11. Read the text again and write out the advantages of the following fibers: nylon, linoleum, wool, cork.

12. What fibers are suited to kitchen floor covering, studio, living room. Explain why.

13. Which type offloor covering is better for a bedroom - wool or nylon? Prove your choice.

Wall coverings

What are some wall and floor covering materials with good sound absorption qualities?

Wall coverings are available in a great variety of patterns and textures. Wallpapers made of such materials as China grass cloth, linen, or burlap provide good sound absorption. Some of these wallpapers are coated with plastic, which makes them even easier to clean than painted plaster walls. Plastic-coated or vinyl wallpapers are especially suited to kitchens and bathrooms because they withstand steam better than painted surfaces. These types of wallpaper also resist grease.

Some people have used leather, metallic, or plastic wall coverings, available on bolts in some fabric stores. Vinyl-coated fabrics, which are completely washable, are well-suited to high-use areas, such as a bathroom or child's playroom. Cork wall coverings provide an attractive, casual appearance. They also absorb sound well. Some people use carpeting as a wall covering. It absorbs sound and can be easily cleaned with a vacuum cleaner attachment.

11. Look back at the text and underline the adjectives that denote qualities.

12. Complete the sentences below.

1 is used for making long-wearing curtains and bedspreads easy to

use.

2. Wool is used ...

3 is used as floor covering material in libraries and hospitals because

it absorbs noise.

4. Vinyl-coated material is used ...

11. Read the text below and write out all sorts of wood mentioned in the text.

12. Divide it into three parts and give a name to each of them.

SOME PAGES FROM THE HISTORY OF WOOD

DESPITE the material changes in furniture by steel and plastics, wood has shown its strength by adapting in this century, as it has done in the past, and has been an invaluable part of the interior decorating of every era. The history of furniture can almost be traced through the ways in which wood was used. In the early days, when great oak forests stretched across Europe, this was the favored material for the Gothic, Tudor and early Renaissance styles, and the toughness and resistance of the wood was mainly responsible for the crudeness and heaviness of the carving on chairs, tables and chests. By the seventeenth century, with the forests depleted, oak was largely displaced by walnut, and in the eighteenth century, when cabinetwork was at its zenith, mahogany was the chosen wood because it was easy to work and took a beautiful satiny finish. In this generation, we have seen a vogue for the blond birchwood and korina, the bleached finishes and for teak, an Oriental wood little known in other periods and now identified with contemporary furniture, especially the Scandinavian. But undoubtedly the greatest advance in furniture design of the present generation has been the development of bent and molded plywood and the laminated woods. Plywood, whether molded into original, figure-conforming shapes, or applied to a flat surface in the form of veneer, has revolutionized furniture construction. Apart from the fact that it is stronger, lighter and less expensive than solid wood of the same thickness, plywood has great flexibility and incredible staying power, since the construction insures that it will not warp under pressure or atmospheric changes. Another far-reaching development in furniture today is the refinement of wood finishes. The new finishes can simulate, in repro­ductions, the handwork of antiques; they can make one wood look like another (birch is often finished to imitate such expensive cabinet woods as walnut and mahogany); they can lighten the traditionally dark woods. This has resulted in a revival of mahogany, and in a paler brown better suited to contemporary rooms. The improvements in finishes and veneers have led to a small but significant trend to a greater degree of ornamenta­tion in furniture, through the use of exotic wood veneers, such as rosewood and paldao, or through decorative inlays of ebony, zebrawood and myrtle burl, that replace the cabinetwork of the past.