Ex Dramatise the situations.
1. You have a room for rent. Show it to a possible tenant and discuss it with him/ her
2. You need some place to live. Discuss with your friend possibilities of renting an apartment.
ADDITIONASL MATERIAL
Ex1. Read, translate and render the texts in English.
1. The Volterras had a six-room apartment with a hall which was like a cord holding all the small rooms together. The kitchen was nearest to the front door, then came three bedrooms and a bath, the dining-room and, at the far end, the living-room. Despite the smallness of the rooms, they had a neat cosy quality that gave Eric a comfortable feeling.
M. Wilson
2. It was the first time that Bunny had been inside the Watkins' home, and it gave him a
shuddering sense of poverty. It was bare boards inside, the same as out; there was a big,
unpainted table, and six unpainted chairs, a few shelves with crockery, a few pans hanging on the wall, and a stove that rested on a stone where one leg was broken. That was everything, literally everything — save for a feeble kerosene lamp, which enabled you to see the rest. There were two other rooms in the cabin, one for the husband and wife, and the other for the three girls who slept in one bed. Attached to the back of the house was a shed with two bunks against the wall...
U.Sinclair
3. The cooking area of the kitchen is small. It has well-planned built-in storage cabinets so supplies and utensils are within view and easy reach. The base cabinet below the stove has deep drawers to hold the utensils. Opaque glass wall cabinets above hold a variety of spices used in cooking. There is a stainless steel counter to the left of the range for hot pans.A built-in refrigerator holds supplies of cooked and ready-to-cook foods. The pantry borders the kitchen on two sides. Adjoining it is the dining-room.
"Architecture "
The Language of Estate Agents
It's a running joke in Britain that the more disreputable estate agents will always try to make the houses they are trying to sell sound much more desirable than they really are. An estate agent would never write: "This is a horrible little house in very poor condition. The trains go past every 10 minutes and shake the walls. The back garden is laughably small. This is why it is so cheap." Instead he would say: "This compact residence is ideally priced for the first-time buyer. Although in need of some renovations, it has some highly attractive features, including a small patio/garden to the rear. It is very convenient to the railway station."
Ex. 2 What do you think the following extracts from estate agents' description really mean ?
1 . Planning permission has been granted for the addition of a bath-room.
2 . The rooms have been decorated to the taste of the present owner
3 . The cottage has a particularly charming historical character.
(You surely guessed that the first description might mean that there was no bathroom in the house; the second — that the decoration was very strange indeed and the third — that the cottage was extremely old and probably falling down).
Humour
Artist: "This is my latest picture. It's called "Builders at Work". It's very realistic."
Friend: "But they really aren't at work." Artist: "Of course — that's the realism."
* * *
Guest: "That's an artistic rug. May I ask how much it cost you?"
Host: "Two thousand dollars. Two hundredfor it and the rest for furniture to match."
* * *
Struggling artist (being dunned for rent and endeavoring to put a bold front on things):
"Let me tell you this — in a few years' time people will look up at this
miserable studio and say, "Cobalt, the artist, used to live there!"
Landlord: "If you don't pay your rent by tonight, they'll be able to say it tomorrow."
Notes:
dun (v) — настойчиво требовать уплаты долга; struggling (a) — (зд.) нуждающийся, бедный; endeavor (v) — пытаться, стараться; to put a bold front on things — храбриться.
* * *
Jones: "Aren't your daughter's piano lessons costing a fearful lot?"
Brown: "On the contrary, they enabled me to buy the house next door at half its worth."
* * *
"I want a man to do odd jobs about the house, run errands, one who never answers back and is always ready to do my bidding," explained a lady to an applicant for a post in the household.
"You're looking for a husband, ma'am, not a servant!" said the seeker for work.
Notes:
odd job — случайная работа;
errand — поручение;
bidding — приказание;
applicant — желающий получить место, работу.
* * *
Mistress: "You will cut and roll the lawn, weed the gravel path, potsome
chrysanthemums, plant all those rose-bushes, clean out the greenhouse and see to the heating apparatus and..."
New gardener: "Excuse me, madam, but is this a day's work or a five-year plan?"
* * *
A rather elderly cook was being introduced by her new mistress to the kitchen of the modern flat. The mistress pointed with pride to the electric water heater, the radiator, the refrigerator, the automatic washing machine, the steamdrying apparatus and so on. At the end of the tour the cook started putting on her outdoor clothes. "Surely you're not going?", said the mistress. "1 am, madam," came the reply. " It's an engineer you want, not a cook.
* * *
Mrs. Brown was displaying a large lamp-shade she had just bought. "Isn't that perfectly lovely, my dear? And it costs only two dollars!" Her husband looked anything but pleased. "If you wear that to church you'll go alone," he said. "There's a limit to everything, including hats!"
Ex. 3. Topics for discussions and essays:
1 . Where would you prefer to live — in the city or in the country? Why?
2 . Would you like to live on your own? What age do you think is the best to get
separated from one's parents? Why? Maybe you think that several generations of a family should live together?
3 . What does "home" mean to you?
4 . What do you think makes your home comfortable?
5 . "East or West home is best". Is the proverb correct? Try to prove your opinion.
6 . Can you describe a house of your dream?
7 Do you like moving to new places? Is it easy for you to leave your home? Why?
II. REAL ESTATE
Text 1. REAL ESTATE