Unit 5 home, sweet home

I. Reading and discussing the topic

Task 1. Read the text “The House and the Flat I Live in”.

I live in a 9-storeyed block of flats in one of the newest districts of Samara (right in the centre of Samara) in Pushkin Street. It looks quite modern. It stands a little back from the busy road.

On the ground floor in the centre of the front there is a café. The two gates lead into a spacious yard. Our yard is a large open space with trees and shrubs. It has a number of playgrounds. There are also sand pits for young children. Comfortable benches give rest to grannies and mothers, taking their babies out in their prams.

Our block contains 216 flats varying in size. The smallest type is the one-room flat or the bedsit, the largest is the four-room flat. We occupy a three-room flat on the fifth floor. We usually go up in a lift. There are three more flats on our landing. There is a number plate on our door. It says Flat 22.

As you come in through the front door you find yourself in a large hall with a stand for hats, coats and umbrellas. There are two built-in closets in the hall too. We use them as utility rooms. One of them is just for a washing machine and a freezer. The other, big enough to walk in, is for household things and garden tools. My mother is a fantastic gardener, you know. We have a wonderful garden in the country, full of fruit trees, beautiful roses and other flowers.

One of the doors on the right of the hall leads into the living room. This room faces south, so it is very sunny. The dominant feature in the room is a large table with chairs around it. The other essentials are two big sofas with soft cushions and plants – lots of large, healthy green plants. Of course, there is a TV set and a music centre there. It is the room where we can entertain and relax.

To the left is my bedroom which I also use as a study. It has a large window, a wardrobe, a sofa and a desk with a chair. There are posters with my favourite music groups on the walls. My parents’ bedroom adjoins my room. At the end of the hall there is a bathroom and next to it is a lavatory. A door on the right leads into the kitchen. We also use it as a dining-room. In the kitchen the floor is covered with linoleum. The flooring is parquet in all the rooms. In the bathroom and lavatory both the floor and the walls are tiled.

Our flat is modern and spacious. We keep it clean. The living room has a high ceiling. The bedrooms in the flat are papered. There are all modern conveniences in the house such as electricity, gas, central heating, cold and hot running water. There is also a chute in the house.

There is another thing that I like about the house – its location. Buses and trolleybuses run every ten minutes and it never takes me more than 20 minutes to get to the University.

Active vocabulary

- a storey – этаж

- the ground floor – нижний, цокольный, первый этаж

- the first floor, the second floor, etc. – второй этаж, третий этаж и т.д.

- spacious – просторный, вместительный

- to vary – разниться, отличаться

- a bedsit – однокомнатная квартира

- a number plate – номерная табличка

- a hall – коридор, холл, фойе

- a utility room – подсобное помещение, кладовая

- a kitchen – кухня

- a living-room – зал, гостиная

- a bedroom – спальня

- a study - кабинет

- a dining-room – столовая

- a bathroom – ванная комната

- a lavatory – туалет, уборная

- a door – дверь

- a window – окно

- a wall – стена

- the floor – пол; этаж

- the ceiling – потолок

- to face south (north, east, west) – выходить окнами на юг (север, восток, запад)

- conveniences – удобства

- a location – расположение, местонахождение

Apartment / Жилище

- a house – дом, жилище, здание

- a home – дом, домашний очаг

- a flat – квартира

- a room – комната

- a lift – лифт

- a garage – гараж

- a roof – крыша

- a chimney – труба (печная)

- a balcony – балкон

- furniture – мебель

- a porch – крыльцо

What kind of … / Какой…

- convenient – удобный, пригодный

- comfortable – удобный, комфортабельный

- cosy – уютный

- modern – современный

- old-fashioned – старомодный

- old – старый, старинный

- new – новый

- small, little – маленький

- big, large – большой

- wide – широкий

- narrow – узкий

- high – высокий

- low – низкий

- long – длинный

- short – короткий

- thick – толстый

- thin – тонкий

- clean – чистый

- tidy – опрятный

- light – светлый

- dark – темный

- expensive – дорогой

- cheap – дешевый

- rich – богатый

- poor – бедный

Where? / Где?

- behind – сзади, позади, за чем-л.

- in the middle of – в середине

- near – около

- next to – рядом с

- in front of – перед

- opposite – напротив

- in the corner – в углу

- on the right – справа

- in the left – слева

- under – под

- over, above – над

- at – у

Task 2. Transcribe the following words and practise their pronunciation.

A district, quite, spacious, a yard, comfortable, to contain, varying, to occupy, a closet, utility, a machine, a freezer, fantastic, dominant, a feature, essential, a cushion, to entertain, a wardrobe, to adjoin, a lavatory, linoleum, flooring, parquet, convenience, electricity, heating, a chute, a location.

Task 3. Are these statements true or false? Use the phrases from the table.

True	False
I fully agree with you. That’s all right. That’s it! Just it! Exactly so! Looks like that. I think so.	I disagree with you. Far from it. Nothing of the kind. Just the reverse. By no means.

1. You live in a 12-storeyed block of flats.

2. On the ground floor there is a shop.

3. Your yard is spacious.

4. Your block contains flats of the same size.

5. There are two lifts in your block.

6. There is no number plate on your door.

7. Your hall is small and there are no built-in closets in it.

8. Your living-room faces south, that’s why it is so sunny.

9. You use your bedroom as a study.

10. Your parents have their own bedroom.

11. The flooring is parquet in all the rooms.

12. Your rooms are modern and spacious.

13. There are only some modern conveniences in your flat: central heating, cold running water and electricity.

14. It takes you an hour to get to the University.

Task 4. Fill in prepositions and adverbs where necessary.

1. The block ___ flats I live ___ is in Green Street. 2. ___ the ground floor ___ the centre __ the front there is a photographer’s. 3. ___ one ___ the walls ___ the hall there is a small table ___ a telephone and ___ it a large oval mirror. 4. ___ left is my bedroom which I also use as a study. 5. ___ the kitchen the floor is covered ___ linoleum. 6. As you come ___ you can see a large hall ___ a stand ___ hats, coats and umbrellas. 7. This room faces ___ south. 8. One ___ the doors ___ the right ___ the hall leads ___ the living-room.

Task 5. Listen to the description of the kitchen and fill in the gaps.

It’s a modern kitchen, nice and clean with a lot of cupboards. _____’s a washing machine, a fridge and a cooker, but there isn’t a dishwasher. There are some lovely _____ on the walls, but there aren’t any photographs. There’s a radio _____ the cooker. There are some flowers, but there aren’t _____ plants. On the table there are some apples and oranges. Ah! And there are cups and plates next to the sink.

Task 6. Translate from Russian into English using your active vocabulary.

1. Наш дом находится на улице Садовая. Мы переехали туда пять лет назад. 2. У него двухкомнатная квартира на втором этаже. 3. На первом этаже все квартиры без балконов. 4. Все комнаты: гостиная, спальня и кабинет - небольшие, но уютные и чистые. 5. В гостиной находится большой цветной телевизор, два мягких дивана, кресло и журнальный столик. На полу лежит толстый ковер. 6. На столе стоит ваза с цветами. 7. Наша кухня – довольно большая. Там есть плита, холодильник, шкафчики для посуды, стол и несколько стульев. 8. На стене в коридоре находятся вешалка и зеркало. 9. Мы поддерживаем порядок в комнате. 10. У нас в квартире есть все современные удобства: газ, электричество, водопровод с горячей и холодной водой, лифт и мусоропровод. 11. У нас есть маленький дом в деревне с большим фруктовым садом и клумбами с прекрасными цветами. 12. Наш дом очень удобно расположен: автобусы ходят каждые пять минут, поэтому я добираюсь до центра за пятнадцать минут.

Task 7. Read the text “Buckingham Palace” and do the following tasks. Before reading the text check the meaning of new words in your dictionary.

inside (prep)

the whole world

famous

grow up

like (prep)

to prepare

a piper

outside (prep)

to do the washing-up

everybody

during (prep)

course (food)

The Palace

There are two addresses in London that the whole world knows. One is 10 Downing Street, where the Prime Minister lives. The other is Buckingham Palace. This famous palace, first built in 1703, is in the very centre of London.

It is two places, not one. It is a family house, where children play and grow up. It is also the place where presidents, kings, and politicians go to meet the Queen. Buckingham Palace is like a small town, with a police station, two post offices, a hospital, a bar, two sports clubs, a disco, a cinema and a swimming pool. There are 600 rooms and three miles of red carpet. Two men work full-time to look after the 300 clocks. About 700 people work in the Palace.

The Queen’s Day

When the Queen gets up in the morning, seven people look after her. One starts her bath, one prepares her clothes, and one feeds the Royal dogs. She has eight or nine dogs, and they sleep in their own bedroom near the Queen’s bedroom. Two people bring her breakfast. She has coffee from Harrods, toast, and eggs. Every day for fifteen minutes, a piper plays Scottish music outside her room and the Queen reads “The Times”.

Every Tuesday evening, she meets the Prime Minister. They talk about world news and have a drink, perhaps a gin and tonic or a whisky.

An Invitation to the Palace

When the Queen invites a lot of people for dinner, it takes three days to prepare the table and three days to do the washing-up. Everybody has five glasses: one for red wine, one for white wine, one for water, one for port, and one for liqueur. During the first and second courses, the Queen speaks to the person on the left and then she speaks to the person on her right for the rest of the meal. When the Queen finishes her food, everybody finishes and it is time for the next course!

True/False

1. The Palace is more than two hundred years old.

2. It is famous because it is in the center of London.

3. The same person starts the Queen’s bath, prepares her clothes, and feeds the dogs.

4. The dogs sleep in the Queen’s bedroom.