Пособие по обучению практике устной и письменной речи (начальный этап) на английском языке Под ред. О. В. Серкиной
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PART II. THE PLACE I LIVE IN Unit 1. The Place I Live In. My Flat Or My House. Houses are like the human beings that inhabit them. Victor Hugo Recommended grammar: Structures “12-foot ceiling, 2-car garage, etc.” Future tenses. BUILDING-UP YOUR VOCABULARY A
similar to accommodation in Russia. s is known the place where we live plays a very important role in our lives. It makes us feel secure and helps us know our true selves. It is the only place where we can feel real masters of our lives. One person said that home is a shelter from all terror, doubt, and division. But sometimes for different reasons we may decide to change the place where we have lived for a while and start looking for a new suitable place. Every person is assumed to move house at least once in his or her life. This process may take much time, but it is worth it. We should be very considerate and very peculiar about choosing a new house or a flat. Choosing a place to live in is like choosing a spouse to live with. Mishna once said “Home means wife”. Our ancestors must have also understood it, though in their own way. They thought that each house had its own spirit and you were supposed to win it over before moving house. People tried to do their best to make house spirits their friends; they prepared different tasty dishes and performed different rituals as if a house were a living creature. In the end, moving house became a ritual of its own and got a very nice name – housewarming. In good old days most people would build their dwellings by themselves. Now the situation has changed. Some people buy a flat or a house (they own it, or it belongs to them). When they do this in Britain, people usually borrow money from a bank or an organization called a building society. This money, which is called mortgage, is often paid back over 25 years, plus some interest (=money you have to use for borrowing money). Other people prefer to rent a house or a flat, it means that they (tenants) have to pay money every week or month to the person who owns the house/flat. When they do this, the money they pay is called the rent, and the person who owns the house or the flat is the landlord or landlady. Most of London's suburban houses consist of two floors: the ground floor and the first floor. All in all there are six or seven rooms in the house. The rooms are usually tiny, in British houses there are no enormous rooms. On the ground (AmE first) floor there's usually a dining-room, a sitting-room, a kitchen and a hall. In the hall you can see a stand for hats, coats and umbrellas. The rooms on the ground floor are usually quite dark because they don’t get very much sun. They are also quite noisy because they are near the roads and the traffic. Another negative thing is that the rooms might be draughty. This means it is expensive to heat the rooms. A staircase leads from the hall to the landing on the first floor (AmE second floor). On this floor there are four bedrooms, a bathroom and a lavatory. On top of the roof there are usually three chimneys. In front of the house they have a small garden, in which they grow flowers: roses, tulips and so on. At the back of the house there's a much larger garden with a lawn and some fruit trees. There's also a vegetable garden where they may grow some kinds of vegetables, such as potatoes, cabbages, cauliflowers, onions and tomatoes. A 1.2. Put each of the following words or phrases in its correct position in the passages below. t the side of the house there is a garage, where they can keep their car. The garden is enclosed by a fence, with a gate in it. Renting a flat deposit fee flat block rent landlord references advertisements accommodation agency self-contained The first thing I had to do in Belfast was to find somewhere to live, if possible a small, one-bedroomed (a) ______. I didn’t want to share a kitchen or toilet; I wanted to be independent in my own (b) ____ place. I decided I could pay a (c) _____ of $50 a week. I couldn’t find what I wanted in the newspaper (d) ________ so I went to an (e) ________. They offered me a nice place. It was in a modern (f) ________ on the third floor. I had to pay the agency a (g) ________, and the (h) ________ wanted a big (i) _______ and (j) _______ from my employer and bank manager. Buying a house condition detached removals cramped semi-detached builder spacious surveyor architect terraced estate-agent Tony and Sheila’s first home was a (a) ___ house, one of a line of houses all connected. But several years later when they had a small child they found it rather (b) ______ for three people. They wanted something more (c) ________ and so decided to move. They went to an (d) _______ and looked at details of the houses he had to offer. They looked at a (e) ______ house (=one of a pair attached to eachother), liked it, and asked a (f) ______ to inspect it for them. He said that it was in good (g) ________, and they therefore decided to buy it. Luckily they sold their house quickly and soon a (h) _________ firm was taking all their furniture and other possessions to their new home. But already, after a couple of years, they are hoping to move again. Tony’s business is doing well and they want to get an (i) ________ to design a modern, (j) _____ house for them, and a (k) ________ to build it. f 1.3. Put one of the following words in each space in the sentences below. or at in on of into with
B  est choice: a detached houseA detached house has land all round it. More and more modern homes are detached, although in areas where building land is expensive, the houses may be very close to each other. This is the most desirable house. Notice its main characteristics:
only the countryside but also giving greater privacy;
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