1. TEXT

He is happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home. Goethe

My flat

There is no place like home. I would like to tell you about my home. Our family lives in Novosibirsk, at 12/1, Smolenskaya Street, flat 23.We have a nice three-room flat with a loggia on the seventh floor of a multi-storey block of flats in one of the largest newly built residential areas. There is a lift in our house. There are parking spaces and a big supermarket in our building. The supermarket is on the ground floor and it’s very convenient to do everyday shopping there.

We are happy with our flat where we moved only a year ago. It’s very comfortable, well planned and with all the modern conveniences: electricity, running hot and cold water, central heating, air conditioner, electric stove, cable television, telephone, Internet access. In my opinion it’s quite a modern-looking flat. The rooms are spacious with lots of light from windows on three sides. The living room windows face the park in front of the building and the view is really wonderful.

Let me begin with the entry or the foyer. It’s not large but very cosy. From the foyer we get to the sitting room. It is rather large. As my parents don’t like much furniture in the house there are two comfortable armchairs and a sofa, a coffee-table and a nice thick carpet on the floor in this room. Opposite the sofa there is a wall unit where we put a TV set and DVD player. Here we are fond of entertaining our guests.

Now I’d like to describe my room. I like my room very much. It is not as large as our sitting room but is very cozy. There is a sofa, a writing table, a desk with my PC, a bookcase, a wardrobe. On the wall there are some shelves full of books, compact disks and different souvenirs [suvə'nɪə]. To tell the truth I am very happy to have a room for myself, that’s why I always try to keep it tidy.

Our bedroom is the largest multipurpose area in our flat. We can relax when we feel tired during the day and my parents sleep for the night there.

But the most popular and favorite place with all of us is the kitchen. For us the kitchen is the place, where we not only cook our food, dine and even entertaining our guests, but have a chat about our problems, or just have a rest. I think it is indeed our family room.

Our kitchen is rather large, very light, functional modern kitchen with a sink with taps for hot and cold running water. We have got large and small electric appliances such as an oven, a kitchen stove, a microwave oven, a refrigerator, a dishwasher, a coffeemaker, a toaster and other food processing machines. There are some kitchen cabinets, a table with some chairs around it.

As I’ve mentioned we also have a loggia. As my mum is fond of flowers she created a beautiful garden with potted plants and flowers there. We use it to entertain friends or it can be used for dinner.

They say a man’s home is his castle. I like my home very much and miss it badly when I am away. That’s why I always look forward to homecoming and am delighted to meet my parents and relatives.

2. WORD LIST

armchair	кресло
block of flats	многоквартирный дом
bookcase	книжный шкаф
carpet	ковер
central heating	центральное отопление
coffeemaker	кофеварка
comfortable	удобный
convenient	удобный, подходящий
cozy	уютный
dishwasher	посудомоечная машина
electric appliances	электроприборы
entry/foyer	прихожая
floor	этаж
furniture	мебель
in front of	перед
Internet access	доступ к интернету
kitchen cabinet	кухонный шкаф
living room	гостиная
loggia	лоджия
microwave oven	микроволновая печь
modern-looking	современного вида
multi-storey	многоэтажный
opposite	напротив
refrigerator	холодильник
residential area	жилой район/массив
running water	водопровод
shelf	полка
sink	раковина
sitting room	гостиная
spacious	просторный
stove	плита
tap	кран (водопроводный)
three-room flat	трехкомнатная квартира
to create	создать
to entertain	развлекать
to face	выходить на
to have a chat about	поболтать о
to look forward to	c нетерпением ждать
to miss	скучать
to move to	переезжать
view	вид
wall unit	мебельная стенка
wardrobe	платяной шкаф
well planned	с хорошей планировкой

3. ASSIGNMENTS