Экз темы / business tipics / Text 1

Text 1

Listen to the recording of the text, mark the stresses and tunes. Memorize it.

Doctor Sandford’s House

Doctor Sandford’s house is not large, but it is comfortable and well-planned. It is a small two-storeyed cottage.

In front of the house there is a green lawn and a lot of flowers. Behind it there is a little orchard with a few fruit trees in it. On the ground floor there is a kitchen, a pantry, a dining-room, a cosy sitting-room and Dr. Sandford’s study. There are also several rooms upstairs on the first floor: the Sandfords bedrooms, Grandmother’s room, which is also Benny’s nursery, Betty’s room and the bathroom.

The furniture is modern and quite new. But Doctor Sandford says he must pay a lot of money for the house and the furniture. He must pay the money for many years before he can call the house his own.

Text 2

Our Sitting room

Let’s have a look at this picture of our sitting-room. As you come into the room you notice a piano with a low music-stool in front of it. Next to the piano is a tall bookcase standing against the wall. On the left is a large window. Under the window there’s a radiator, but you can’t see it because it’s behind the settee. On the settee there are two cushions. The fireplace is at the other end of the room. On each side of the fireplace there’s an armchair. An old lady is sitting in one of the chairs, but nobody’s sitting in the other one: it’s empty.

In the center of the mantelpiece there’s a clock and above it an oval mirror. On the right you can see a standard lamp. Opposite the fireplace you can see a small chair. On the extreme right there’s a radio-set. The floor is covered with a beautiful thick carpet. An electric light is hanging from the middle of the ceiling. At night when it gets dark we switch on the light and draw the curtains. During the day, the light comes in through the window.

Vocabulary notes

To have an idea of, a suburban life, to come and see / to come to see, in the suburbs of, in front of, behind, a lawn, an orchard, a fruit tree, all modern conveniences: gas, electricity, hot and cold water, central heating, a telephone, a hall, a living-room, cosy, furniture, superfluous, a lovely combination of colours, a pot-plant, to look cheerful, a curtain, a carpet, to move in, to furnish the room, to follow the principle, “If you can’t have the best make the best of what you have”, to decorate the flat, in the left / right hand corner, a built-in bookcase, to belong to, too choosy, “Choose an author as you choose a friend”, to the right / left of, in the centre of, a fireplace, to face, a view, a flower-bed, in bloom, to look after, to take the first place, to prefer smth, to smth., an apartment house, “Tastes differ”, a city-lover, to be jealous of , stylish, an interior designer, in vain, to ignore, to climb the stairs, a lavatory, a nursery, convenient, a garage, neither … nor, “You never miss what you never had”, a pet, to feel happy, to enjoy oneself, to enjoy something.

Well-planned, two-storeyed, the ground floor, the first floor, pantry, bathroom, own;

Articles of furniture: bed, sofa, chair, table, armchair, desk, bookcase, cupboard, wardrobe, dressing-table, mirror, carpet, lamp, standard-lamp, radio-set, television-set, curtain, refrigerator (frig), vacuum-cleaner, stool, unit, wall-bracket.

Modern conveniences: electricity, gas, gas-stove, running-water, central heating, telephone, chute, lift, tiled walls, toilet.