.A bedroom and a living room all in one.

20.A room below ground level with windows, for living and working.

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Ex. 11 Match the words on the left with the correct definitions on the right. Write you answers in the boxes.

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Ex. 12. Give the definitions and explain the difference if any. Use the dictionary if necessary. Use the words in sentences of your own.

Cellar – basement, bedroom – nursery – bedsit, rug – carpet – mat, table – cloth – napkin, hall-parlour – sitting-room, cupboard – wardrobe – sideboard – cabinet, rack – dress-hanger, washing machine – sewing machine, garden – orchard – kitchen garden, tea – pot – kettle, couch – settee – divan-bed – sofa, electric bulb – standard lamp – chandelier – floor – lamp, detached house – semi – detached house – terraced house – cottage – bungalow – time – share, attic – loft, terrace – patio, pantry – larder.

Ex. 13. Read the instructions and:

a)find the meaning of these words: unplug, flex, pull out, socket, poke, fuse

Electricity is dangerous. It can cause fires. It can give you an electric shock. A few hundred volts can kill you.

–Always switch off and unplug an appliance, such as a television, at night.

–Don’t pull the plug out by flex. Never poke anything into a socket.

–Always switch off the electricity before you repair or replace a fuse.

–Never put a flex under a carpet. It will get worn and you won’t be able to see it.

b)Teach your fellow students to follow the instructions.

Model: If you want to boil water in an electric kettle, first pour some water into it, then plug it in and switch on. Never pour water if the kettle is plugged in.

Don't pull the plug out by flex. It's dangerous of course, the electric wire is in a protective covering but you may tear the flex away from the plug.

Ex. 14. Say what might happen to these things. Add something to develop a situation.

Model: A flower that no one waters.

My house is full of flowers. I like them very much. Unfortunately I'm often away. I work for a big company and have to go to various parts of the country. And you know what might happen to a flower that no one waters. It might die. (It might get withered).

1.Some food forgotten on a hot cooker.

2.Bricks of a house if not looked after properly.

3.A plate put on a hot cooker.

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