7. Self-study tasks

1. You have come to your granny who lives in the other city. Tell her about your flat after the refurbishment (ремонт)

2. Offer your friend to improve his/her kitchen and give more modern look to it.

Look around your flat. Find something you’d love to improve. Or modernise.

4. GRAMMAR

1. Ask your friend:

2. Живет ли он в старом или новом доме;

3. Где находится его дом;

4. Как можно добраться до его дома;

5. Какая у него квартира;

6. На каком она этаже;

7. Есть ли у него телефон;

1. 2. Agree or disagree with the statements.

3. 1. There are three rooms in our flat. They are a living-room, a bedroom and my room.

4. 2. There is only one window in the living-room and it is very small.

5. 3. There is a large carpet on the floor and another one is on the wall.

6. 4. My mother cooks tasty things in the bathroom.

7. 5. We wash our face and hands, clean teeth in the kitchen.

3. Make these proverbs negative/positive and interrogative.

20. a. There is no rule without exception.

21. b. There is no smoke without fire.

22. c. There are no roses without thorns.

23. d. Where there is a will there is a way.

24. e. There are spots even on the sun.

25. f. There is no place like home.

27. 3. Read the letter and compare Jane’s room with your room paying attention to the underlined adjectives. Look at the model.

29. Model: Jane’s room is large but mine is larger.

31. Dear Mum!

32. Here I am in Moscow, in my room in the hall of residence. The room is not large but it’s nice and comfortable, with a bathroom. It has a little kitchen too. It looks on to the back yard which is very green. I’ve got a TV-set and a telephone here.

33. The halls are not very far from the university I go there by metro. It’s very convenient. I like the district very much. It’s so beautiful.

34. How are you? Hope to hear from you soon.

35. Love, Jane.

5. WRITING

2. a. Write an essay describing your flat or house.

3. b. Write an essay on your dream house.

4. VI. Supplementary reading

1. BRITISH HOMES

1. Read the text.

2.     It is often said that an Englishman’s home is his castle; home occupies a special place in the heart and mind of most Englishmen.

3. 1. About 80 per cent of British people live in houses built close together. Detached houses are usually in expensive suburbs, quite far from the town centre. Terraced houses and blocks of flats are mostly found in town centers. They can either be very small two-storey houses with one or two bedrooms or large houses with three or five floors and four or five bedrooms.

4. 2. About 67 per cent of people in Britain own their houses or flats. Most of the rest live in rented accommodation. People in Britain buy houses or flats because there is not enough rented accommodation and what there is can be expensive.

5. 3. Council flats1 and houses are built and owned by the local council. After the Second World War a lot of council flats¹, known as tower blocks, were constructed. Some were as high as 20 storeys and so badly built that they had to be pulled down thirty years later.

6. 4. Modern housing estates² are built differently now. There might be a mixture of two-storey terraced houses together with a four-storey block of flats. There are play areas for children and there is often a community centre³ where people who live on the estate can meet.

7. 5. Since 1980’s council tenants have been able⁴ to buy their own homes very cheaply if they have lived in them for over two years. By 1993, 1.5 million council houses had been sold, but only 5,000 council houses or flats were built to replace them. This means that it is now very

8. difficult to find cheap housing or rent.

9. 6. Most British houses have a garden and many British people spend a lot of time in it. Most gardens, even small ones, have flowers and a lawn. If you don’t have a garden, it is possible to grow flowers and vegetables on an allotment⁵ which is a piece of land rented from the local council.

10. Notes:

11. 1 муниципальное жилье

12. 2 микрорайон

13. 3 центр общения

14. 4 здесь – жители могут

15. 5 здесь – участок

1. Complete the statements.

1. Most British people live in …

2. Blocks of flats are situated in …

3. The British prefer to buy flats because…

4. The local council builds and …

5. Housing estates usually have …

6. It is now very difficult to find cheap rent because …

7. Allotment is a … where …

2. AMERICAN SPACE FOR LIVING.

1. Scan the text.

1. A typical US house has two storeys. Upstairs there are several bedrooms and at list one bathroom. Children often have their own bedrooms. Extra rooms are used as a study or playrooms or guest bedrooms. Downstairs there is a kitchen, a living-room and a dining-room. There is also a bathroom or a half bath, which has only a toilet and a sink. Many houses have a porch, where people sit when the weather is hot. Americans take pride in their homes and like to show visitors round.

2. Bedrooms are usually considered the private space of the people, who sleep in them, and children are allowed a great deal freedom in their bedrooms. Parents usually knock before entering. Children are given the responsibility of cleaning the room, and the right to decide when that is necessary. This often leads to disagreement between parents and their children.

3. Most houses have air-conditioning. Central heating is standard, but many houses also have fireplaces, where wood can be burned.

1. Mark the sentences as True or False.

1. A living-room is usually on the second floor.

2. A typical American house has a few bedrooms.

3. There are special rooms for guests.

4. Anyone can enter the bedroom of the house owner.

5. Children can do anything they want in their rooms.

6. Parents often dislike the mess in their children’s rooms.

7. Fireplaces are more common than central heating.