12. Memory Work.

Use the proverbs and sayings in a natural context. First make sure that you know what they mean and prove that they have sense.

1. East or West, home is best. 2. Love in a cottage. 3. To wash one’s dirty linen in public. 4. Keep your house and your house will keep you.

b) Learn them be heart.

Unit 3. Reading and Speaking

Text Study

Read the text about housing in Britain and note the differences with Ukraine.

Housing in Britain

Most British families live in houses. Perhaps you think this is not surprising. After all, where else can people live? In fact, in some countries most people live in flats or apartments. So do some people in Britain, of course, but, in British towns it is more usual to find rows of houses rather than blocks of flats. A typical British house is semi-detached and has a garden at the front and the back; at least that is the impression you get if you look at the advertisements in magazines and on TV. In fact, a lot of people live in terraced houses, and rich live in detached ones. In Britain over 50% of families buy their own houses; the others rent their homes.

Many people work in London, but they do not live there. They live in one of the suburbs, catch the morning train up to town and come back in the evening. When they come home in the evening, they walk from the station to their house. They open the garden gate, walk up the garden path and ring the front door bell. The front door opens into narrow hall, often no more than a wide passage. Most of English houses have two floors and no cellar; they do not talk about the ground floor and the first floor. They always say upstairs and downstairs.

Downstairs are the living rooms and the kitchen which is generally

at the back of the house. The back door opens onto the garden or the passage which runs down the side of the house. Usually there is a garage at the side. Upstairs there are three bedrooms, a bathroom and a toilet.

In winter houses in Britain used to be rather cold, since many did not have double glazing and tended to be draughty. The fire did not warm the whole room. But gradually, more people are putting in central heating and are using more electric fires. In order to save the energy they sometimes have secondary glazing installed, which makes the rooms draught-proof. They have to keep their houses warm for most of the year so nearly all ceilings are built low.

The front garden consists mostly of a smooth grass lawn which they cut with a lawn-mower. Round the lawn are a few flower beds, and very pretty they are in spring and summer. Most of English people are very proud of their front garden, but to keep it in first-class condition requires plenty of hot work. The back garden is more useful, but less pretty than the front one. They grow vegetables, so that most of people are not dependent on the greengrocer. For some people the garden is the place for relaxation.

Most people are responsible for the upkeep of their homes themselves. Do-it-yourself is for some people a hobby, for other a necessity. The chief reason for this is the high cost of labour for services such as decorating and household repairs.

English people like to settle down for the evening in a big arm-chair by the sitting-room fire. It is very pleasant there. They find these evenings very restful after a tiring day in the office. They like to say that “there’s no place like home”.