2. My Flat

It does not matter what your home is like — a country mansion, a more modest detached or semi-detached house, a flat in a block of flats or even a room in a communal flat. Anyway, it is the place where you once move in and start to furnish and deco­rate it to your own taste.

I live on the second floor in a three-room flat. It has all modern conveniences: central heating, running hot and cold water, electricity, gas, a lift, a rubbish chute, telephone and Internet. Even after the first few minutes in our flat you can feel all hospitality and friendliness of this place and the family which lives there. Our flat is very warm and cosy, so it makes you feel at home.

As you come in through the front door, you find yourself in a long hall. It is the place where we greet our guests and where you can get the first impression about our flat. There is a grey carpet on the floor of our entrance hall, but the walls and the ceiling are papered white. Such contrast between the dark floor and the light walls is very spectacular. Near the door there is a little seat and a mirror. A wardrobe with coat racks stretches along the right wall.

 The first door on the right of the hall leads into my parents’ bedroom. It is a very comfortable room, though there isn’t much furniture there. There is a double-bed near the wall and two bed-side tables by its sides with reading lamps. In front of the bed you can see an elegant dressing table with a big mirror. It’s the place where my mother makes up every morning. There are always a lot of perfumes on this table and it isn’t a surprise that the room is always filled with their scents. In my parents’ room there is also a door leading to a large balcony with double glazing.

My favourite room in our flat is my own bedroom. It is the place where I wake up every morning to the refreshing smell of coffee from the kitchen. There is a big window in the room, so when the bright full-length curtains are drawn back, the room is filled with sunshine. My bedroom is also my study, so you can see a table near the window and three bookshelves on the wall with various books. Not far from the table there is my bed with a lamp bracket over it and a bed-side table with a telephone. You can also find a wardrobe, a chest of drawers in my room and a fluffy carpet on the floor. My room is always filled with the sounds of my favourite music. There are a lot of beautiful things that make my room funny and merry; I have a lot of toys which sit on my bed and on the shelves. I collect statuettes, that’s why a lot of them are situated on the chest of drawers and on the shelves. I like to receive guests in my room where we listen to music, drink tea with sweets and candies and talk about our problems, interests and news.

 As for our living room it is the largest room in our flat. There is a beautiful chandelier on the ceiling. The walls in this room are white but the sofa and armchairs are red. There is a table for magazines and a standard lamp with a red lampshade between two armchairs. At the front wall there is a wall-unit which has several sections: a sideboard, a wardrobe, a bookcase and some shelves. There is also a colour TV set in the living room. In the evening we usually draw the blinds across the window, and the red lampshade gives a warm colour to the room.

To the right of the hall or in front of the living room there is our kitchen where we sit chatting for hours in winter. Our kitchen is rather small, but cosy and modern fitted. It faces east, that’s why there is a lot of sunshine there especially in the morning. The air of this room is usually filled with the delicious smells of my mother’s cooking. The walls are papered blue with a small pattern. A table and four stools stand near the window with wonderful gaily-coloured curtains. In the corner to the left of the door there is a gas cooker with a hood, two wall-cupboards and a sink unit. There also is a set of built-in closets there. We also have some modern electric appliances. They make our life more comfortable. We have a refrigerator, a microwave oven, a coffee maker, a toaster and a dishwasher in the kitchen. And house plants make the kitchen really cosy.

Between the kitchen and the living room there is a bathroom and a toilet. Our bathroom is rather large. Its walls are covered with blue tiles, but the floor with grey ones. In front of the door there is a bath. Near it you can find a washbasin and a mirror with some shelves over it. There is also a washing machine in this room. I’m sure that our bathroom is very stylish and nice.

I love every corner and every thing in my flat. “My home is my castle”, it is my territory, my dwelling, the place where I feel comfort, warmth and reliability.

3. VOCABULARY EXERCISES

3.1 Translate the following international words without a dictionary.

Communal, to start, to decorate, modern, central, electric, electricity, gas, lift, telephone, Internet, minute, hall, contrast, comfortable, lamp, perfume, balcony, coffee, favourite, music, to collect, statuette, problem, interest, section, refrigerator, toaster, toilet, style

3.2 Look through the text, pick out words with word-building affixes, define which parts of speech these words are and be ready to do word-building exercises below.

3.3 a) Make adjectives with the help of the given suffixes, define the parts of speech to the stem of which these suffixes are added and translate all the words into Russian.

- able to rely, to understand, to love, to enjoy, to laugh, to agree, fashion

- ish child, girl, boy; sweet, green, blue, grey

- ic economy, diplomat, fantast, optimist, realist, ideology, science

- y sun, rain, snow, fog, thirst

b) Find the examples of the adjectives with these suffixes in the text and translate them.

3.4 Point out the suffixes in the following words from the text. Define the parts of speech these words belong to. Translate the words into Russian. Give your own examples of the words with the same suffixes if you can.

Elegant, delicious, various, favourite, spectacular; entrance, appliance, impression, furniture

3.5 Point out the suffix in the following nouns. Give the verbs from the stem of which the following nouns are formed and translate the verbs into Russian.

Toaster, cooker, coffee maker, dishwasher

3.6 Form adverbs from the following adjectives with the help of the suffix -ly and translate them into Russian.

Warm, cosy, comfortable, elegant, beautiful, funny, merry, special, delicious, wonderful, gay, modern, stylish, nice

3.7 Read and translate the following groups of derivatives. Mind the word-building suffixes.

To eat – eatable – eatability; hospitable – hospitably – hospitability; friend – friendly – friendless – friendliness; to comfort – comfort – comfortable - comfortably; paper – to paper – papery – paperless; place – to place – placement – placeless; bright – brightly – brightness; to refresh – refreshment; to furnish – furniture; to collect – collector – collection; warm – warmth – warmly; to rely – reliable – reliably – reliability