1.2 Britain explored

  READING&SPEAKING

Task 1. Match the pictures with the list of house types.

Task 2. Use the information from the following text to answer these questions.

1. How much do some people borrow to buy a house?

2. What does the text say about the differences in house prices in Britain?

3. How often do people move house? What other people are involved if you want to move house?

4. How is the size of a house still measured in Britain?

There are many different types of housing in Britain, ranging from the traditional thatched country cottage to flats in the centre of towns. Houses are often described by the period in which they were built (for example, Georgian, Victorian, 1930s, or post-war) and whether they are terraced, semi-detached or detached. As well as preferring houses to flats, for many people a garden is also an important consideration. Although Britain is relatively small the areas where people live vary considerably: there are new towns and inner cities, suburbs, commuter belts and the open countryside.

Paying for the home you live in is the biggest single item in the budget of most families and getting on the housing ladder can be difficult. First-time house buyers on an average salary may have to borrow 90 or even 100 per cent of the value of the property they want to buy. It is possible for people to borrow up to three times their annual income or sometimes even more. As prices vary, the cost of a six-bedroom farmhouse in a remote part of Scotland is about the same as a small flat in an expensive area of west London. People moving from the north to the south of Britain have to pay a lot more for the same type of house.

The average family moves once every seven years and the process of moving involves an estate agent (responsible for advertising houses for sale), a building society, bank or insurance company for the finance, and a solicitor to handle the legal aspects of the buying and selling. The size of a house or flat in Britain still tends to be measured by the number of bedrooms rather than the area in square metres. In keeping with a nation of home owners, gardening and DIY are popular spare time activities.

Task 3. Read the text one more time and find the equivalents to the following:

1. n. an area around a large city, from which many people travel to work every day

2. n. a small house, usually in a village or the countryside

3. n. a series of levels which someone moves up and down within an organization, profession, or society

4. n. the thing or things that someone owns

5. n. a type of lawyer in Britain who gives legal advice, prepares the necessary documents when property is bought or sold, and defends people, especially in the lower courts of law

6. n. an area where people live which is away from the centre of a town or city

7. n. someone whose business is to buy and sell houses or land for people

8. n. the money that you earn from your work or that you receive from investments, the government etc.

9. n. a person who has something which belongs to them, especially because they have bought it, been given it etc and it is legally theirs

10. adj. based on or calculated over a period of one year

11. adj. having qualities that are typical of most people or things

12. adv. much or a lot

13. adj. not joined to another building

14. n. the activity of making or repairing things yourself instead of buying them or paying someone else to do it

15. adj. far from towns or other places where people live

16. adj. joined to another house on one side

17. adj. time when you are not working

18. adj. a part of a row of houses that are joined together

19. adj. a roof that is made with dried straw, reeds, leaves etc.

20. v. to use something that belongs to someone else and that you must give back to them later

21. v. to deal with a situation or problem by behaving in a particular way and making particular decisions

22. v. to be a part of something or a result of it

23. v. to find the size, length, or amount of something, using standard units such as inches, metres etc.

24. v. to go to live or work in a different place

25. v. to be different from something in some way

Task 4. Imagine you’re a journalist working for the local newspaper. You have a team task to write a short article about types of housing in Russia. Work in groups of 3 or 4.