8. Describe an old English country inn

First of all I’d like to mention the nice words from the story “The night in a quiet country inn”: “The world was created only last night and this is the first day of the existence. How nice to be alive!” In my opinion, anyone would say so if they ever spent a night in a quiet country inn in England.

Now let’s how it looks. Among tree-lined paths leading to the old grey church with an aged stone tower, there are an arched bridge built during the wars of the Roses, and whitewashed thatched cottages. But the loveliest of all is a two-storey inn, facing the river. It obviously stands there unchanged for the past five hundred years. Probably, at first sight one can think that there’s nothing so special in this building, but it has some charming strength, that undoubtedly may attract anyone.

As you drop into the inn you find yourself in a new magic world. Everything is silent apart from the slow thoughtful ticking of a grandfather clock. The lounge, the dining-room, and the kitchen—all are empty. All the rooms have low ceilings, and the small windows which sometimes refuse to open look out onto the green hills, and the river flows just below. Everything is spotlessly clean, but it is rather stuffy inside and the water is icy cold.

They say Prince Charles slept in one of the rooms while he was hiding from the enemies. The story goes that soldiers came to the inn in the middle of the night, and he had to squeeze through the tiny window in the dark.

The hostess is a pleasant woman who does her best to make the tenants’ staying more comfortable. An excellent dinner and a cosy chair in front of the fireplace is just what one needs to relax after a working day. Having got up on the morning you can see a wonderful picture: all the grass is covered with small diamonds that shine at the sun. And finally, after you have a tasty breakfast in a warm dining-room, you’ll understand that this country inn is the place that you’ve been looking for many years. It will certainly stay in your mind so that one day you’ll find your way back there.

11. Talk about the advantages or disadvantages of having a big family

To start with, I’d like to say that I come from a rather big family. There’re five of us: my mother, my father, my two younger sisters and I, besides, we have a dog. As you can see it is quite easy for me to judge about the pros and corns of living in a big family.

For my own part, I’d say that the main disadvantage is connected with some financial difficulties. One knows that raising a big family demands rather great expanses, because far more things have to be bought including food and clothes. Furthermore, such a family needs a bigger house or a flat. That’s why in this case both working parents are a benefit. As for my family, my father and mother have been working hard during all their life earning money to support the family and to provide us with everything we need. Therefore, very often we don’t see our parent for the whole day, and sometimes it seems that we don’t get enough attention and time from them.

But regardless all the corns I’m absolutely convinced that a big family is better than a small one. From my own experience I can say that it is always a great fun to have holidays such as birthdays, Christmas or New Year living in a big family. Besides, a big family teaches the older children to look after the younger ones, and that is a really good thing. What is more, usually children in big families are much more sociable, easy-going and not so selfish as in small ones. Of course, they have to share things among themselves, but that makes them even friendlier and closer to each other. In addition, as a rule big families are very close-knit and much stronger than small ones. Speaking about myself, I can say that I always get on well with my younger sisters. I think I can rely on them and they confide in me in any situation. On the whole, I have good relationships with my parents. There’re certainly some quarrels between us from time to time, but they’re minor, and usually we make it up quickly. In fact, my parents try to pay a lot of attention to each of us, and I really proud of them as they set us a good example to follow through their own behavior, and we, children, look up to them and care for them. I feel safe, because the little world within my family is perfect.

I can say I’m very happy that I was born in a big family. Just imagine how nice it is when you’re a member of a big family to spend evenings at a cup of hot tea discussing smth, sharing opinions or simply talk to the dearest people.