Sharing a flat.

Sharing a flat certainly has some advantages and disadvantages.

To begin with, it should be cheaper, and if you are leaving with people that you get on well with, it is nice to have some company at home, rather than being alone, and all on your own. Moreover the household chores are shared and that is very important. If, for example, you don’t like to do the washing or to do the ironing, your friend can do it for you. And you can do the hoovering and washing up instead of him.

It can be a great fun, when you are young, to live apart from your parents with people of your own age, whose interests and lifestyle you share. You won’t feel alone with them and of course you’ll have something to talk over.

However, sharing a flat does have some distinct disadvantages and the main one is that the flat is not your own. So you cannot do what you want in it. You can’t redecorate the room in the way you like, for example, to hang the wallpaper of your favourite green color instead of the aggressive red in which the room is done. Or you can’t make dull tiny windows full-height to make the room catch a lot of sunshine. But of course you are allowed to change something in the flat. Such things as putting up some posters on the wall, or put down your favorite carpets to brighten up the room and make everybody fell themselves at home there.

But frankly speaking, the position doesn't make the man, the man makes the position. So you need to be very attentive when you are choosing a flatmate. If you don’t do it right many problems can appear. For example, your flatmate is a skylark and you are an owl so you’ll find it difficult to sleep, while another person would do his things.

What is more there can be little privacy. And that really annoys sometimes when you come home and there is some noisy things going on, while you just want to take a shower and have a little snoozing in the silence. But you have to put up with this, because you have some annoying habits too.

So I think when you are renting a flat you should talk over the house rules which you both have to keep to.

4 What sort of person I am

I don’t like to talk about myself, but I will try to describe my character. I always get on well with people, so I have many friends. I think, I’m a good mixer, I like to go on about different things, but sometimes I need to stay in silence. So I can be calm or lively, it depends of my mood. I don’t think I have any talents, but I know that I take after my father, I’m clever and hard-working, so I will try to do my best to succeed. Also I’m tolerant and a good listene
r, so if my friends need a shoulder to cry on, I will always help. Actually, I’m not a strong-minded person, so sometimes I have to weigh up all the possibilities before making up my mind.

As for appearance, I’m of average height. I have an oval freckled face, bulbous nose, thin lips, blue eyes and straight blonde hair.

11 Describe a house in a poor condition. What can be done to improve it?

The proverb says: «A man’s home is his castle». But unfortunatelsome people don’t look after their “castles” in a proper way, thus the “castle” appears to be in rather bad condition.

One of these houses is my grandparents’ one. It’s situated on the outskirts of ________. It’s a 2-store house, not very spacious and it really needs repairing.

The first and the most important thing to be changed, as for me, is the toilet outside. It should be put in inside the house. The bathroom needs to be done up too. I think it has to be tiled. Moreover a washbasin and a shower, all supplied with hot and cold water, should be installed.

There is also no central-heating in the house. So we use a very old fireplace, which needs whitewashing.

The house is also in need of installing the telephone and gas, and repairing spoiled electric wiring.

In one room the floorboards are creaking and in the other room there are some problems with the roof: it’s leaking because of the hole.

To say commonly I’m quite happy with my grandparents’ house, but it certainly needs some repairs to be done.

9 What do you like and dislike in your present/parents’ home? (location, type of house, furniture, etc.)

For all my life I’ve been living with my parents in ________. But this year I’ve entered MSLU and moved to Minsk. Fortunately, I’ve received a place in the hall of residence, so now I’m sharing a room with 3 girls.

I like the location of our dormitory because it’s in the center of the city. The underground is in a ten-minute walk. Also it’s situated in a very good place, because all the shops (such as grocery, bakery, and pharmacy) are at hand. Also the bank and hairdresser’s are round the corner too, so I can have my hair cut or done in every moment I want.

Speaking about the room itself, I can say that it’s rather small for 3 or 4 people to live in, because it isn’t very spacious. At the same time it catches a lot of sunshine. But the large windows look down onto an area covered with sand with no trees and plants. It doesn’t worry me very much, to tell the truth, because usually I have no time to look at the window.

The furniture in the room is in a rather good condition. There are 4 middle-sized beds, 4 built-in closets, a small mirror, a dinner-table, 4 bedside tables and 4 bookshelves, which we had to hang by ourselves.

Of course, it’s not as big as my parents’ flat, but I can normally survive in such conditions.

14 Living apart from your parents: for and against.

Living apart from your parents can be a real fun. Especially when you live with people of your own age, whose interests and lifestyle you share.

You have more freedom. You can do what you want and what you think has real sense for you. But at the same time you have to be wise enough not to get into troubles or moreover not to have great problems.

Living apart from your parents means being self-confident and rather independent to take care of everything by yourself. For example, you’ll have to do the cleaning and cooking yourself, to control, whether you have a run-out of cleanser, for example, or know the exact day, when you have to pay your bills or the rent. To say commonly all the household chores are put on your shoulders.

You have to hear your alarm, because your mum won’t come in time and wake you up.

So, if you live apart from your parents, you have to keep all the rules I’ve already spoken about in order to manage a household in a proper way.

3 Describe your family members

I love my family very much. We are very friendly and get on well with each other. We are three: me, my mother and sister. My mother will be 40 this year. She is a pretty woman. She has a good figure, oval wrinkled face, short brunette straight hair, green eyes. She ages well and is always dressed spick and span, because takes much care over her appearance. As for character, she is lively, intelligent, generous and kind-hearted. She always gets on well with people, so she has many friends. She is the kind of person you like at first sight, first of all because of her smile. We are very close and I look up to her.

My sister is eight years younger than me. We are quite close, but sometimes I tell her off. She is 10 years old. She is a very sociable girl, but too much sensitive. Every bad thing makes her bursting into tears, she takes to heart everything. She is clever and stands out of children of her age. She has long blonde straight hair, big blue eyes and upturned nose. She is very pretty girl. She takes after grandmother in appearance and character.

Дата добавления: 2015-10-29