book 1_2013

words as a rule are interminably long and make a simply superb impression when talking to the greengrocer, the porter and the insurance agent.

Imagine, for instance, that the porter of the block of flats where you live remarks sharply that you must not put your dustbin out in front of your door before 7:30 a.m. Should you answer "please don't bully me," a loud and tiresome argument may follow […]. Should you answer, however, with these words: "I repudiate your petulant expostulations," the argument will be closed at once, the porter will be proud of having such a highly cultured man in the block, and from that day onwards you may, if you please, get up at four o'clock in the morning and hang your dustbin out the window. […]

Finally, there are two important points to remember:

1. Do not forget that it is much easier to write in English than to speak in English, because you can write without a foreign accent. 2. In a bus and in other public places it is more advisable to speak softly in good German than to shout in abominable English.

Anyway, this whole language business is not at all easy. After spending eight years in this country, the other day I was told by a very kind lady: "But why do you complain? You really speak a most excellent accent without the slightest English."

(from How To Be an Alien by George Mikes)

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LESSON 2

HOUSING. FOOD AND DRINK

Vocabulary: House/flat and household utensils

Introductory Reading

1. Read the text and find out the meaning of the target words (in bold type).

House and home

Home, sweet home. It does not matter what your home is like – a mansion (a large and imposing house), a more modest cottage (a small simple house in the village), one-family (single) house, detached (not joined to any other house), semi-detached (one of the side walls is joined with another house) or terrace (several houses joined together) house, a flat (apartment) in a block of flats, a multi-storey building, a tenement (apartment) house (with cheap furnished flats for rent) or even sky-scraper (a very tall multi-storey building). Anyway, it is the place where you once move in, furnish and decorate it to your own taste. "My home is my castle… My house is where the heart is", the English say. It means their home becomes their second "ego".

I live in a small town in the south east of England in a detached house made of bricks and tiles. It's a typical English house. In my house there are three rooms downstairs and three rooms upstairs. We have central heating which keeps our house warm. Some houses have an open fireplace (hearth ) but we don't. Over 90 per cent of homes have central heating.

If you come in to my house through the back door, you will find yourself in the kitchen. It's a fitted kitchen (where all the kitchen units (pieces of furniture) have been bought together) with nice kitchen furniture and kitchen utensils or kitchenware (pots and pans, knives, forks, spoons, and other utensils used in the kitchen). The fridge (refrigerator) is very big with a freezer under the fridge, so there is enough room there to keep all our food cool and fresh. We have cupboards (or cabinets) at floor level and at eye level. In the eye level cupboards we keep dry foods (such as flour, sugar, rice,

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pasta, spices), glasses and crockery (plates, bowls etc). In the floor level cupboards there are pots and pans. We have an electric cooker with four rings on top and a grill and oven underneath, though many people have gas cookers. Above the cooker we have a cooker hood. We also have a blender (food processor), a coffee-maker, a toaster and a microwave oven. They are very quick and easy to use when we don't have much time to cook our food. I help my mum to wash up the plates after meals. Sometimes we wash up in the sink. But usually we put our plates, cups and cutlery in our dishwasher to wash them. We also have an automatic washing machine in the kitchen.

Another room downstairs next to the kitchen is the living room (some people call this room the lounge). In my house it is used as a dining room too. So we have a big dining table with chairs in the centre of the room. There is also a wall-unit in the room. The spacious (roomy) living-room is the heart of the house. It is the place where you can have a chance to see the rest of your family. They come in the evening to sit around the coffee table in soft comfy chairs and on the settee (a sofa). Here we have a telly (TV set), DVD player and video recorder. We also have satellite TV. A soft carpet on the floor, beautiful curtains and houseplants make the livingroom really cosy (snug/comfortable).

Most houses in Britain have bathrooms upstairs, but in our house it is downstairs. In my bathroom there is a toilet, a bath, a sink with two taps (one for hot water and one for cold), a shower and a laundry basket (where I put my dirty clothes for washing).

The three rooms upstairs are all bedrooms. They all have carpets on the floor, apart from my room. The bedrooms are kept warm by radiators in each room. Your bedroom is your private area though most bedrooms are alike: a single or a double bed (bed which is big enough for two people) or even twin beds (two single beds side by side), a wardrobe(to hang your clothes in or a chest of drawers (they call it a dresser in the US) where you keep your bed linen (bedclothes) and underwear, one or two bedside tables and a dressing-table. When children share a bedroom, they might sleep in bunk beds, where there is one bed on top of the other. In my bedroom I have: my bed, built-in cabinets for my clothes and a bookcase for my books, my computer. I also have my own telly in

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my bedroom. Sometimes I think, my bedroom is too crammed up with furniture, but I really need it all.

When you get into our house through the front door, you'll see a roomy hall with the coat rack and a chest of drawers for shoes. There is a full-length mirror next to the coat rack. There are two closets in the house where we keep our vac (vacuum cleaner), ironing board and iron, and many other things.

We have a back garden and a front garden. In the front garden we have two flowerbeds and a lawn (an area of grass). In the back garden there is a swing (a suspended seat on which a person may sit and sway back and forth), a lawn and a small patio or terrace (a paved area used for outdoor activities, dinners, entertaining guests) with outdoor (lawn/garden) furniture placed there in summer. Mum likes to grow vegetables in the back garden and plant flowers in the front one.

2. a) Fill in the table using the information from Ex. 1.

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houseplant

shower

tap

bedside table

chest of drawers

cosy

bunk beds

to be crammed up with furniture

coat rack

full-length mirror

closet

ironing board

flowerbed

patio

lawn

outdoor furniture

b) Find in the text (Ex. 1) the words denoting:

–electric appliances used in the cooking process;

–electric appliances used in household;

–pieces of furniture;

–types of houses;

–types of rooms.

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4. Find synonyms and/or informal words of similar meaning to the following words (see Ex. 1).

fireplace

one-family house

kitchenware

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cabinets

refrigerator

TV set

vacuum cleaner

patio

lawn furniture

settee

tenement house

bedclothes

lounge

spacious

piece of furniture

5. Fill in the gaps with the appropriate word from the Data Bank.

Data Bank: tenement house; laundry basket; swing; cottage; microwave oven; patio; eye-level cupboards; TV set; mansion; bedroom

1. Lawn furniture is usually placed in the ___________ in summer. 2. One can rent a cheap furnished flat in ______________. 3. In the __________ you are likely to see a single or double bed, a chest of drawers, bedside tables and a dressing table. 4. I keep my

___________ , where I put my dirty clothes for washing, in the bathroom. 5. A __________ is a small modest house in the village often used as a second residence. 6. We keep dry foods like flour, sugar, rice, pasta, and spices in the __________. 7. When I was a little girl I adored swaying in a ________, a suspended seat on which one may sit and sway back and forth. 8. His grandparents lived in a

__________. I've never seen such a large and imposing house. 9. I bought a new plasma __________ as I've got satellite TV in my house and I'm keen on watching TV. 10. When we don't have much time to cook our food, we use a ______________.

Reading

Pre-Reading Activities

1) Do you live in your own house/flat or in a rented one? 2) Is it easy to find the rented flat that corresponds to all your needs? 3) Do

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the landlords in Ukraine repaint or redecorate the flats before a new tenant moves in? 4) How do people in Ukraine usually find rented flats? Do they use the advertisements or realtor's help? 5) What would you ask the superintendent/landlord first of all if you decide to rent a flat?

6. a) Read and translate the following conversation. Work in

pairs:

Looking for a Flat

Mr. Black: I understand you have a flat for rent. I saw your advertisement in this morning’s "Sun”.

Superintendent: The flat is on the fourth floor.

Mr. Black: I’m glad there’s a lift. We now have a flat on the fifth floor of walk-up, and my wife and I are both getting tired of climbing so many stairs. That’s one of the reasons we want to move.

Superintendent: It’s a self-service lift and operates 24 hours a day… Here we are now. This is the hall, and this room to the right is the kitchen. As you see, it’s a full size kitchen.

Mr. Black: What kind of refrigerator does it have? That’s something my wife will ask me immediately.

Superintendent: It has a new refrigerator, completely modern. There’s a special storage space for vegetables etc.

Mr. Black: The stove is electric. I don’t know whether my wife knows how to use an electric stove.

Superintendent: They’re easy to use. You just have to get used to them.

Mr. Black: Aren’t they rather expensive?

Superintendent: No more than gas. We have one in our own flat, and my wife likes it very much.

Mr. Black: May I see the other rooms?

Superintendent: This is a living room. It is a good size and has windows on two sides. You have good ventilation.

Mr. Black: You mentioned in your advertisement that there was a view of the river.

Superintendent: If you look out this window you can see the river. Mr. Black: I don’t see a thing. Where did you say it was?

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Superintendent: Look between those two sky-scrapers – right where I’m pointing. It’s some distance away but on a clear day you can see it quite easily. There isn’t much sun today.

Mr. Black: What about decorating? I suppose you repaint the flat when someone moves in.

Superintendent: On a two-year lease we paint the whole flat in whatever colours you want. We also do the floors. On a one-year lease, however, there is no redecorating. We might wash down the walls for you but nothing else.

Mr. Black: May I see the bedroom?

Superintendent: This is the bathroom to the left. It’s completely modern. And this is a bedroom – right off the hall. The bedroom is a little small but there’s room for a bed and perhaps a chest of drawers.

Mr. Black: Heavens! I’ll say it’s small. At first I thought it was the hall closet. How do you manage to get into the bed once you put it in there?

Superintendent: You just have to place it properly. There’s plenty of room for two people. You have no children, I suppose. We don’t allow any children.

Mr. Black: There’s just my wife and myself.

Superintendent: We don’t allow any pets either – any pets of any kind. We like to keep the place absolutely quiet. We don’t allow any singing, any loud playing of tape-recorders, no radios – nothing of that sort.

Mr. Black: I like quiet place myself. However, my fountain pen scratches like the devil when I write. I don’t suppose you’d mind that? If we decided to take the apartment how soon could we move in?

Superintendent: It’ll take about a week to paint the whole thing if, of course, you sign a two-year lease.

Mr. Black: That’s something I would have to talk over with my wife. Naturally, I’d also want her to see the flat first. Perhaps I can come back with her sometime later this afternoon.

b) Learn the following words.

Superintendent – ( ) advertisement –

, ; walk-up – ; to climb –

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; to move in – ( ); immediately – , ; storage space –

; to get used to – ; to decorate – ,

; to repaint – ; lease – ; plenty of room – ; to allow – ; quiet – ,

; to scratch – , ; to sign – .

c) Make up the list of modern conveniences you’ve got in your flat. Mention if there are any restrictions (as to pets, children, etc.).

7.Choose the sentences that correspond to the contents of the text (Ex. 6)

1.The bathroom is completely modern. 2. They don’t allow any pets, any singing, loud playing of tape-recorders or radios – nothing of that sort in the house. 3. They’ll paint the whole apartment if you sign a one-year lease. 4. The bedroom is a little small but there’s room for a bed and perhaps a chest of drawers. 5. There is a full size kitchen in the apartment but the refrigerator is old. 7. They mention in their advertisement that there is a view of the forest. 8. On a two-year lease they paint the whole apartment in whatever colours you want. 9. The living room is of a good size and has windows on two sides. 10. The apartment is on the fourteenth floor.

8.Find in the text words similar in meaning to the following:

1) a multi-storey house without a lift; 2) the process of providing with fresh air; 3) to apply a new or fresh coat of paint; 4) to occupy a new residence; 5) a contract by which property is conveyed to a person for a specified period, usually for rent; 6) any public notice, as a printed display in a newspaper, short film on television, announcement on radio, designed to sell goods, or publicize an event; 7) noiseless, calm; 8) a tame animal kept in a household for companionship, amusement; 9) contemporary, up-to-date; 10) a scene, especially of a fine area of countryside.

Grammar revision:

“There is / are”; Prepositions of Place

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