An English Family

The Comfords live in Rugby at 28 Coronation Street. The head of the family, John Cornford, is a rich businessman of about fifty. He's tall and dark. He wears dark suits but at weekends he wears casual clothes. He usually gets up at six, does some exercises and goes to the office. He never returns home before ten o'clock at night, so he doesn't see much of the family. He is interested in collecting pictures of horses. At the moment he is travelling on business in America because he is opening an office over there in a year.

Sarah, Mr. Cornford's wife, is forty-five. She is an attractive woman with blond hair and soft blue eyes. She is kind and gentle, very practical and full of common sense. Sarah is a house-wife. She looks after the house and the family.

The Comfords have two children: a son and a daughter. Their son's name is Steve. He is 22. He is a clever young man. He works at a design office. He is a very outdoor person - he is a keen sailor and a member of the local yacht club. When they have a chance Steve and his friends get down to the coast for the weekend, camping there and sailing in competitions. He sometimes plays football for a Rugby team, but prefers watching the game, either on TV or at the local ground where he goes with his father from time to time.

Steve has a number of close friends and a beautiful girl-friend, Pauline, by name. Pauline studies at a teacher's training college. Steve and Pauline often go out for the evening to the cinema or to the theatre. Both Steve and Pauline are very friendly and sociable. Sometimes Steve takes Pauline to a pub where they meet some of their friends and sit and chat for an hour or so and sometimes they go to a disco. Steve is very fond of Pauline. They are going to get married in a year.

Steve's sister, Alice, is a lovely, quiet, serious girl. She goes to gram­mar school. She is a bright girl and does very well at school. Alice reads a lot and is good at drawing. She takes lessons in drawing at local art school.

Sarah's mother, grandma, as the children call her, also lives with them. She is in her late sixties. Her kind face is wrinkled, her hair is grey, but she is still quite young in spirit. She likes reading and gardening she often goes for long walks. She's a very active person. Either she is making something or mending something or doing something to entertain herself. She is extremely generous, but not very tolerant with the people who don't agree with her.

The Cornfords are very friendly and use every opportunity to spend time together.

Exercises

1. Read the text and answer the questions:

1. Is the Cornford family large? 2. How many are they? 3. Where do they live? 4. What does Mr. Cornford do? 5. What does he look like? 6. What is he interested in? 7. What is he doing in America at the moment? 8. What is Mrs. Cornford like? 9. What does she do? 10. How old is Steve? 11. What's his job? 12. Is Steve married? 13. Do Steve and Pauline often go out? 14. What is Alice like? 15. What is she fond of? 16. How old is Sarah's mother? 17. What does she look like? 18. What kind of woman is she?

2. Agree or disagree with the following statements.

1. John Cornford is a driver. 2. John Cornford is married. 3. Steve isn't a very outgoing person. 4. Steve is going to get married. 5. Steve is the only child in the family. 6. Sarah's mother lives with the Cornfords too.

3. Speak on: a) the Cornfords, husband and wife; b) Steve, his friends and hobbies; c) Alice, her character and abilities; d) Sarah's mother.